Rethinking Brands as Energy By Tony Lewis, Founder of Vision One Research For years, marketers have been taught to think of brands as fixed systems, defined by positioning statements, values, and visual identity. But through his work at Vision One Research and in Brand Momentum, Tony Lewis challenges this convention. His central idea is simple but transformative: Brands are not static objects. They are energy. From Brand Assets to Brand Energy Traditional branding focuses on what a brand is… its purpose, its values, its positioning. But Tony Lewis argues that this misses something critical: What matters is not just what a brand stands for — but how much momentum it has. In this model, brands behave like moving systems: This is what Brand Momentum defines as brand momentum: the energy that drives growth. The Battery Model of Brands A key idea in Brand Momentum is that brands function like batteries. Every interaction either: This is where the work of Vision One Research becomes critical, measuring not just awareness or perception, but the direction and intensity of brand movement. Why Entertainment is Central to Brand Momentum One of the most powerful implications of this thinking is that it reframes the effectiveness of advertising. Traditional positioning models struggle to explain why humour, entertainment, and quirkiness work so well. But in the Brand Momentum…
