I'm constantly trying to understand what brand actually means. It seems like there are so many different interpretations and definitions of the word. My own definition of brand always seems to be very visual, even though I'm aware that brand runs much deeper than the eye.

Over the last 26 days or so, I've committed to studying an existing framework/case study in marketing & writing a short article summarising my understanding. Today I'm going to put forward my own idea - The Pinterest Test.

As my understanding of brand increases, I'm starting to view brand as something you achieve, rather than something you create. Branding is the work you do to try and create a brand - brand itself is the outcome of doing that work successfully. Sure, you can launch a company today, and the combination of your logo and website and social media etc is a 'brand'. But that doesn't mean you have a brand.

So what's the Pinterest test?

The Pinterest test is a test to figure out if you've actually built a brand - not just a set of branding elements pieced together.

How does it work?

If you can answer 'yes' to the following question, you've passed the Pinterest test.

If you asked someone familiar with your brand to build a Pinterest board that represents your brand, would they be able to?

Examples

If you asked me to build a Pinterest board for Patagonia, I'd be able to in a heartbeat. Adventurers, mountains, rock climbers, tents, sunrises, campfires, backpacks, sunsets and lakes. What does this mean? It means that Patagonia has successfully instilled within me an immediate mental image when I think of the brand. They occupy that space within my mind, and as a result, I'd be able to successfully build a Pinterest board to capture the feeling.

Look, not all brands are as visually obvious as Patagonia - a Pinterest board is a lot harder to build for an accounting software service. The principle holds water, though - have you successfully instilled a mental image, an emotion, in the minds of your customer?

If so, you might be on your way to building a brand.