0:00:01.595,0:00:05.848
Thirteen point eight billion years ago,

0:00:05.872,0:00:09.675
the universe as we know it[br]began with a big bang,

0:00:09.699,0:00:15.616
and everything that we know and are[br]and are made of was created.

0:00:17.301,0:00:19.531
Fifty thousand years ago,

0:00:19.555,0:00:23.277
our brains underwent[br]a major genetic mutation,

0:00:23.301,0:00:27.796
which resulted in the biological[br]reorganization of the brain.

0:00:28.494,0:00:33.131
Some scientists call this[br]"The Big Brain Bang."

0:00:33.887,0:00:37.018
Others call it "The Great Leap Forward,"

0:00:37.042,0:00:38.196
which I prefer.

0:00:38.220,0:00:39.648
It's so much more poetic.

0:00:40.290,0:00:46.607
This is when Homo sapiens began to evolve[br]into the modern species that we are today.

0:00:47.778,0:00:52.509
The Great Leap Forward activated[br]most of our modern abilities:

0:00:52.533,0:00:55.069
abstract thought, planning,

0:00:56.124,0:00:58.487
cooking, competitive labor,

0:00:58.511,0:01:01.574
language, art, music

0:01:01.598,0:01:03.079
and self-decoration.

0:01:03.591,0:01:05.224
After the Great Leap Forward,

0:01:05.248,0:01:09.584
there was an explosion[br]of stone toolmaking,

0:01:09.608,0:01:12.035
more sophisticated weaponry

0:01:12.059,0:01:15.202
and, 32,000 years ago,

0:01:15.226,0:01:21.946
the creation of our first sophisticated[br]mark-making on the cave walls of Lascaux.

0:01:23.183,0:01:27.562
It's not a coincidence that we've gone[br]from documenting our reality

0:01:27.586,0:01:30.033
on the cave walls of Lascaux

0:01:30.057,0:01:32.843
to the walls of Facebook.

0:01:33.311,0:01:36.408
And, in a very meta experience,

0:01:36.432,0:01:40.998
you can now a book a trip[br]to see the walls of Lascaux

0:01:41.022,0:01:42.924
on the walls of Facebook.

0:01:44.114,0:01:46.937
Approximately 10,000 years ago,

0:01:46.962,0:01:51.803
men and women began to array[br]themselves with makeup.

0:01:52.048,0:01:53.939
They started to self-decorate.

0:01:54.233,0:01:59.926
But this wasn't for seductive purposes;[br]this was for religious convictions.

0:01:59.951,0:02:04.073
We wanted to be more[br]beautiful, purer, cleaner

0:02:04.098,0:02:07.157
in the eyes of something or someone

0:02:07.182,0:02:09.801
that we believed[br]had more power than we did.

0:02:10.585,0:02:12.433
There is no culture

0:02:13.276,0:02:15.733
in recorded human history

0:02:15.757,0:02:20.656
that has not practiced[br]some form of organized worship,

0:02:20.680,0:02:23.464
which we now call "religion."

0:02:24.308,0:02:28.470
Six thousand years ago,[br]in an effort to unite people,

0:02:28.494,0:02:35.014
our ancestors began to design[br]telegraphic symbols to represent beliefs

0:02:35.038,0:02:37.427
and to identify affiliations.

0:02:37.950,0:02:41.762
These symbols connected[br]like-minded people,

0:02:41.786,0:02:43.816
and they are all extraordinary.

0:02:44.400,0:02:49.206
These affiliations allowed us[br]to feel safer and more secure in groups,

0:02:49.230,0:02:54.924
and the sharing created consensus[br]around what the symbols represented.

0:02:54.948,0:02:58.150
With these marks,[br]you knew where you fit in,

0:02:58.174,0:03:01.360
both for the people[br]that were in the in crowd

0:03:01.384,0:03:05.061
and those, as importantly,[br]that were excluded.

0:03:05.085,0:03:11.313
These symbols were created in what[br]I consider to be a very bottom-up manner:

0:03:11.337,0:03:14.408
they were made by people for people

0:03:14.432,0:03:18.022
and then shared for free among people

0:03:18.046,0:03:21.548
to honor the higher power[br]that they ascribed to.

0:03:22.232,0:03:27.370
What's ironic is that the higher power[br]actually had nothing to do with this.

0:03:28.721,0:03:30.782
These early affiliations,

0:03:30.806,0:03:33.846
they often shared[br]identical characteristics,

0:03:33.870,0:03:35.750
which is rather baffling

0:03:35.774,0:03:39.263
given how scattered we were[br]all over the planet.

0:03:39.287,0:03:43.328
We constructed similar rituals,[br]practices and behaviors

0:03:43.352,0:03:48.459
no matter where we were[br]anywhere on the globe.

0:03:48.483,0:03:54.125
We constructed rituals[br]to create symbolic logos.

0:03:54.149,0:03:56.614
We built environments for worship.

0:03:56.638,0:04:00.831
We developed strict rules[br]on how to engage with each other

0:04:00.855,0:04:03.085
with food, with hair,

0:04:03.109,0:04:05.044
with birth, with death,

0:04:05.068,0:04:07.438
with marriage and procreation.

0:04:07.968,0:04:11.929
Some of the symbols[br]have eerie commonalities.

0:04:12.315,0:04:17.842
The hand of God shows up[br]over and over and over again.

0:04:18.210,0:04:21.791
It shows up as the hamsa hand[br]in Mesopotamia.

0:04:21.815,0:04:25.234
It shows us as the hand[br]of Fatima in Islam.

0:04:25.258,0:04:28.840
It shows up as the hand[br]of Miriam in Judaism.

0:04:28.864,0:04:34.569
Now, when we didn't agree[br]on what our beliefs and behaviors were

0:04:34.593,0:04:35.807
in regards to others,

0:04:35.831,0:04:40.118
if we felt that somebody[br]else's were incorrect,

0:04:40.142,0:04:42.150
we began to fight,

0:04:42.174,0:04:45.245
and many of our first wars were religious.

0:04:45.269,0:04:47.580
Our flags were used on the battlefield

0:04:47.604,0:04:51.874
to signify which side[br]of the battlefield we belonged to,

0:04:51.898,0:04:56.172
because that was the only way[br]to be able to tell friend from foe.

0:04:56.196,0:04:58.030
We all looked alike.

0:04:58.054,0:05:03.134
And now our flags are on[br]mass-manufactured uniforms

0:05:03.158,0:05:04.721
that we are making.

0:05:04.745,0:05:07.755
Logos on products[br]to identify a maker came next,

0:05:07.779,0:05:14.263
and brands were given[br]legal recognition on January 1, 1876,

0:05:14.287,0:05:17.078
with the advent of the Trademarks[br]Registration Act.

0:05:17.102,0:05:21.566
The first trademarked brand was Bass Ale,

0:05:21.590,0:05:25.534
and I kind of wonder what that says[br]about our humanity

0:05:25.558,0:05:29.801
that first trademarked brand[br]was an alcoholic beverage.

0:05:30.808,0:05:32.815
Now, here is what I consider to be

0:05:32.839,0:05:36.580
the first case of branded[br]product placement.

0:05:36.604,0:05:40.913
There are bottles of Bass Ale behind me

0:05:40.937,0:05:43.510
with the logo accurately presented here

0:05:43.534,0:05:48.939
in this very famous painting[br]in 1882 by Édouard Manet.

0:05:49.719,0:05:55.572
One of the most widely recognized[br]logos in the world today

0:05:55.596,0:05:57.288
is the Nike swoosh,

0:05:57.312,0:06:00.733
which was introduced in 1971.

0:06:00.757,0:06:03.355
Carolyn Davidson,[br]a graphic design student,

0:06:03.379,0:06:08.373
originally created the logo[br]for 35 dollars.

0:06:09.396,0:06:14.765
Upon seeing it,[br]Nike CEO Phil Knight stated,

0:06:14.789,0:06:16.487
"I don't love it

0:06:16.511,0:06:19.910
but maybe it will grow on me."

0:06:19.934,0:06:22.012
Maybe it will grow on me.

0:06:22.621,0:06:24.958
But why is the swoosh so popular?

0:06:24.982,0:06:26.806
Why is the swoosh so popular?

0:06:26.830,0:06:28.439
Is it the mark?

0:06:29.200,0:06:30.994
Or is the marketing?

0:06:31.961,0:06:35.061
And what can we make of the fact

0:06:35.085,0:06:39.306
that the Nike swoosh seems to be

0:06:39.330,0:06:43.229
the Newport logo upside down

0:06:44.459,0:06:47.742
or the Capital One logo on its side?

0:06:48.570,0:06:52.165
That is not the only logo[br]with a shared identity.

0:06:54.347,0:06:59.965
This next logo is a logo[br]that has a shared identity

0:06:59.989,0:07:02.536
with wholly different meanings.

0:07:03.108,0:07:04.673
As a Jewish person,

0:07:04.697,0:07:07.491
I believe that this logo,

0:07:07.515,0:07:09.565
this swastika,

0:07:09.589,0:07:12.780
is the most heinous logo of all time.

0:07:13.448,0:07:16.995
But it actually has[br]a rather surprising trajectory.

0:07:17.453,0:07:21.156
The word "swastika" originally comes from

0:07:21.180,0:07:25.187
the ancient Sanskrit word "svastika,"

0:07:25.211,0:07:27.636
which actually means "good fortune,"

0:07:27.660,0:07:30.045
"luck" and "well-being."

0:07:30.701,0:07:35.472
In the early 1900s,[br]before it was appropriated by Hitler,

0:07:35.496,0:07:38.493
it was used by Coca-Cola

0:07:38.517,0:07:41.139
on a good luck bottle opener.

0:07:41.163,0:07:45.587
The American Biscuit Company[br]prominently registered the mark

0:07:45.611,0:07:47.825
and put it on boxes of cookies.

0:07:47.849,0:07:52.209
The US Playing Card Company[br]registered the mark in 1921

0:07:52.233,0:07:54.339
for Fortune Playing Cards.

0:07:54.363,0:07:58.970
The Boy Scouts used[br]the mark on shoes in 1910,

0:07:58.994,0:08:05.606
and the symbol was also featured[br]on cigar labels, boxtops, road signs

0:08:05.630,0:08:07.535
and even poker chips.

0:08:07.559,0:08:12.915
Even the Jain made use of the logo[br]along with a hand of God

0:08:12.939,0:08:14.737
many millennia ago.

0:08:15.372,0:08:17.540
These marks were identical,

0:08:17.564,0:08:19.740
but with use as a Nazi symbol,

0:08:19.764,0:08:22.711
the impact became very, very different.

0:08:23.322,0:08:25.290
The hand of God,

0:08:25.314,0:08:27.320
the Nike swoosh

0:08:27.344,0:08:29.265
and the swastika:

0:08:29.289,0:08:34.967
they all demonstrate how we've been[br]manufacturing meaning with visual language

0:08:34.991,0:08:36.773
over millennia.

0:08:37.524,0:08:40.331
It's a behavior that's[br]almost as old as we are.

0:08:41.039,0:08:43.386
Today, in the United States,

0:08:43.410,0:08:48.509
there are over 116,000 malls,

0:08:48.533,0:08:51.503
and they all look pretty much the same.

0:08:51.527,0:08:55.240
There are more than 40,000 supermarkets,

0:08:55.264,0:08:59.299
and they each have over 40,000 items.

0:08:59.323,0:09:01.631
If you went shopping for bottled water,

0:09:01.655,0:09:05.235
you'd have over 80 options to choose from.

0:09:05.259,0:09:08.318
Since their launch in 1912,

0:09:08.342,0:09:14.765
you could choose from over 100[br]flavors and variants of Oreo cookies.

0:09:15.495,0:09:18.246
Now, is this a good thing

0:09:18.270,0:09:19.677
or is it a bad thing?

0:09:21.050,0:09:24.465
Is a plethora of choice[br]necessary in a free market?

0:09:24.967,0:09:28.481
I believe it is both a good and bad thing,

0:09:28.505,0:09:30.872
as humans are both good and bad,

0:09:30.896,0:09:35.584
and we're the ones creating[br]and using and buying these brands.

0:09:35.608,0:09:38.093
However, I think that the question

0:09:38.117,0:09:43.739
of whether this behavior is good or bad[br]is actually secondary

0:09:43.763,0:09:45.684
to understanding why --

0:09:46.545,0:09:51.014
why we behave this way in the first place.

0:09:52.552,0:09:53.719
Here's the thing:

0:09:54.917,0:09:57.616
every one of our mass-marketed products

0:09:57.640,0:10:01.344
are what I consider to be top-down brands.

0:10:01.368,0:10:04.136
They're still created by people,

0:10:04.160,0:10:08.974
but they are owned, operated,[br]manufactured, advertised,

0:10:08.998,0:10:12.625
designed, promoted[br]and distributed by the corporation

0:10:12.649,0:10:17.434
and pushed down and sold[br]to the consumer for financial gain.

0:10:17.458,0:10:20.786
These corporations have[br]a responsibility to a P and L

0:10:20.810,0:10:23.247
with an expectation of an ROI

0:10:23.271,0:10:29.409
and have names like P and G[br]and AT and T and J and J.

0:10:30.715,0:10:35.586
And that's pretty much the way it's been[br]for the last couple of hundred years:

0:10:35.610,0:10:39.281
a top-down model[br]controlled by the corporation.

0:10:40.641,0:10:43.646
Until 2011.

0:10:44.264,0:10:47.821
That's when we began to see evidence

0:10:47.845,0:10:52.413
of real, significant, far-reaching change.

0:10:52.437,0:10:55.554
The Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street

0:10:55.578,0:10:59.181
proved how the internet[br]could amplify messages

0:10:59.205,0:11:01.558
and connect like-minded people

0:11:01.582,0:11:04.576
with powerful beliefs to inspire change.

0:11:04.600,0:11:07.967
We witnessed a cultural shift[br]via social media

0:11:07.991,0:11:12.025
with hashtags like #MeToo[br]and #BlackLivesMatter.

0:11:12.721,0:11:15.542
In its wake, the discipline of branding

0:11:15.566,0:11:19.816
has transformed more in the last 10 years

0:11:19.840,0:11:23.921
than it has in the last 10,000,

0:11:23.945,0:11:27.142
and for the first time in modern history,

0:11:27.166,0:11:29.847
the most popular, influential brands

0:11:29.871,0:11:34.169
are not brands being pushed[br]down by the corporation.

0:11:34.193,0:11:38.788
They are brands being pushed up[br]by the people, for the people,

0:11:38.812,0:11:43.823
for the sole purpose of changing the world[br]and making it a better place.

0:11:43.847,0:11:48.330
Our greatest innovations aren't brands[br]providing a different form

0:11:48.354,0:11:50.976
or a different flavor[br]of our favorite snack.

0:11:51.000,0:11:54.886
Our greatest innovations[br]are the creation of brands

0:11:54.910,0:11:56.984
that can make a difference in our lives

0:11:57.008,0:12:00.362
and reflect the kind of world[br]that we want to live in.

0:12:00.900,0:12:03.363
In November of 2016,

0:12:03.387,0:12:06.170
Krista Suh, Jayna Zweiman and Kat Coyle

0:12:06.194,0:12:11.365
created a hat to be worn[br]at the Women's March in Washington, DC.

0:12:11.389,0:12:13.590
(Applause)

0:12:14.653,0:12:18.109
This was the day after[br]the presidential inauguration.

0:12:18.133,0:12:22.739
Two months later,[br]on January 21, 2017,

0:12:22.763,0:12:28.884
millions of people all over the world[br]wore handmade pink pussyhats

0:12:28.908,0:12:31.999
in support of the Women's March[br]all over the world.

0:12:32.967,0:12:36.081
The hat was not created[br]for any financial benefit.

0:12:36.105,0:12:39.967
Like our religious symbols[br]created thousands of years ago,

0:12:39.991,0:12:42.988
the hat was created[br]by the people, for the people

0:12:43.012,0:12:48.939
to serve what I believe[br]is the highest benefit of branding:

0:12:48.963,0:12:51.426
to unite people in the communication

0:12:51.450,0:12:52.705
of shared ideals.

0:12:54.002,0:12:57.232
The pink pussyhat became[br]a mark for a movement.

0:12:57.256,0:13:01.145
In a very short time,[br]two months,

0:13:01.169,0:13:03.997
it became universally recognizable.

0:13:04.642,0:13:08.056
It connected an audience[br]in an unprecedented way.

0:13:09.042,0:13:10.977
It is a brand,

0:13:11.001,0:13:12.734
but it is more than that.

0:13:13.414,0:13:16.556
Today, the pink pussyhat is proof positive

0:13:16.580,0:13:20.075
that branding is not just[br]a tool of capitalism.

0:13:21.162,0:13:25.066
Branding is the profound[br]manifestation of the human spirit.

0:13:25.957,0:13:32.924
The condition of branding has always[br]reflected the condition of our culture.

0:13:33.699,0:13:35.786
It is our responsibility

0:13:35.810,0:13:40.791
to continue to leverage[br]the democratic power branding provides,

0:13:40.815,0:13:42.734
and it is our responsibility

0:13:43.654,0:13:45.720
to design a culture that reflects

0:13:46.911,0:13:48.307
and honors

0:13:49.317,0:13:51.190
the kind of world we want to live in.

0:13:51.741,0:13:52.906
Thank you.

0:13:52.930,0:13:56.249
(Applause)