Smashing The Brand
In 1915, Coca-Cola challenged the Root Glass Company to design a bottle so distinctive it could be recognised by touch in the dark and identified even when smashed into pieces. Earl R. Dean’s response was the now-iconic contour bottle, inspired by the ridged form of the cocoa pod.
The lesson extends beyond packaging. Enduring companies are not built on visibility alone, but on coherence. Their identity, strategy, culture, customer experience, and operating behaviour must reinforce one another so clearly that the organisation remains recognisable in every fragment.
Branding is often reduced to a logo, a campaign, or a branded item. In reality, a brand is the cumulative expression of how an organisation thinks, acts, communicates, and delivers value — the connection between business strategy and lived experience.
Many companies struggle not because their strategy is weak, but because it is poorly translated across the organisation. Building a company that can outlive its founders requires a clear business strategy, a coherent brand strategy, and a team capable of translating both into consistent action.
“If your brand were broken into fragments, would each piece still tell the same story — or reveal the company you are truly trying to build?”