New Strategic Methodology, specifically developed for the Contemporary world of Branding. Helping Brands be more human.

1. THE HUMAN
BRAND
THEORY
A New Paradigm for
Contemporary Brand
Success
Andre Le Roux and Thys de Beer
BOOK 1

2. INTRODUCTION
____________________________________________
It all started with the story of an apple.
Story telling is part of who we are as human
beings. Through story telling great truths and
learnings are passed on from one generation to
the next. Story telling is used to demystify
complex concepts and ideas. We use stories to
engage with each other, to in one short
paragraph communicate multiple meanings about
ourselves in order to hopefully create a
desired perception about ourselves with others.
A great example of such a story is of how Sir
Isaac Newton “discovered” gravity when an apple
fell on his head. In one swift moment the world
changed, as someone brilliant had a moment of
insight. Since then, we have been telling this
story and our world has truly changed.
That moment was so significant that it never
appeared in Newton’s official biography. We
would only read about this world changing event
11 years after Newton’s death, or 70 years
after the event was said to have happened.
There were of course no real eye witnesses to
the event.
In one small story, so many truths are revealed
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3. about us as human beings. In one brief story we
are not only explained the theory of gravity,
but also the brilliance of Sir Isaac Newton. It
could have been any object that fell, a piece
of paper, a leaf or even Newton himself, but
the author or creator of this story chose an
apple. The very fruit which of course landed us
all in so much trouble in the Garden of Eden,
when Eve plucked the apple from the forbidden
tree of knowledge.
Immediately it elevates the brilliant Newton
even further and places him in the realm of a
modern day Prometheus, who stole the fire from
the gods and gave it to man. If you know the
history of Sir Isaac Newton, this glorification
is something that he would have utterly
enjoyed.
In this story, lies the seeds and inspiration
for the Human Brand Theory©. This little book
is about showing you how Brands and Brand
Strategy is not as one dimensional as what you
may think. There are multiple meanings and
truths that are hidden in every story and most
of the time, those hidden meanings are very
cleverly inserted to do one thing – to plant a
very small seed of meaning and perception.
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4. THE DREAM
________________________________________
Just like a good story, dreams are universal to
all of us. We all have dreams and some men and
women have greater dreams than others. Just
like stories, our dreams have multiple levels
and meanings, but one thing remains true, it is
our dreams that drive us.
The Human Brand Theory© has a very simple
dream:
“To help Brands achieve their dreams in the
ever changing Brand world, through being more
relevant, more engaging, more people focused
and authentic.”
Our dream is not to write and propose the next
Principia Mathematica of Brand Strategy, but
rather to propose a simple holistic model of
how to consistently build Brand success in a
crazy, contemporary (Brand) world.
This is the story of how to build more human
Brands.
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5. THE WHY OF THE HUMAN BRAND THEORY©
________________________________________
Not long before Newton, men were literally
burnt at the stake for challenging and thinking
differently about accepted norms and theories.
Thinking differently requires bravery, and we
believe that the Brand building industry is in
dire need of some brave, challenging thinking.
In the past 100 years we have seen a massive
amount of change in regards to how people think
about Brands and Brand Building. Brands have
gone from being seen as an identifying device,
to a device of competitive differentiation, to
an emotive engagement platform, to even being
described as a feeling and social promise
between consumer and Brand.
The truth of the matter is that Brand Strategy
has become complex, as the world we live in is
rapidly changing and evolving. There are more
competition, more exposure, everything is out
in the open and everybody is connected. The old
methods of Brand building are no longer working
and as a result, we, the industry, have had to
change our thinking about how to build Brands.
In light of all this change, trend analysts and
major Brand thinkers are calling for the
development of more Human Brands.
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6. The very constructs we use to define
contemporary Brand success are very human
constructions. A Brand needs to have ideals,
needs to have a soul or essence, it needs to
build meaning over time, it needs to have a
stable identity, build relationships and above
all else, it needs to tell stories.
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7. THE HUM AN BRAND THEORY© Page 6

8. The argument holds that if Brands need to be
more human, then we need to have a system to
develop more Human Brands that helps Brands to
answer to these modern Brand needs.
This might seem a bit simpler than what it
looks like. Brand Strategy is in a bit of a
bind, as it is a field that pulls from three
theoretical sources: Marketing Theory, Brand
Theory and Consumer Behaviour which in itself
pulls theory from Psychology and Sociology. The
problem is that all of these theories live
apart from each other and not as one global
system.
No wonder people view Brand Strategy as being
complex, and in a modern world where people are
striving for simplification, they are striving
for the simplification of Brand Development.
Simply put, the Human Brand Theory© is a Brand
Building Methodology that tries to incorporate
the effective theoretical constructs of all the
Brand building disciplines into one system, in
order to help us build more Human Brands that
tell great stories and that resonate with
people.
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9. THE HUM AN BRAND THEORY© Page 8

10. AND THE APPLE DROPS. . .
________________________________________
For anyone else during that time period to see
an apple drop and connect it with the existence
of gravity, or to even conceive of the concept
of gravity, they needed to be aware of all the
constructs, schools of thought and applications
of physics and mathematics. Newton took his
ideas, thoughts and learnings and created
something new. A new Model of thinking that
could be applied to the world of physics.
We are by no means creating a new law of
physics, far from it, but the same theoretical
process still applies. Understand the current
thinking and apply it to something new.
When you look at the top Brands in the world
today, specifically the Brands that have been
consistently at the top, you see remarkable
things. All these Brands, i.e. Facebook,
Google, Apple, Nike, IBM, Starbucks and so
forth exhibit very human elements.
In other words, they stand for a higher ideal,
they are focused on a purpose, telling stories,
a stable identity and developing relationships.
They exhibit other elements as well; the way
these Brands developed was in a very stable,
holistic human manner. What we found is that
factors are also prevalent in other things such
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11. as big societal movements such as religion or
the Renaissance.
Brand Strategy might be a relatively new
concept, but all of these traits and factors
are age old, very human and very well
researched and documented by Psychologists and
Sociologists. If these factors are universal,
researched and stable, then it makes sense for
us to try and understand the history,
psychology and sociology behind these human
factors.
By looking at the work done by great
Psychologists, Sociologist and Brand thinkers,
we were able to bridge the gap between Brand
thinking and consumer behaviour, and
incorporate all our thinking into one model.
If you put all of the key insights and
learnings together into a system, you get the
Human Brand Theory©.
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12. WHAT IS THE HUMAN BRAND THEORY?
________________________________________
“A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a
product, service, or company.”
Marty Neumeier – The Brand Gap
WHAT IS THE BIG IDEA?
A successful Brand is just like an influential
Human Being that stands for a higher ideal. He
/ she has a big dream that drives everything
that he / she does. An identity that makes him
/ her compelling and an engaging individual.
And he / she needs to build lasting
relationships in order to grow, thrive and to
be happy.
In a world where Brands need to become more
human, we need to have a methodology that
answers to this need.
The Human Brand Theory© is a Brand development
methodology that is simple to understand,
scientific in application and predictable in
outcome.
Using our understanding of the Psychology and
Sociology, and by using the associated
theoretical and tested models behind these key
“Human Brand Success” Parameters, we are able
to create a methodology to build better Brands.
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13. THE APPLICATION OF THE THEORY
________________________________________
A NEW DEFINITION
If a Brand is a platform for an idea, and that
idea is based on a higher principle and ideal
to improve human life or add value, we can
present the following definition of what a
Brand is.
“A Brand”
“An entity and force of positive social
influence and change.”
In light of this, we can create the following
definition for Brand Strategy:
“Brand Strategy”
Brand Strategy is the organic development of an
entity through utilising societal relevance,
resonance and credibility in order to achieve
transcendence.
All systems and theories have laws that govern
their inner workings. The Human Brand Theory©
is no different.
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14. Putting this into practice – the 7 new laws of
Brand Building.
The Seven Laws to Building Human Focused
Brands:
1. Successful Brands are guided and driven
by a single emotive, unchanging and
inspiring dream.
2. Successful Brands have a stable identity
that develops over time in a systematic
manner.
3. Successful Brands evolve and adapt in
order to survive, but are always rooted
in a single dream and stable identity.
4. Successful Brands are socially relevant
in everything they do, say and how they
express themselves.
5. Successful Brands resonate with their
peers, friends and family through
expression, experience and communication.
6. Successful Brands strive to develop in
order to become more than Brands but
social shapers, identifiers and leaders –
forces of change and influence.
7. Successful Brands are focused on building
long-term relationships that are based on
mutual respect and understanding –
Rapport.
The 7 Laws are proprietary to the Human Brand Theory©
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15. THE BRAND SUCCESS MODEL
________________________________________
The Brand Success model is a model that has
been developed through understanding and
looking at the various psychological and
sociological constructs that determine
successful and stable human development and
influence.
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16. This model works on the basic inside and
outside principle. The outside factors cannot
function without the inside factors and vice
versa.
Right at the core of the success of the Brand
are three key elements:
1. The Dream of the Brand
2. The Identity
3. The Relationship
The external side of the model is filled with
factors that are all results of robust and
successful internal factors working together –
i.e. the internal health of the Brand is
intact.
1. Stability of the Brand over time.
2. Rapport and the constant building of
Rapport.
3. Transcendence and constantly striving to
be more than just a Brand, but to get
people to buy into an idea, ideology and
dream.
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17. A NEW MODEL TO VIEW BRANDS THROUGH
________________________________________
If we say that this is the model of Brand
success and if this is our definition, what do
we need to do to ensure that a Brand achieves
it dreams and ultimately become a successful
and iconic Brand?
In order to do this, we need to focus on
viewing the Brand as a holistic construct. “A
singular entity that is more than the sum of
its parts.”
We cannot simply focus on the positioning of
the Brand, or the Brand message, we need to
judge, analyse and influence the entire Brand
to ensure that the Brand in its entirety
answers to the Brand Success Model, so that the
Brand can grow as predicted by the Human Brand
Theory© Brand growth model.
In regards to the Human Brand Theory©, we can
say that the holistic Brand consists of the
following components:
1. Dream/ Development
2. Mind / Identity
3. Body / Visual Expression
4. Environment / Where the Brand lives and
interacts
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18. THE HUM AN BRAND THEORY© Page 17

19. The Holistic Brand
It is clear that these four components of a
Brand are not only interlinked and heavily
influential on each other, but are also
important to consider when analysing the Brand
and to understand how healthy the Brand is in
each of these components.
In the ever increasing market environment, it
will become impossible to influence Brand
success if we only focus on singular components
of the Brand.
The Human Brand Theory© was born and
conceptualised from the dream to both simplify
Brand Strategy, and also to make the Brand
Strategy process and methodology more effective
and predictable.
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20. THE IMPLICATION OF THE HUMAN BRAND THEORY©
_______________________________________________
Due to the rich theoretical information and
background research that went into the
development of the Human Brand Theory©, we can
effectively help Brands with the following:
> More effectively define their Brand Dream
and Ideal.
> More effectively construct a unique and
engaging Brand Identity that people can
relate to and want to engage with.
> Building more committed and longer
lasting relationships.
> To more effectively grow holistically as
a stable Brand.
> More effectively define their product
offering.
> More effective communication strategy
development at the most relevant contact
and interaction points.
> More optimally use their Brand Portfolio
to build lifelong relationships and
ensure Brand growth.
> More customised solutions to help Brands
grow optimally.
> Help Brands to become more than just
Brands, but become iconic.
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21. > Always stay relevant to consumers and the
environment.
> Constant return on investment as the
Brand is more relevant, constantly
innovative and the consumers are more
committed to the Brand.
> Constant return of investment as the
Brand is constantly talking to committed
Brand consumers who are in a relationship
with the Brand.
> Help Brand ideas to tap into societal
movements and trends, and accordingly
increase consumer buy in and relationship
building with the Brand.
> Help Brands to build and create better,
more relevant and engaging Brand Stories.
> To more effectively and systematically
build relationships.
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22. THE FUTURE AND BEYOND
________________________________________
Using the insights and understandings gained
through our year and a half of in-depth
research into Brand success, societal movements
and human development and influence, we have
been able to develop a very stable and
pragmatic Brand building methodology.
Through using this methodology we have
developed a whole range of Brand success
interventions and products to ensure that
Brands develop in a stable manner, that the
Brands are driven by and rooted in the correct
values and ideals and that the Brand builds
mutually beneficial relationships. More than
just a methodology, we have developed a
language and a different paradigm to
approaching not only Brands, but also Brand
success.
When Newton wrote his Princepia Mathematica,
there were reportedly only a handful of people
that could read and understand this piece of
literature – our goal is to help people better
understand the needed complexities of a Brand
and Brand Strategy.
If you want to know more about our thinking and
methodology, please feel free to contact us for
a personal presentation.
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23. ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Andre le Roux is a Brand Strategist, Mentor and
Brand Theorist who has been working in the
Brand Strategy industry for more than 10 years.
He loves his job, thinking too much about
Branding, dreaming about the power of Brands
and better ways of building better Brands.
Thys de Beer is the Lead Navigator of Brand
Strategy at The Vega School of Branding
Leadership, as well as the head of the Honours
Programme at Vega. He has been in the industry
for over 10 years and is currently busy with
his Master’s Degree thesis on the Artist as a
Brand.
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24. The End
Please contact us for more information. Please note that all work pertaining to the
Human Brand Theory© is Proprietary and that all information and constructs
appropriated in order to build the model will be correctly referenced.
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