I was just texting with my son at college. He’s balancing a bunch of hard classes with a ton of base training, getting ready for his next bike racing season.
He’s juggling a lot and needed a little pep talk.
And as I was trying to come up with the right words to hype him up and see the bigger picture, I realized something:
It’s never been easier to say something.
But it’s never been harder to make those words mean something.
Maybe it’s AI.
Maybe it’s the chaos of the world.
You know, it’s interesting to think about how this relates to the role and the state of brands right now. Because as business owners and brand builders, it’s easy for our focus to drift toward the immediate point of pressure we’re feeling instead of looking up to see the bigger picture.
And that bigger picture, as brands, isn’t just to move product.
It’s to move people.
To get under their skin and make them think.
To invite them into a vision of the world they want to be part of.
To make their lives better because we, as brands, exist.
So today, I’m asking you to ask yourself something:
How do you move people?
Look back at the last six months of creative you’ve put out. Scroll your Instagram. Skim your LinkedIn. Review your campaigns.
Then ask:
- What have you made people think about?
- How have you clearly expressed your vision of the world?
- How have you made people’s lives better by being in them?
Answer it for your brand.
And maybe answer it for yourself, too.
Because people want to be moved. They need to be seen.
They don’t need to be sold another thing that looks like every other thing.
They don’t need to hear the same message everyone else is saying.
Our job isn’t just to move product.
It’s to move people.
PS, If you want to go a little deeper, Walden Hyde’s Clarity Checklist is a good place to start.