For years we’ve been telling our clients, and ourselves, that branding is all about differentiation – standing out, getting noticed, offering something special, relevant or valuable – or just being different.
So, when a fashion trend comes along lauding a certain ‘ordinariness’ – the polar opposite of what the fashion world traditionally sees as its business – what are we supposed to make of it in branding terms?
There is an attraction in neutrality. When everyone else is shouting or talking, silence is golden. But we’ve learnt to equate proactivity with success – neutrality is just for boring losers. And who wants a boring brand?
Well, maybe there’s more to ordinariness than being boring. Take the NHS, for example. Now there’s a case for normcore. I want my NHS to be ordinary. A service that’s not threatening, but neither is it uncaring. I want it to be there in an everyday kind of way. I’m also quite happy for my utility services to be normcore. Think of having all your home infrastructure services provided in an ordinary way – giving you electricity, gas, telecoms and broadband in a consistent, everyday way. Simple, no hype, just plain ordinary. How wonderful! And just imagine, under a newly elected government, a re-nationalised normcore rail service could be just the ticket.
Of course, normcore doesn’t imply underperformance. Your normcore trainers, jeans and t-shirts still need to fit, wear well and, in their ordinary way, look good. Normcore, as I understand it, implies getting on with your life without worrying too much about self-conscious appearances.
So, what might a normcore brand look and feel like? Clear, straightforward, competent, functional, familiar – characteristics that wouldn’t be bad starters for a design brief.
I know that many will say that normcore is just another fashion, and in the fashion world it probably is, already being discarded as last year’s fad as I write. In the branding world though we don’t see ourselves as being about fashion, but we are certainly about spotting cultural trends that might add new meanings to what we do. Perhaps normcore could lend something new to how we lead our lives and the brands we help create.