What "Brand" Means and What It Doesn’t
Five Misconceptions About the Word "Brand" Today
In my previous article, I defined brand as “Trusted Differentiation.”
To grasp what brand is today, it’s key to understand what brand is NOT.
Five Misconceptions
The word “brand” is used so broadly that its meaning has become elusive. Everything from logos and imagery to worldviews, social media popularity, and market capitalization gets labeled as “brand.” However, what constitutes a brand is not appearance or popularity, but the reason people continue to choose it.
Let’s examine five misconceptions about “what a brand is NOT” to capture it more accurately.
“Image”: When Style Replaces Substance
“Popularity”: When Success Breeds Failure
“Attention”: The Viral Trap
“Premium”: The Price Paradox
“Market Cap”: Wall Street’s Illusion
1. “Image”: When Style Replaces Substance
When discussing brands, you often hear “image is critical.”
Image can generate initial interest, but it cannot sustain growth alone.
From around 2015, founders and operators of DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) companies embraced this image-centric approach.
Allbirds, known for wool sneakers, and Away, a suitcase brand that launched through book publishing, exemplify DTC brands leveraging content across magazines, social media, and podcasts. They grew not through product-led brand building but by making “image, i.e., a brand’s carefully curated appearance and aesthetic,” their axis of differentiation. Minimalist, refined visuals, empathetic stories, and environmentally conscious messaging resonated with contemporary sensibilities.
Many DTC brands lost momentum after the initial years.
Management issues at Away surfaced behind its rapid growth, and Allbirds struggled with sales after going public, implementing large layoffs. While they generated initial buzz and sympathy, this didn’t translate into trusted and differentiated brands with sustainable growth.
Why? The “image” they relied on remained at the level of impressions and perceptions. It fell short of becoming Trusted Differentiation, a solid reason for customers to choose them again and again.
“Image” reflects how a brand appears and what it projects, but it isn’t the brand’s core.
Image can create awareness. Trust creates loyalty.
2. “Popularity”: When Success Breeds Failure
While popularity flows like water, brands accumulate over time like geological layers.
Even established brands like Nike and Burberry have faced fluctuations in popularity.
In the late 1990s, Burberry lowered prices of some iconic items, such as its scarves, in an effort to scale.
Burberry scarves became a winter staple for young women, especially Japanese high school girls who pair them with their uniforms.
Sales skyrocketed.
Around the same time, Burberry’s popularity grew in Britain among a different demographic. It became a cultural symbol for “hooligans” (fanatical soccer fans) and “chavs” (working-class youth).
About 20 years later, Nike experienced a similar boom.
They began selling Nike Dunks, previously basketball shoes for hardcore fans, at lower prices to general consumers. From 2020 onward, the two-tone black and white “Panda Dunks” created a social phenomenon, especially in America.
These are the same cautionary tales, despite the 20-year gap.
Despite rising popularity, both were losing the trust of their most important constituency: core fans.
Burberry lost support from the upper class and urban wealthy in key markets. The brand’s exclusivity and luxury feel were damaged. Even British pubs began refusing entry to customers wearing Burberry scarves.
In Nike’s case, excessive massification shook the brand’s core. The stock price that peaked in 2021 plummeted to less than half within a year. Bloomberg reported on “the man who made Nike uncool,” and CEO John Donahoe was forced to resign in fall 2024.
Brands differentiate through long-term trust, not temporary popularity.
The idea that “brand = popularity” is a dangerous misconception.
3. “Attention”: The Viral Trap
Attention is momentary. Today’s viral post is forgotten tomorrow.
When attention becomes the goal, a brand’s axis quickly loses alignment.
In 2021, Clubhouse captured unprecedented attention. The audio-only social app was valued at $4 billion, celebrities flocked to host rooms, and the waitlist had millions desperate for an invite. Media coverage was relentless.
Two years later, the app had virtually disappeared. Clubhouse captured attention but failed to build trust or deliver consistent value. Users churned quickly because attention without substance has no staying power.
No matter the buzz, it ends as noise without consistency. Brands that quietly accumulate trust are chosen long-term, even without explosive attention.
Attention is the power to be noticed. Brand is the reason to stay.
4. “Premium”: The Price Paradox
Many associate “brand” with “premium” and “luxury.”
Google, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and ChatGPT are free. Amazon Prime offers shipping and video benefits for a modest fee. They are not luxury goods. Yet they are chosen and embedded in daily life. They all have an enormous presence in society, culture, and our individual daily lives.
Many of us can’t live without them.
Brand is not about being premium. It’s about being indispensable.
5. “Market Cap”: Wall Street’s Illusion
Meta and Tesla are symbolic examples. According to the “Corporate Reputation Ranking” by Axios and Harris Poll, in 2025, Meta ranked 97th out of 100 companies alongside those with negative impressions like X (formerly Twitter) and Spirit Airlines. Similarly, Tesla’s reputation languished at 92nd. Both have world-class market capitalizations.
Meta faces ongoing criticism over privacy issues, fake news, and promoting political division. Despite billions using Facebook and Instagram daily, the company struggles with a fundamental trust deficit. Users rely on its platforms while resenting its practices.
CEO Elon Musk’s extreme statements and unstable communications affect Tesla’s brand. In 2025, Chinese EV maker BYD, the brand Musk mocked a decade earlier, surpassed Tesla to become the world’s largest.
Tesla’s market cap is over one trillion dollars. But Tesla’s brand—Trusted Differentiation—is deteriorating.
Market cap can satisfy Wall Street. But brand must satisfy Main Street.
These five misconceptions share a common flaw: they mistake signals for the source. Image, popularity, attention, price, and market cap are outcomes of strong brands—but not the brand itself.
Brand isn’t what you project or cost. It’s what people trust you to deliver consistently.
That trust differentiates you from your competitors.