In this episode, we’re going to walk through the process of packaging the brand experience of America so its easily identifiable. That’s right, we’re finally talking about logos! 

HOMEWORK:

Worksheet for Episode 5Download

RESOURCES:

Seth Godin (https://seths.blog)

The Unravelling of America by Wade Davis (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics…)

The Statue of Liberty:

https://www.history.com/topics/landma…

https://www.statueofliberty.org/statu…

Logo meanings:

Steven Heller: https://www.amazon.com/Swastika-Symbo…

Flag colors:

https://www.colonialflag.com/symbolis…

TRANSCRIPT:

Today, we’re going to walk through the process of packaging our brand experience of America so its easily identifiable. 

That’s right, we’re finally talking about logos! 

Logos have been used for centuries as a marker of belonging. Whether on a cow or a pair of shoes or a computer, a logo is a quick indicator of which tribe you belong to. It’s easy to understand why most people think that branding is simply logo design. It’s the face of the experience. The logo would have no meaning, however, if it didn’t represent an ideology or group of people known for delivering a specific experience.

Marketing guru Seth Godin uses the analogy that, “It takes more than a hat to be a cowboy.” The hat helps you identify someone as a possible cowboy, the behavior lets you know whether or not its real. I see a hat and I begin to paint stories of riding horses and herding cattle. If I don’t see said cowboy hat wearer doing those things, I feel let down … imposter. 

Logos are the portal to connect us to the promise of an experience. Over time, we see a symbol and instantly know what it stands for. All it takes is enough consistency in the experience associated with that symbol to understand it as a mark for the kind of promise to expect. The consistency in experiences associated with a logo is also why these icons can take on different meanings. For instance, the BlockBuster logo. For some of us, that logo represented the start of a weekend, family movie nights and our understanding that to stay in the tribe, we had to Be Kind, Rewind. Now it’s used as a case study for choosing to regress when reinvention (or Netflix) was knocking at its door. It’s a cautionary tale used in business class case studies of an experience gone array at the hands of stubborn leadership.

Another example is the swastica. The original swastika was a symbol of goodness. Even the word comes from a Sanskrit word that means ‘well-being.’ It’s why there are swastikas all over Hindu temples. The symbol was adopted in the West as good luck and incorporated on anything from products, advertising and architecture. In fact, Steven Heller wrote, “Coca-Cola used it. Carlsberg used it on their beer bottles. The Boy Scouts adopted it and the Girls’ Club of America called their magazine Swastika. They would even send out swastika badges to their young readers as a prize for selling copies of the magazine.”

Things changed for this icon when the Nazis stole it to represent their work and now we can only associate it with genoside, hate, fear and darkness. 

This is the power of a brand promise in relation to a logo. A swish is all that’s needed to feel a sense of sportsmanship. A partially eaten apple doesn’t remind us of a grocery store, but the creative potential that lives inside us. Brand value exists in these examples because the experience has been consistent enough over time to solicit meaning through a symbol. 

But what about America? What symbols accurately represent the entirety of our brand promise? The American flag? The Statue of Liberty? Those purple mountains and their majesty across the fruited plain?

Let’s start with the American flag and what the color palette represents: red symbolizes hardiness and valor, white symbolizes purity and innocence, and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice.

The colors of the British flag represent the exact meaning. Let’s assume no one has a monopoly on colors. What’s most interesting about the design choices in both color and shapes is that they don’t represent anything revolutionary. This is problematic because design in the context of branding is most effective when it solves a communication problem. The problem our founders were trying to solve was a new way to govern. They set out to create an entirely new nation, not just England 2.0. They set out to reinvent, not replicate. They were steering clear of a monarchy and towards the foundations of a democracy. This kind of work goes beyond jotting down some words on a piece of paper and slapping a logo on it. It takes work. And that work is often messy, tense and requires persistence. The Federalist Papers are a great example at how they had to defend and build the country’s ideals even after they were set out in the Constitution.

If you’re going to do this much work, you wouldn’t want to create a design to represent your ideals that was familiar to the very experience you were attempting to dismantle. Otherwise, confusion could set in that this was just a new version of an old idea. 

Here’s the thing about symbols: they hold us accountable. It’s why we pay extra to have a certain logo on a pair of running shoes. When we lace up, that Swish reminds us of what we value and motivates us to get out the door for that run. On the contrary, it’s why a swastica is placed on the arm of Nazis so others can hold them to be accountable to what they, as a group, have decided their values are. The flag tells a part of the story that makes us heroes. Worshipping the flag makes us better Americans and gives us a sense of rugged individualism on the global stage. But are any of those our nation’s true values? Are they the reasons that we started a new nation? Or does the flag represent how America split itself into colonies and states through valor, purity and vigilance? None of which are our core values. 

Now, I’m not saying the American flag isn’t the most notable design element to identify our American experience. What I am proposing, however, is that to rebrand America would also require a redesign of the symbol that serves as our visual identity. 

Let’s start with Lady Liberty herself.

While we have wrapped ourselves in a flag that offers a wild sense of patriotism, The Statue of Liberty has been standing with her hand held high to enlighten the world and remind us of who we are capable of Being. 

She not only represents how powerful our values in action are both to our own fight for equality, liberty and justice for all, but also serves as a beacon of hope to other nations. 

Our friends in France crowdfunded the making of this gift because they were so inspired by our abolition of slavery around the centennial of the Declaration of Independence. 

She serves as a welcoming symbol to ships entering the harbor and her torch lights the way to freedom by showing us the path to liberty. What’s so interesting is that the seven points of her crown symbolize the seven seas, the seven continents and the rays of the sun. The crown is meant to communicate the example America was setting that our dream wasn’t just for us, it was meant to spread around the world. Toni Morrison once said, “The function of freedom is to free someone else.” Lady Liberty embodies that ideology. She stands firmly in the chaos, weathered by time and evolution to welcome huddled masses. She stands as a symbol of the valor, purity and vigilance required to uphold equality, liberty and justice for all. She invites the hard work necessary to make this American Dream work for everyone.

The  American flag symbolizes American exceptionalism. As Wade Davis wrote in his recent Rolling Stones article The Unraveling of America:

“As they stare into the mirror and perceive only the myth of their exceptionalism, Americans remain almost bizarrely incapable of seeing what has actually become of their country. In a land that once welcome the huddled masses of the world, more people today favor building a wall along the southern border than supporting health care and protection for the undocumented mothers and children arriving in desperation at its doors. Flag wrapped patriotism is no substitute for compassion.”

Wade Davis

He’s right.

We drank the kool-aid and believe we are indeed the people The Statue of Liberty says we are without doing the actual work of becoming that. We would have to want to pay for and support the programs that would allow her dream of America to be true. The fact is, we want all the appearance of goodness and virtue without any of the sacrifices. The cognitive dissonance we’re currently experiencing when people stand up and say, “We should support refugees or Black Lives Matter” exists because those statements invite people into the hard work of pursuing justice. The American flag doesn’t hold us accountable to that. Are you ok with hiding behind a symbol knowing it’s a facade?

Symbols give us permission to behave in a way that reflects the actions of the tribe it represents. The flag keeps an American Dream of war victory, white picket fences, suburbs and summer BBQs alive. It can be used to defend the comfort of potato salad on the 4th of July over the recognition of Juneteenth at all costs.

But Lady Liberty sees us. We have to look her in the eyes and atone for trading in the dream she represents of liberty for all in exchange for square footage for some. We have to acknowledge the broken chain on one foot only frees us so far as the chain around the other foot confines us. She is not asking to be worshiped or made into a blanket to keep us cozy. She is here to hold us accountable to what we’re capable of if we chose the Dream she once saw us stepping courageously into. Our job is to think critically about the symbols we choose to define us and challenge the notion that they represent what we’ve Been taught they represent. The action is simple: be open to our logo being more than a decoration that adorns our porches as a symbol that we have, in fact, achieved the American Dream. And consider a symbol that belongs to no one person’s house but promises a home for all. 

If we are to rebrand America, we start with ourselves. And as our behavior changes, so too will the nation. And when the nation changes, how we choose to reflect our behavior will either be a symbol of patriotism or a beacon of hope for the world in a quest for equality, liberty and justice for all.