Sociality

Great post by Faris about the assumption that brands lie in the heads of individuals.  They are a social beast, and I'm looking forward to reading Mark's new book that should advance the thinking around this.
One thing, to tie this into stuff from some of the recent posts, is that this thinking helps make clear the role of the brand and its communications today -  give an idea, a belief that has enough power and stickiness to live between people, and corral people around it.  That's what makes a brand successful today.

Comments

[Mark Earls]

Spot on, old bean.

But you better believe what you say you believe. When I was researching the book found this great EP study which shows (I think) that whatever culture you're from (Harvard undergrad to Hunter Gatherer), and however good you are at formal (i.e. culturally-derived/expressed logic problems), you'd still be top notch at spotting cheaters and deception in social rules...

L. Cosmides and J. Tooby (2005). ‘Neurocognitive adaptations designed for social
exchange’. In D.M. Buss (ed.), Evolutionary Psychology Handbook. John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.

I'm sure it's online somewhere if you're interested.

M

[Gareth]

I'll have a dig. I guess it's time for a dose of honesty and even humility