Marketers seem a bit surprised today that Volvo is evolving its core brand positioning to evoke some sexiness alongside its legendary safety. Anyone who has a confused reaction to this is way behind the times. The tired notion of brand as repeated “one-note” song has hobbled some of the biggest companies in the world. (Wal-Mart’s challenges might be tied back to its singular focus on “low prices,” which led consumers to see the entire company – rich as it is – as “cheap.” And everything Ford is doing is “bold,” right? Except sales.)

Strong brands comprise a system of meaning that allows for a malleable, expansive and, yes, familiar story to be woven at will. Sometimes the company weaves it. Sometimes the consumer does the job. The most advanced version of this approach may be the controversial London 2012 Olympic Games logo. Target has found a powerful, complex middle ground, wherein style and frugality live happily ever after, not in tension. Coca-Cola has brilliantly advanced “the Coke side of life,” welcoming broad, varied, playful interpretations of the brand’s authenticity. Today’s “real thing” is joyful and valuable based on the consumer’s viewpoint.

All of these establish more complex brands than those we see in the flattened world of Mad Men. These brands are conversations among ideas, and consumers in this networked age seem more than capable of both understanding and participating. We are smarter than Pavlov’s pooch; marketers need to be as well.

Is it really such a stretch to want to be seen as sexy and safe? To add a bit of responsibility to one’s sass? To mix some pout with your self-respect? Not in my view. In fact, it sounds quite self-confident, self-determined and very, very modern. Volvo: stick with it. You get my engine running.

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