In today’s brand landscape, a concerning phenomenon is emerging: instead of asserting their own distinctiveness, many brands are chasing the elusive “winning formula.” Karine Mast, Strategic Planner within the o3 strategy unit, explores for e-marketing the growing risk of brand standardization.

We are witnessing the rise of what could be called “brand profiling”: a practice where companies, rather than engaging in true introspection to understand their core identity, attempt to construct the ideal brand persona on the surface. This approach prioritizes external appearance over internal authenticity, as if a brand’s identity were nothing more than a collection of carefully selected traits drawn from a catalogue of “best practices.” Paradoxically, this quest for the perfect profile leads to standardization, where genuine singularity is sacrificed in favor of a calculated and artificial image.

Brands sometimes engage in a form of identity borrowing, picking and choosing elements that seem to drive others’ success: Burger King’s humor, Picard’s perceived quality, Lustucru’s visibility. As if successful branding were a recipe—simply a matter of mixing the right ingredients to join the ranks of winners.

Admittedly, this tendency toward mimicry is not entirely irrational. When a brand achieves strong cultural resonance, it demonstrates its ability to understand and respond to contemporary expectations. It is therefore natural for others to seek inspiration from such success. The challenge lies in the subtle boundary between learning from best practices and merely replicating codes. The real question is how to transform these observations into an authentic expression of one’s own identity, rather than falling into the trap of marketing copy-paste.

A particularly telling example of authenticity in practice is Amazon: “We’re not competitor obsessed, we’re customer obsessed. We start with what the customer needs and we work backwards,” as Jeff Bezos famously stated.

This quote perfectly captures a radically different philosophy from the dominant reflex of benchmarking. Instead of constantly monitoring competitors and attempting to replicate their “best practices,” Amazon deliberately focuses on a single critical question: what does the customer truly need? This customer obsession—far from being a mere marketing posture—becomes a powerful driver of differentiation. By freeing itself from the constant gaze of competitors, the company returns to what truly matters: its own identity, serving real customer needs. It is precisely by stopping trying to resemble others that a brand can truly stand out.

Another Lever: Working Across the Three Temporal Dimensions of a Brand

One way to escape this trap lies in embracing the three temporal dimensions of a brand. Every brand exists across a past, a present, and a future. Yet branding strategies often operate within a logic of immediacy, prioritizing short-term impact over long-term vision.

The example of TotalEnergies is revealing. Its recent rebranding—featuring a color palette reminiscent of social media codes—illustrates a broader tendency among brands to prioritize instant resonance. This reflects a certain anxiety about time, as if relevance could only exist in the immediacy of the present.

This obsession with immediacy raises questions about the construction of truly enduring brand identities—those capable of transcending fleeting trends. Brands would benefit from reconnecting with their archives and their temporal depth. Every brand has a story—not just those in the luxury sector—and would gain from highlighting its DNA, even while evolving toward a more future-oriented positioning.

The interplay between past, present, and future provides rich material for building strong and meaningful brands. It is often at this intersection that true singularity emerges.

Rediscovering the Courage to Choose

In light of this, companies must urgently reconnect with their core essence—their unique reason for being. Because to choose is also to renounce. It means giving up the lukewarm comfort of neutrality. It means abandoning the chameleon-like posture of blending into prevailing trends.

This challenge extends beyond individual companies. It concerns the vitality of our entire economic ecosystem. As in any natural ecosystem, diversity is a source of strength and resilience. In a world increasingly drifting toward uniformity, brands have a responsibility to become sources of new inspiration—creators of authentic experiences.

The future of the market depends on it. Because it can only truly thrive through diversity and genuine innovation.