What lies in a brand?
Is it only an archaic artifact?
Or, perhaps a name?
In the case of this photo posted by artist Tom Dean, does the brand only drive a random price? What is the promise that lies in the name and does it warrant the $580 price tag on the t-shirt pictured?
The photo reminded me that I had promised to write more about what I posted last week on branding. (https://elkittredge.com/2018/05/30/more-than-a-montana-ritual) Although writing about marketing, I had used the analogy of a cattle brand. However, my comments triggered a response about the practice of branding cattle.
The brand in the photo at that link is of one of the oldest brands in Montana. Moving ahead of war’s gathering storm in the border state of Kentucky, my great-grandparents followed the news of western gold strikes and ended up in Idaho Territory, part of which became Montana.
On their trek to the future, they found that they needed to brand their oxen because in the evening their animals were turned loose to graze with the wagon train’s other oxen. My great-grandfather had no brand, so he removed the rod on a wagon’s back gate, bent it and heated it to mark and safeguard his family’s livelihood.
That brand came to me with two heifer calves as my parents’ investment for my future. The investment bore fruit, paying for both my undergraduate and graduate education. Consequently, when I see the brand, I don’t imagine a white-hatted, chap-wearing cowboy roping a calf while another places the brand hot from the fire. Instead, I see a belief in family, a hope for the future, and an understanding of the contract existing between the generations.
Yes, the physical brand is an ownership marker. That, in itself, can be problematic for in the wrong hands or in the wrong culture, it has been misused. However, from early pastoral times, it also has been a way to mark an identity. Now, long after the demise of the open range, a brand has come to mark a mythological “cowboy way” and all that public perception places with that “brand.”
However, brands now carry multiple meanings. As a mark of identity, they can be seen merely as a logo, even though much more lies in a brand than simply its being a territorial marker. Although we may not believe that much lies within our control, we can be our own person controlling the power of our words and our actions. That is why our signature carries such power. It is a verification of our brand, our stamp on that which carries our approval and endorsement.
Viewed in that light, a brand is the outward mark of the artist and all they create and all that they touch in their business and in life. It carries their endorsement, identity and is intertwined with the outward manifestation of their creativity and the deep emotions that push that drive.
And, perhaps, that is why a successful brand is not only hard to put into words or pictures, but also is so very difficult for the creative individual to identify or reveal.
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