Dreams for dollars

Brands are stories. They are narratives that infuse meaning to otherwise inanimate commodities. Interestingly, such stories are just as real as the tangible products, services or entities they animate. According to neuroscience, the human brain does not distinguish between reading or hearing a story and experiencing it in real life. In both cases, the same neurological regions are activated. Our realities, factual or dreamed, are one and the same. And, when dreams are reality, art is science and emotion is reason.

If this sounds like Alice’s fall down the rabbit hole it’s because that’s exactly what consumers are asked every time they face a brand interaction, “Nowadays the really hard stuff is the soft stuff.” Or, the real sell is of the sizzle and then the sausage.