soulsight®

Recently I have been reviewing Alina Wheeler’s book “Designing Brand Identity,” and was particularly interested in the study on simple brand identity elements and their meaning.

I decided to test my son, who is 5 and not quite reading yet. I gathered some of the most recognizable brands and asked him what they were and what they meant to him. I was curious which brands he could identify and then wondered if he could explain what they stood for. He did better than I expected. It’s amazing the power that some of these brands have, and how they are able to communicate at such a basic level.

Here are the results. It’s interesting how the simple answers relate to what each brand delivers. (The captions below are how my son identified each brand)



1) “McDonalds” - That’s were you get french fries”
2) "Coca-Cola - Gives you coke”
3) “UPS - Gives you packages” (Grandpa is a retired UPS man)
4) "Computer - Sends you email sometimes”
5) “Target - You buy stuff there”
6) “The World - You can live on it” (This could be an interesting campaign for AT&T)
7) "Disney - You can go there and go on all kinds of rides, see Tinker Bell and Cinderella's castle” (We have never been to Disney land)
8) “The Post Office - Where you mail stuff”
9) “Wii - You can play games”
10) “Piggly Wiggly - You buy stuff there” (We refer to this place as “The Pig”)
11) “Soccer - You can buy soccer stuff” (Not surprising, he just started playing soccer this spring)