Brand ‘fame’ is built on four facets

Marketers should use a framework or four conditions for building their brand’s fame, according to a new piece by former planner and author Paul Feldwick (based on his new book, Why Does the Pedlar Sing?).

Why it matters

Fame is widely recognised as an important aspect of brand-building, but what fame is, and how to generate is, is not widely understood or analysed by marketers.

Takeaways

There are four facets of fame for brands to consider:

1. The intrinsic appeal, attraction, or ‘stickiness’ of the product or performance, as experienced by the public
2. The ability to reach mass audiences, and be seen to reach mass audiences
3. Distinctiveness that uniquely identifies the famous object
4. Social diffusion, or the active involvement of the public in sharing and otherwise engaging with the famous thing.

Key quote

“We can, and should, make the verbal leap from dry, precise ‘mental availability’ to lively, colloquial ‘fame’. After all, nobody ever wrote a hit musical called ‘Mental Availability’.”