Ernie Ross is revolutionising the nuanced art of making memorable impressions on consumers, which has been critical and at the core for companies for decades.
For the owner of Ross advertising, however, lasting connections through shared intangible values put a personalised spin on branding.
Ross’ trademarked branding technology, called Intangience, is now taking the world by storm and the firm has copped a historic number of international awards due to its impact.
Intangience is validated and certified by the renowned United Nations-established University for Peace as a certificate course offered globally to business organisations and students.
Mohit Mukherjee, founder of the UPEACE Centre for Executive Education in Costa Rica, has described Intangience as critical to communicating stories.
“Intangience allows participants to build a deep appreciation of how human beings are essentially emotional rather than rational beings. This powerful insight is critical to anyone who needs to promote their organisation, services, or products.”
In an interview with Guardian Media, Ross explained that Intangience was a unique methodology that teaches how to best define a brand and create a compelling brand story that emotionally connects with consumers.
“Something only has value when it holds meaning to those who seek to possess it. Anything you seek to possess, whether it is a product or a person, a possession or physical asset or relationship, the value of that is based on the meaning it has to you.”
The award-winning branding and business development philosophy was recently featured at a Master class session at the prestigious Ecole des Ponts business school in Burgundy, France.
Ross explained how decades of experience in advertising, coupled with influences from his native Guyana and upbringing in Trinidad and Tobago, shaped the unique branding methodology. It is, however, the impact of his mother in his life that forms the cornerstone of Ross’ philosophy.
“You cannot find happiness in life unless you have meaning and meaning comes from your contributions, it doesn’t come from you. My mother used to tell me when I’m not feeling well, ‘find somebody who feels worst and go and help them and you will feel better’,” Ross explained.
Described as “the language of human connection spoken through shared intangible values,” Ross stated that the branding methodology was premised on three principles.
These are:
Pillars of Purpose—These are the three building blocks upon which the brand architecture is structured. It is an introspective process through which three questions help define the brand identity, purpose, legacy and a universal truth about the industry or environment in which it lives.
Currency of Conversation—These are the three points of reference which determine how the currency of a brand reputation and popularity is traded.
Science of Human Connection— These are the three underlying principles that dictate how a brand creates lasting, meaningful emotional connections with consumers.
According to Ross, these three schools of thought will in turn reveal what makes up a compelling brand story, its influence on human behaviour and how it can be used for positive purposes.
“When I arrived to Trinidad from Guyana many decades ago, I couldn’t get a job in advertising and I had no choice but to go out on the street and ply whatever talent I thought I had. Over the years, people asked how do you do it and I thought maybe I was gifted with it or it may have passed down but then I realised there was a method to my madness.”
Ross said the aim is not just to take Intangience globally but to also pay it forward.
“We gift it to anybody who can identify that they’ve lost a job, if you’re a student and can’t pay for it, if you’re a women’s activist group anywhere in the world you don’t pay for it and I want to expand that footprint more and more.”
Ross said the firm’s awards will be the citizens’ reward.
“I want to ask every single individual in Trinidad and Tobago who lost their job to come into a session at Intangience because if they can’t find a job, they can earn an income and Intangience will show them how to build those relationships.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging on, Ross said it was critical human connection was established and maintained.
“What we require to do is question that version of reality and that version of truth and ask yourselves how can I look at it differently, how can I see the essence that is there and then how can I connect with it meaningfully,” he said.