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Hessian — A brand for sale by Ben Pieratt (hessian.tv)

over 10 years ago from Keenan Cummings

  • Dennis KramerDennis Kramer, over 10 years ago

    I'm pretty confident this will sell. And when it does, I'm pretty confident it will work well for whoever buys it. Why? Well, a few reasons: 1. At the moment, Hessian is pretty much a stand-alone brand; there isn't much room for real brand personality from an actual product to have any influence. However, Ben does state that "30 hours custom design time" will be spent to help transition the brand to suit the client's needs. 30 hours is a lot of time. I have a feeling that next time we see Hessian, it will feel quite different, even if the big picture personality stays the same. 2. Hessian requires a very specific kind of buyer, and I have a feeling Ben will be somewhat picky with the kind of person he wants to sell it to. Whoever ends up going for it will probably bring something to the table that pushes the Hessian brand far beyond t shirts and wallpapers. 3. Companies (and the people who run those companies) often don't know what they want until they see it, and if they've seen it, its because someone else has already done it. Usually, this results in people ripping each other off and muddling each other's brands. Instead, Hessian is a unique, cool, and untaken. For the company that falls in love with it, this is a dream come true.

    2 points
    • Jibran KutikJibran Kutik, over 10 years ago

      It's funny. The more I think about this, the less I think of this this as a brand. It's a collection of delightful visual elements, but it is not a brand. At best, maybe it's a collection of branding elements. Maybe it's an identity project. A brand is a communication between a business and it's customers. The word 'Coca-Cola' as set here without their trademarked logotype and colors still evokes a certain emotion. Even the made up brands you create in art school require you to think of the product you'll be branding and the users you'll be targeting. Hessian is meaningless.

      So maybe this is a study on the meaninglessness of branding in startup culture. The majority of startups don't seem to put a lot of effort into truly defining their branding beyond a catchy (yet meaningless) name and a blue logotype.

      Whichever startup falls in love and purchases this will get a nicely designed set of graphic elements and a new name and Tumblr account. If a few hours of work and an incredibly picky seller manage to somehow magically find a product/team that 'Hessian' truly represents, it might become a brand.

      But as it stands, without a product, a team or users to stand for, Hessian is not a brand.

      3 points