What My 4 Year Old’s Incessant Birthday Requests Reveal About Branding

For the last 6 months (at least), my 4 year old daughter Skadi has been inviting every person she meets to her birthday party. Since toddlers have zero sense of time and space, it mattered not that we were many months away from said birthday. Or that we had just met this person at the grocery store picking out frozen mini “pamcakes.” She invited our elderly neighbors, teachers from school, her brother’s friends, a newborn we met at the park, our mail lady and so many more.

Every time she approached someone about coming to her birthday party, she would hug them, then give her pitch:

“It’s a strawberry Elsa birthday with a Spongebob Squarepants bouncy house. You have to come!” 

“It’s a rainbow unicorn pegasus tea party, but with video games!”

“It’s gonna be at the beach, with balloons everywhere and a giant dance party!”

I’m making these ones up. Because now, only a month away from her birthday, I have to plan something. And I have NO IDEA what she actually said. What was that one birthday party idea that she mentioned the most? Which one made her squeal with delight? Was there one? Was it all of them?

Not to mention the endless stream of requests for gifts to be added to her wishlist. Which I, as any self-preserving parent would, eventually tuned out and would just reply, “Yup, I added it!” 

My daughter was messing up her own branding. In the midst of her excited, creative, precious, 4 year old enthusiasm, she hadn’t found the idea that stuck. She reinvented it every time. Which, frankly is waaaaay more fun.  

But memorable, it is not. 

So don’t be like my daughter and reinvent your branding at every connection. People will never know what you’re about and what to believe. Pick one or two things as your high-level focus that you hit every single time. Sure, fill in the details to clarify what you want, what you do, who you’re talking to. But hit the tuning fork on those two things every chance you get, and not only will people remember, but the sound waves will call in exactly the right people for you.