Brand Sense by Martin Lindstrom

Author:Martin Lindstrom
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FREE PRESS

Innovative architectural structures often become legendary trademarks instantly synonymous with the cities where they reside. Only Sydney, Australia can claim the billowing sails of the Opera House that sparkle on the foreshore of the harbor. Jorn Utzon’s revolutionary design with its organic shapes and lack of surface decoration adds to Sydney in every way—it’s a venue for performing art, people congregate on its broad steps, street performers line the walkways, and it offers some of the city’s most spectacular views. The Sydney Opera House and Guggenheim Bilbao are both totally smashable.

Shape is an instantly recognizable visual aspect of any brand. When Theodore Tobler designed a triangular shape for his chocolate bar, its shape stood out more prominently than its taste. In 1906 it was against the law for chocolate makers to use their Swiss heritage in their logo, so as a way of proclaiming his nationhood, Tobler used the Matterhorn mountain to inspire the shape of his product. Fearing that a competitor would duplicate his concept, he applied for a patent on the manufacturing process in Berne. This was granted and Toblerone became the first chocolate product in the world to be patented.

Once, when I was a kid, I decided to melt a Toblerone down into individual chocolate bars. But when I handed the bars out to my friends, no one liked them. Clearly the essence of Toblerone—the very point of it, in fact—is that you have to fight it in your mouth, and that much of the pleasure of eating a Toblerone bar has to do with conquering its distinctive shape.

Seventeen years after Theodore Tobler patented his chocolate, Milton S. Hershey registered his Hershey’s Kisses, and turned his plume-wrapped chocolates into a cultural icon. Over the past century, an entire Hershey world has been built around the original Hershey’s Kisses foundation stone. Every day 25 million Kisses roll off the production line in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It’s a town that bills itself as “The sweetest place on earth,” a place that’s “built on chocolate.” Streetlights are shaped like Hershey’s Kisses, and there’s accommodation, amenities, and activities “in all flavors”! 11

Hershey Park is one of the main attractions. Entertainment day and night. Food halls that serve up Hershey chocolate milkshakes and Hershey’s Kisses brownies. You can hold conferences at the Hershey Lodge, stay at Hotel Hershey, and pamper yourself at the spa with treatments like Whipped Cocoa baths and Chocolate Fondue wraps. Sweet.

Chocolates aside, there are many products that have based their identity on their distinct shape. The liquor industry has been at the forefront. Take the distinctive Galliano bottle, which is shaped like a classical Roman column. Finlandia vodka, Kahlúa, Bombay Gin, Johnnie Walker, and Hennessy XO cognac are all products whose bottles’ shapes define their brand.

More recently the liquor industry has looked to the perfume and fashion world for inspiration. Coco Chanel loved perfume bottles. She even displayed the empty ones on her vanity table. She was once quoted as saying, “Those bottles are my memories of surrender and

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