A brand is more than just a logo-- very much
like an artist is more than just a song, or an album cover.
In many ways, a brand embodies the values of the particular individual,
or a particular company.
When you encounter a very powerful brand, it's impossible to miss.
Think of a brand like, for example, a BMW, or the New York Times,
or just about any one of the brands that we come into daily contact with.
Or even take a band, like U2, or Lady Gaga, or even Taylor Swift.
When I say the names of these products or these people,
you don't just think of their music, but you also
think of what they stand for, who they are.
They have this intangible perception that people
have about them, that is far more powerful often,
than even the simple songs or products that they release.
And that is what, in many ways, we defined as a brand.
A brand is a good product, service, or a human being that speaks to an audience
and for an audience.
For me, Diddy is the consummate American success story.
And Diddy speaks to an evolving audience.
And when Diddy was young, Diddy had on all the hip hop clothes.
Now he's older, and he's wearing the suits and the ties
because the brand has matured.
This brand has been brewing in me for awhile now.
Part, I really did think about it, and it
was part of just coming into myself, and as my identity as a person,
and as a musician.
I think it's just like being true to your identity, the things that you
already know.
Like, for example, my heritage that I have incorporated into my music,
and also now to my stage presence.
And as well, actually thinking about what ways can we make it better?
What ways can we capture the audience?
If we're playing, and somebody's talking to someone,
what will catch their attention on their peripheral
that will make them turn to you and see you again?
I look at a brand as being a friend, as a trusted adviser.
It's somebody who understands me, and who I can relate to and connect to.
I think the consumer comes first-- you're problem solving.
And that's what the beauty of design really
is-- whether you're designing for the sport industry,
whether you're designing furniture, whether you're designing in fashion.
You're solving a problem.
You're solving a consumer benefit.
And hopefully, that benefit is real.
And so when you're solving for those problems and those benefits,
the story comes out of that.
"Just do it" never inspired a shoe.
I think about slogans, a lot of time, and marketing slogans,
and they don't inspire problem solving.
Real people inspire problem solving.
A good brand is about consistency of interaction.
No matter how you interact with that brand-- whether it's an advertisement
or whether it's a product or a presentation
that you see, or you walk into one of their stores--
you are not surprised, if you will, by what you see.
There is almost a comfort, because it's familiar.
Because over the years, they've built a particular trust with you.
And no matter which access point you have with that particular brand,
there's a consistency there.
I tie together brand and culture, to some extent,
in start-ups-- that you're creating a vibe or a feel
around what it means to do business with you.
And that is often more compelling, early on,
to a customer than the actual product you're building.
Because often in a start-up, you're doing lots of iterations
and you're changing quickly, and you're changing your product.
But the way in which people feel when they're
interacting with you or your product is ultimately
what will keep them coming back.
And I always say that culture starts with one--
it's how you conduct yourself on a daily basis.
It's how you treat others, both inside the business and outside the business.
It's the understanding that every single team member is a different embodiment
of what you want that brand to be.
So team and culture are two things that-- they
do keep me awake at night a lot, and I strategize a lot about that,
and try to keep it natural.
But at the same time, something that represents and embodies the brand
is really where the magic happens.
For me, a brand is not something that you can manufacture based on fakery.
And I think, as people, we're able to cut through all this clutter
and sort of connect with something that is either authentic, or inauthentic.
The brands out there that stand out the most,
or the artists out there that we're able to identify with the most,
these are people that are true to their values.
And we know that whatever image they're projecting out there,
it's who they are, whether we like it or not.