The Limits of Identity

There’s been no shortage of talk about identity in branding. Companies have been encouraged to define their audience, to speak to a type, to package not just a product but a personality. Everyone wanted to be for someone. A minimalist. A maximalist. The outdoorsy one, the curated one, the one who only wears navy and drinks iced coffee in winter.

The trouble is, people don’t always behave like their identities suggest. The sustainability loyalist buys a fast-fashion dress for a last-minute wedding. The vegan wears leather boots she’s had for years. We are human. And that is why identity alone cannot hold a brand for long.

What people do, how they spend, care, give, share, wait, return, is far more telling than the label they apply to themselves. And often, it is more stable. Identity shifts with age, context, and mood. But behaviour holds a certain shape.

A brand that observes how people live, rather than simply who they say they are, gets to design with real insight. It does not need to force a tone or invent a persona. It meets people in the middle of their day, not their aspirational mood board.

It means noticing patterns that do not always trend. The person who always buys two of the same thing. The one who chooses based on how it sounds when they say it aloud. The customer who leaves the tab open for a week before checking out. These moments are quiet, but they are rich. They tell you what a person values, not just what they post.

So maybe it is less about being the brand for someone, and more about being the brand that understands how they move through the world. Not who they think they are, but how they behave when no one is watching.

Because that is where trust is built. And kept.