What's in a name?

It makes very little sense to me that I work in marketing and yet I spend an embarrassing amount of time mocking people who fall for it. Luxury lovers. Brand enthusiasts. Hype beasts. Logo people.

And still — logos are everywhere. They run the show.

If it’s not a logo you paid for, it’s a logo you aspired to. A station in life you’ve been chasing for years. Something that tells the world you’ve arrived.

Labelling is inescapable. What people say about you eventually collapses into the prefixes, titles, and stickers you attach to your name.

Sonakshi Singh Mehra.

Wife.

Mother.

Marketer.

Keynote goddess.

Alpha-dog.

Unemployed.

Founder & CEO??? Pending confirmation.

Branding isn’t colour palettes, mnemonics, or clever bumper stickers. Branding isn’t performance. Branding isn’t the shallow cosplay of identity.

Branding is where your story begins.

It’s walking into a room full of strangers and offering a sincere introduction — not a pitch. It’s choosing your words carefully enough that someone who has never met you before can see themselves in you. Maybe even like you.

Branding, at its best, is friendship before transaction.

In a noisy world full of me-toos, branding quietly whispers: here’s what makes me different. It decides how you’ll be remembered, long after the room empties. It’s the version of yourself you place gently into the world and say — this is who I am trying to be.

So yes, when a hype beast walks into a Prada store and drops a small fortune on something deeply impractical, it’s easy to call it stupidity.

But listen closely.

It’s not about the bag. It never was.

It’s about branding.