All is Brand

Quite some while ago a my oh so sweet and lovely friend ‘Mar’ invited me to go to a book launch of this book called ‘Bonfire of the brands’ by Neil Boorman.
The event took place at Mother, where a discussion panel talked about the book and the addition of some glasses of wine stimulated the audience to react as well (coincidentally, they also served the world’s largest bread sticks).

The book is a sort of reflective diary by Neil who, a bit over a year ago, decided to burn every single branded item he had (I know…very brave man) to find out if it’s possible to live without brands

Although I really like the idea of Neil, my very humble opinion thinks it is impossible to live without brands or be unbranded. Why?
First let’s start with a quick but quite essential question: Why are ‘things’ branded? It’s to stand out, to get noticed, to differentiate from similar products etc.
Now let’s take a look at people in general (and Mr. Boorman in special). They try to stand out by branding themselves through their character and physical features (core values) and friends, parents, family, living area and clothes (added values). So basically everyone is a brand in their own, to be more exact you are brand ‘fill in your name here’.

What Neil does by burning all his branded possessions is differentiating himself from his social surroundings. He obviously does it for all the right ethical and moral reasons and stuff, but he is actually re-branding himself and (as I like to believe) in a much stronger one than he previously was.
So now, the moment ‘monsieur sans marques’ puts on a black unbranded shirt, or makes his own toothpaste (he actually did!) these products in essence become brands as well (also you really have to make an effort in finding these so they actually are more differentiated then the well known average high street brands).

So are unbranded items brands as well? I believe they are (besides the fruit & vegetables category though). Not in the way of a name, design, color or logo but in the way that they too communicate a distinct message of differentiation and tell something about the consumer.

Got opinion?