C3Blog – The Culture of Brand

Decoding Brand Decrosion

Posted in retail branding by c3brandworks on June 1, 2008

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There are moments, all brand developers live for and C3Brandworks encountered one of these moments this week.

It started innocently enough with a phone call from Adam Brandt, a resident who was looking for something special — a hat for a regional community brand that C3B had designed years ago.

What made this call remarkable were two things. One, that he had the perseverance to track us down after all these years as a possible source to replace his hat. Which is long gone from any store shelves. And two, that he had a strong enough brand affinity that it was worth doing so. And thus, in this moment, provided the thing that all brand developers dream will happen but doesn’t always…the brand connected to the point that it was not only loved, but loved until it was completely worn out. It was a reward for us all when we found a new hat tucked away in our studio to replace his worn out relic. And genuine relic it is, a completely decroded piece of headwear so worn, so loved, so used that it is just simply “beautiful decrosion”. A partially decomposed hat that says more about the brand and its connection to a person, than we ever could. Adam not only uses that hat to identify something to be loyal to for reasons of his own, but something to self identify with as well. We can dig that. And what is even more remarkable is that this hat (shown) is actually a generation #2 wear out…generation #1 bit the dust long-long ago! It really is what branding is about – connecting.

Its like we said, it’s a moment you live for, a living proof of concept. C3B gives Adam Brandt our brand loyalist salute, with gratitude, respect and appreciation.

Go ahead, wear hat gen#3 completely out too!

~ C3 Brandworks

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One Response

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  1. TracyW said, on June 13, 2008 at 5:42 pm

    This is, indeed, a VERY cool brand. I love seeing the vanity plates around town and wonder how the drivers acquired their prizes. The lapel pins are also extremely popular with out of town guests.

    More often than you think, I find myself wondering about the spark this brand — and the spirit behind it — needs to completely saturate our town.

    Pardon me for mixing metaphors, but you’ve got a seriously cool rocket ship. Now, if we could just get the right launch pad.

    If I might be so bold as to request a topic on your fine blog – how about ruminating a bit on your really AWESOME car?


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