Our thinking on business and brand, and what makes them grow
Brand building in plain sight
Brand building tactics are everywhere around us, from the towering displays of Times Square to the everyday interactions in our neighbourhoods in Singapore. Photo by Vlad Alexandru Popa / Pexels
By Sue Ann Ho, Founder
18 July 2025 • 4 min read
While business schools teach brand theory, the real masterclass is happening around us.
TAKEAWAYS
- Successful brands leave clues about their strategy in their everyday actions and choices.
- We can observe consistent patterns in their approach: they stand for more than their product, connect with a human truth, and are relentlessly consistent.
- By learning to spot these patterns, we can approach our own brand building more strategically.
The brand stands for more than what it sells
Brands are building connections with us all the time. It’s what happens when we remember them by name, pause at their messages, and hum the jingles that replay in our heads. We engage with brands in these ways because of strategic choices that they make when they purposefully seek us out in our daily lives.
These brands figured out how to make people care, how to stay memorable, how to build a connection that lasts. Their tactics are right there in front of us, woven into our everyday and everywhere. The TV, the phone, the streets, our world wide web. By looking closely at these brands and how we interact with them, we start to pick up brand building tactics that work.
While every brand’s journey is different, we can observe certain consistencies in some of the most memorable brands.
Key observations:
Let’s look at the example of Google. As a search engine, it could have focused purely on technical superiority like faster algorithms, better indexing etc. But look at its brand choices. A colourful logo, the delightful Google Doodles… and did you know that the name Google is a misspelling that founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin decided to keep?
More than a search engine, we get the sense that the Google brand stands for playful searchability—a fitting strategy to deliver on its mission to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
What it stands for is aligned with human truth
In a 1988 TV ad, a bare-bodied 80-year-old Walt Stack is jogging along the Golden Gate Bridge. “I run 17 miles every morning,” he says. People ask me how I keep my teeth from chattering in the winter time,” he continues. “I leave ‘em in my locker.”
This was the ad that launched Nike’s famous brand message. It doesn’t mention the performance technology that Nike has always been big on. Instead, it plants its two feet firmly on the side of action over inaction. 37 years later, it’s still our internal rallying cry when we’re caught between “maybe next time” and “just do it”.
The brand is clear and consistent about what it stands for
Take POSB. Everything it does reinforces its role as our “People’s Bank”. It puts its banks and ATMs all over the Singapore heartlands, and proudly brands itself as neighbours first, bankers second. Its offerings are straightforward. Savings accounts, personal loans and just one credit card product. And when you check out its socials, you’ll see the bank championing financial literacy in our schools, spotlighting neighbourhood businesses and celebrating the holidays with the community.
The truth is, brand building is complex. Most businesses figure out their brands through trial and error. But the good news? With insights into what works and how, by observing the successful brands around us, we can approach brand building more strategically.
Brand building isn’t hidden theory. It’s all around us. By noticing how successful brands connect with people, we can take the guesswork out of building brands that stand out and grow.
