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It’s nearly impossible to escape the pervasive influence that brands have on our lives. In the broadest sense, brands constitute organizing mechanisms to help us navigate through each consumer day. What we drink, eat, or drive, what products we use at home and at work, where we play or vacation, where we live, what we watch, what we read, and even who we interact with, and how, are often choices informed by or shaped by branding. That is, they are a function of the set of values and perceptions we have about companies, products, services, or even TV shows, people, and places that form in our minds.

A business model consists of four things. First, it’s a description of how you make money, as it tells why and how your customers pay for your products and services. But even more important, a business model provides an experience, and that experience is essential to what people pay for. The difference between Saks Fifth Avenue and Walmart isn’t just the quality of the merchandise and the prices, it’s the way a customer feels because of the service they get, the atmosphere, the vibe.