Schott on the Brandscape
A collection of essays on modern branding.
Once a week, I’ll be publishing one of the branding essays I wrote for Bloomberg Opinion, where I had the excellent fortune to ponder in public about the clash between commerce and communication.
Written between 2020 and 2023, these pieces range widely: rebrands that soared or stalled; brands that clashed with politics, culture, technology, or generational taste; questions of humo(u)r, authenticity, power, symbolism, animals, alphabets, dashboards, and dreams.
Some essays followed household names at revealing moments; others tracked such patterns as collaboration fever, debranding, vernacular tone, brand-longing, and purpose inflation.
Read singly, they’re case studies. Read weekly, I hope they form a field guide to branding as observed in the wild, animated by curiosity, craft, and a long-standing fascination with how products find customers — and vice versa.
First up, the column that kicked it all off: BLANDS …