A personal thought from Erich Posselt
What will remain when brands disappear one day?
For 25 years now, I've been working to strengthen brands. Domizlaff, Deichsel, Zernisch, the Forum Markentechnik (shout out to Peter Sumerauer), and, for the past year, the Brand Club, to name just a few. I've always been drawn to people and books that have inspired, accompanied, and guided me in my search for the meaning of brands.
From time to time, I find myself questioning the meaning of it all. "Why am I doing branding? What contribution am I actually making?" Perhaps you feel the same way when you see a bad campaign or a product that you're certain the world doesn't need. Something completely meaningless, hollow, without spirit, without depth. And yet, it's bought and consumed in droves. I then wonder if what I'm doing is right—helping companies build a strong brand. In those moments, I look inward.
And then I wonder what would happen if a brand simply disappeared. Not faded or lost its significance, but truly ceased to exist.
Come along on this journey: Let's imagine a world where brands no longer matter. No logos, no campaigns, no stories. Products explain themselves, data is completely transparent, every decision is based on facts, not feelings. A world without uncertainty, without suggestion. Perfectly rational, perfectly uniform. Then there would be no need for a symbol to guide me. No story to give me meaning. Socially, this would be the logical endpoint of a technocratic transparency society (greetings to Byung-Chul Han).
Because brands emerge precisely where uncertainty begins. Where we feel something we can't calculate: trust, longing, belonging. If these spaces disappear, the brand disappears too. So, if everything were visible, measurable, and certain, the brand would lose its purpose. Nietzsche would have said: "The animal without metaphors." Humans would no longer need to define themselves through signs or differences. They would be pure function, pure process. Perhaps that sounds efficient. To me, it sounds empty.
And then I remember. Because as a brand strategist, I know this: even in such a world, branding wouldn't be dead, but absorbed. If brands disappeared, something else would take their place. Perhaps systems, perhaps codes, perhaps algorithms. Brand as a silent presence in the background. Like electricity or the internet today: ubiquitous, invisible, taken for granted. Humans themselves would be the bearers of the brand, or rather, the machines that replace them. The tipping point between humanism and technocracy would be reached.
Because I believe brands are ultimately nothing more than mirrors of our consciousness. They tell us how we want to see the world, and sometimes also how we fear it. So as long as we feel, compare, and dream, there will be brands. Not as logos or campaigns, but as an attitude, as a human reminder that meaning cannot be programmed. Perhaps that is precisely my greatest concern: a world in which every surface is smooth, every structure transparent, but nothing is tangible anymore. A world without shadows—and therefore without a soul.
So, in my work, I fight for brands to retain their soul, because they reflect humanity: the imperfect, the searching. What I want are companies that strive for more than just superficiality or growth in numbers. Because where it's only about "selling more," about "more money," everything loses depth and ultimately, humanity.
And then I know again, this is exactly where the meaning of my work lies.
Because this view of brands as something that preserves humanity can help to restore balance between planet, people, and profit. When we understand that brands are not only economic but also cultural and social forces, it becomes clear that meaning and responsibility go hand in hand.
What do you think?
How do you see the future of the brand – as a symbol, a system, or something else entirely?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts.