Branded Utilities: Introduction
Over the last couple of years, I have heard one thought being mentioned repeatedly in different forms within the media/advertising industry, and it is an idea that a lot of people think is where the future of brands lie, myself included.
The idea is Branded Utility.
Johnny Vulkan (Anomaly) and Benjamin Palmer (The Barbarian Group) are credited with being the earliest to use the phrase to describe the ways in which brands are, or can be, useful to people. Other interesting resources to read are here.
Simply put, think long-term not short-term - I would if I was a brand.
I’ve put together this wiki so that I can document examples of brands that have illustrated ways in which they have been or are useful. I would like to keep branded utility distinct from things like rewards programmes (which most well-known brands have in any case, like most airlines or credit card companies) - they are useful to super-users but not to the general public or non-users. I've also categorised them by whether they are can be accessed by mobile phone, physically, or virtually (online).
Johnny Vulkan also mentioned something else to me which I think is important to remember: a brand that is useful in general and therefore cultivates an image reflecting its inherent 'goodness' has got its marketing automatically done for itself and doesn't really need one-off initiatives. Neil Perkin and Faris Yakob have also discussed brands being good, generous or nice and those qualities pretty much equal useful. It makes sense to list those as well - those that do exist for now anyway. I sincerely hope the list will grow in time.
The 'branded utilities' list can be sorted by ascending or descending alphabetical order - just click on the relevant column titles to sort.
If you know of any examples of branded utility or useful brands that should be added to the lists below, please contact me at anjali@madebymany.co.uk. Thanks.
Anjali Ramachandran
PHD UK
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Useful Brands:
Innocent Drinks
Method Home
Interface Flor
Branded Utilities:
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.