Bran(d)gelina

Growing up in Las Vegas, “the entertainment capital of the world” and having frequently made the four-hour jaunt up the road to the City of Angels, the home of Hollywood, I have a love/hate relationship with the world of glitz and glam. That love/hate is particularly strong with the latter – all things Hollywood. From the sheer ingenuity and creativity that is produced from its world, to the absurdity of the lifestyle in tinseltown that runs rampant (not to mention the insanity of the Paparazzi . . . but that’s another story), its a world that I love and hate. . . with a passion.

A wild eyed, intriguing and preposterous creature that Hollywood is.

One corner of this world though, I’m drawn to, find intriguing, and I’m genuinely interested in.

Brangelina.

When I think about both Brad and Angelina, I think about how they communicate who they are to the world and why brands should take note.

* A brand should be thought provoking - Watch Twelve Monkeys, Fight Club, Babel and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. There’s enough though provoking conversations in those movies for days.

* Brands should be seductive – As Lee Clow says, “every brand touch point needs to be treated as if it were an opportunity to seduce an audience” and Brangelina are in the top 10 list of the most seductive people in the world.

* A Brand should have substance – Having served in the Peace Corps for 2 ½ years and worked and traveled in developing countries in southern and east Africa, I know that Angelina Jolie isn’t a UN Ambassador because she’s trying to be a rock star. There’s a genuine compassion on her part, for people living in unstable communities across the world.

* Brands should leverage the power of storytelling – who tells stories better than the actors and directors of Hollywood?

* Brands and Design should have much more intimate conversations with each other. Charlie Rose asked Brad Pitt in an interview a few years back that if he wasn’t an actor what would he be and Brad's response, “I’d be an architect." This isn’t just lip service. For some time now he’s been working with the avant-garde architecture firm Graft out of Berlin. Stepping into the world of design can change and transform the way you interpret the world.

* Brands should have a healthy disregard for the status quo and should look to not play by the rules. This is the role of rebels, and Angelina is the female rebel of Hollywood.

* Brands should provide value – Value is something that matters. In many ways it would be difficult to say that these two did not matter to one another. They are providing that support to each other and to their children. It’s A small community of 8 (but a community nonetheless) and they matter to one another. The question you should never stop asking is "how does your brand matter and to who?"

Now whether by design or by default the Bran(d)gelina effect results in sexiness, substance, power (star power that is), appeal, purpose and viability. Now say what you want . . .any brand would kill to have all of the above – in the same time and space.

So now you just might want to go and get your Bran(d)gelina on folks. . .go and get your Bran(d)gelina on. . .