If you're into contemporary science fiction films and series, you're probably familiar with cyborg characters. For those who don't know, "cyborg" refers to human characters who are enhanced and have multiple mechanical parts integrated into their bodies. In short, a cyborg is a form of "half-human, half-machine" life. The character "Cyborg" from DC Comics, featured in the Teen Titans and Justice League series, is particularly well-known to Vietnamese audiences (yes, they use a common term as the character's name).

Returning to the main topic, then what exactly does branding like a cyborg entail?

Building a brand is one of the top priorities for businesses today. If we consider a brand as a living entity, it can be constructed in the following ways:

1- Subjective Branding:

You choose to build your brand solely based on your subjective internal values. Similar to an artist, you don't care much about what the market thinks; you just want to express your thoughts and feelings. Your brand will have its own soul, personality, values, attitudes, and behaviors, differentiating it from other brands. It's like a naturally occurring "person," full of character and uniqueness.

2- Objective Branding:

Contrary to subjective branding, you construct your brand entirely based on the desires and tastes of the market. Your brand is built from a predetermined design to ensure the best business efficiency. Being created solely on market metrics will make operations easier and gain public acceptance, but it might struggle to convey unique, innovative, breakthrough values. Your brand at this point is like a "robot," highly optimized in functionality but seemingly lacking in personality and originality.

3- Combined Branding:

You build your brand based on a combination of subjective internal values and market research. It still retains its unique soul while ensuring it's designed efficiently. At this point, your brand is a blend of human and machine, resembling the cyborg entity mentioned earlier. In this aspect, cyborgs are indeed highly optimized, aren't they?

Selecting Branding Approach:

Returning to the fundamental concept and goal of branding, in marketing and advertising, branding is the process of building and managing the brand of a company or product. It helps create an image and reputation for the company or product, making it easier for customers to recognize and remember the brand.

If you choose to build a brand like a human, solely based on your subjective values without caring about market perceptions, you might risk being "isolated." Whether or not you can establish connections and empathy with many people is somewhat left to chance. Subjective branding can create strong and unforgettable impressions, explore entirely new markets no one has ventured into before, but may face challenges in accessing and developing markets. If fortunate, you might build a loyal, devoted fan base without spending too much on marketing budgets. It's truly worth trying for small startup companies with unique values. Steve Jobs' approach with Apple is a prime example of this branding method. This confident entrepreneur once stated: "Customers don't know what they want until you show it to them."

- Advantages: The brand is highly unique and creative, making breakthrough values easier to establish and creating a strong bond with a specific customer base.
- Disadvantages: The brand may be limited in terms of reach and adaptability to changing markets.

Purely objective branding involves constructing your brand entirely based on the desires and tastes of the market. Your brand is created from a predetermined design. You follow what has been carefully measured based on public preferences. It sounds reasonable, but your robot-like brand might become dull because it lacks uniqueness. In the short term, it may bring safe business efficiency, but in the long run, it's difficult to build a loyal fan base. At this point, to become top-of-mind in consumers' minds, you'll have to rely entirely on a massive marketing budget. In other words, you need to be a giant to execute this "Robot" strategy. Can you guess some typical companies fitting this description? Opposite to Apple? Yes, exactly, it's the well-known giant Samsung, very familiar to Vietnamese people.

- Advantages: The brand is flexible and diverse, able to serve various types of customers and different markets.
- Disadvantages: The brand lacks the personality needed to attract and build its own community, vulnerable to being copied and competed against by rivals.

Well, one approach fits only pioneers, the "artists" in brand building, while another is tailored for the "big players" with bottomless pockets. So, what about us "ordinary folks"? It seems pretty obvious, doesn't it? Let's get to work and create our own cyborg right away!
You should have original values, creative and unique ideas, while also knowing how to adjust and adapt to changes in customers' and competitors' behaviors. "Cyborg" branding still carries a bit of your soul, yet ensures it's built like a scientific design. Of course, the ratio of "human" to "machine" depends entirely on you.

Are you ready to build your own cyborg? Contact Brobrand to schedule a free consultation. Additionally, we regularly maintain sharing posts at a frequency of 1-2 articles per month. Subscribe to Brobrand's newsletter to read the latest articles directly in your email. Goodbye and see you again soon!