Expensive

It’s Expensive Not To Be Remembered: The Power of Branding.

We live in a world saturated with brands, bombarded by endless ads, visuals, and marketing campaigns every single day. Walk through any city, scroll through your phone, or turn on the TV, and you’ll see the same recycled aesthetics over and over again brands blending into one indistinguishable mass of sameness. And that’s the problem. Studies estimate that the average person encounters anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 ads per day—yet how many do we actually remember? The reality is, in a world oversaturated with branding, the human brain is wired to ignore most of it

If your brand looks like everyone else’s, why should anyone remember you?  

Humans are neurologically programmed to filter out unnecessary information—it’s a survival mechanism. According to a Microsoft study, the average human attention span has dropped to just 8 seconds, meaning brands have an extremely limited window to make an impression. Companies spend millions, and I mean millions on advertising, but if their brand lacks distinctiveness, that money might as well be wasted, I have been in the industry for over a decade and I’ve seen it first hand. No one remembers the forgettable. No one engages with the uninspired. If your identity is just another echo of the latest design trend, what’s stopping consumers from going with the brand next to you that looks exactly the same?  

Revolutionary Brands Take Risks 

This decline in attention span isn’t just anecdotal—it’s backed by neuroscience. The reticular activating system (RAS) in our brain acts as a filter, determining what sensory information gets processed and what gets discarded. The more predictable or repetitive something is, the more likely it is to being, you guess it, ignored.

This is why generic ads fail. When we see the same formulaic commercial—whether it’s a tech company using soft gradients and sans-serif fonts or a pharmaceutical ad with a slow-motion shot of someone laughing in a field, our brain immediately recognizes the pattern and tunes it out. It’s the same reason people can predict the next line in a horror movie they seen it before.

The brands that stand the test of time the ones that truly shape culture are the ones that dare to push boundaries. They’re bold, disruptive, and instantly recognizable. Think about brands that have made lasting impressions. They don’t just follow trends; they create them. They don’t just blend in; they demand attention.  

Companies are always searching for innovators and visionaries—whether in design, marketing, or leadership because they understand that moving the needle is what creates impact. Playing it safe doesn’t build legendary brands. Standing out does.  

A Case of Forgettable Design: Tech’s Branding Problem  

Having worked in tech, I’ve noticed something frustratingly common: every tech brand looks the same. The same sans-serif typography. The same colors. The same generic, flat-vector illustrations. It’s like a sea of copy-paste design choices, all blurring into one.  

When I worked at Chime, we intentionally set out to break that pattern. We didn’t want to be another financial technology brand drowning in sameness—we wanted to differentiate. We made strategic decisions to ensure that our brand wasn’t just another clone. And that’s what makes a brand memorable.  

Take Cash App, for example. They’ve mastered the art of differentiation. Their bold, almost rebellious approach to branding sets them apart. Their visuals are instantly recognizable, their marketing is playful yet strategic, and they have a clear personality all of which make them stick in people’s minds.  

The Cost of Being Forgettable  

Imagine spending thousands (or millions) on an ad campaign, only for consumers to scroll past it without a second thought because it looks like everything else. That’s wasted money and missed opportunity.  

On the flip side, when a brand dares to be different, it captures attention. A while ago, I came across a lipstick with an unusual cap design and a cheeky instagram post and a popular song. It was unlike anything I’d seen before, and that small detail alone made me curious enough to visit their site—I even considered buying it just because of how distinct it was. That’s the power of branding. That’s the power of standing out.  

So, What’s the Lesson?  

Engaging More Than Just the Eyes.To truly stand out, brands must engage multiple senses. Sensory branding taps into sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell to create a holistic brand experience. Think about the distinctive scent of a Starbucks store or the feel of an Apple product in your hand—these sensory cues reinforce brand identity and make the experience memorable. In a world flooded with stimuli, engaging multiple senses can make a brand more recognizable and emotionally resonant, leading to stronger customer loyalty.

If you want your brand to be remembered, you need consistency, strategy, and the courage to be different. Don’t fall victim of design trends. Be the trend. 

• Consistency ensures that your brand stays recognizable across every touchpoint.  

• Strategy ensures that differentiation isn’t just random—it’s intentional.  

• Boldness ensures that you don’t fade into the background.  

At the end of the day, being forgettable is expensive. But standing out? Now that’s priceless.  I did buy the lipstick.