Robert Bolt in his famous play ‘A Man for all Seasons’ wrote, “A hero’s character inevitably leads him or her to conflict with forces he cannot master.”
Elaborating on this theme, artist and writer Parvathi Nayar in her book Passages suggests that when man comes into conflict with such forces he has to choose between the discomfort of his heroic self, and the comfort of his ordinariness.
Now, could this be an interesting way of looking at brands too? When a brand, is confronted with a new challenge, what kind of choices does it make? As brand owners, do we invoke the hero’s nature in the brand and embrace the discomfort of entering uncharted territories, or are we happy to keep the brand comfortably confined in its past?
A brand’s continuing greatness or indeed its chronic ordinariness could perhaps find interesting explanations in the way the brand has dealt with challenge and adversity.
Elaborating on this theme, artist and writer Parvathi Nayar in her book Passages suggests that when man comes into conflict with such forces he has to choose between the discomfort of his heroic self, and the comfort of his ordinariness.
Now, could this be an interesting way of looking at brands too? When a brand, is confronted with a new challenge, what kind of choices does it make? As brand owners, do we invoke the hero’s nature in the brand and embrace the discomfort of entering uncharted territories, or are we happy to keep the brand comfortably confined in its past?
A brand’s continuing greatness or indeed its chronic ordinariness could perhaps find interesting explanations in the way the brand has dealt with challenge and adversity.
