In recent years, marketing has shifted from being a strategic discipline to an execution treadmill. Positioning gets reduced to slogans, brand to visual identity, and marketing to channel operations. This oversimplification is not just a creative issue; it's a strategic risk.
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When Thomas Kuhn introduced the idea of the paradigm shift, he wasn't just describing moments of disruption; he was reframing how scientific fields evolve. Fields don’t progress linearly. They accumulate anomalies until the existing model no longer holds, and then, through a crisis, shift into a new organizing logic.

Design and marketing today exist in a similar pre-shift phase. Despite their growing influence, they remain practices, not fields. They are situated at the interface of business, economics, and consumer psychology within a capitalist framework, and simultaneously entangled in ecologies, systems, and social meaning-making, as we inch toward post-capitalist futures.

But practices don’t evolve into fields through aesthetics, frameworks, or toolkits. They evolve when the underlying logic changes. High-growth companies today need frameworks that account for the dynamic nature of perception, memory, and meaning in a saturated attention economy. But we’re still working with static models.

In a world obsessed with simplification, we don’t need more TL;DRs. We need shock systems, new entry points that restore wonder, encourage systems thinking, and open up the space for better questions. Only then does a practice begin to behave like a field.

Can we treat brand and positioning the way we treat variables in systems engineering? Can we quantify the way brands move, evolve, and are remembered?

This led us to coming up with Marketwell Equations, a speculative framework to think of branding as a system of dynamic relationships and networks, not static assets. Gravity was once an absurd theory. Today, it’s common sense. The absurdity of today’s thought experiments may become tomorrow’s operating logic. It’s not about complications. It’s about building better mental models.

The Four Big “Laws”

The Marketwell Equations are a speculative framework for systems-level rethinking of branding, positioning, and marketing as forces of one another. Inspired by the Maxwell structure of field equations in physics, this approach shifts branding from a toolkit to a field logic, enabling deeper analysis, better strategic alignment, and a more rigorous understanding of how meaning is constructed, transmitted, and sustained in the market.

1.1 The First Law of Identity - Brand as Positioning Velocity

Brand = δ/δt (Positioning)

Legend: δ/δt (Derivative): The brand's "speed and direction" as it acts on its positioning.

A brand isn’t static. It’s a derivative. The lived velocity of your positioning across time. It reflects not what you say you are, but how consistently and how fast that claim adapts to the world’s perception of you.

Psychologically, this means your brand only exists as an impression in motion, a trail of touchpoints, signals, and stories that accelerate (or decay) based on emotional relevance and memory recall.

Just like in physics, a field only becomes visible when it moves or changes; the brand only becomes memorable when its positioning shifts with coherence and direction. The sharper the directional change (like a sudden product pivot or bold campaign), the stronger the brand recall, but only if it’s anchored in positioning.

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Think about Sleepy Owl Coffee in India.

They pioneered the introduction of cold brew coffee to the Indian market in 2016, with one sharp positioning: cold brew made simple for home. Everything from their bottle design to their delivery model reflected that.

Over time, they didn’t sit still. They introduced ready-to-drink cans, brewbags, and seasonal flavors , each launch reinforcing the same positioning, but changing the velocity of how people encountered the brand. When the market shifted toward instant mixes and convenience, they adapted with hot brew bags and flavoured cold brews without losing their anchored identity. That’s Brand = d/dt(Positioning) in action: the positioning stayed coherent, but the rate of expression and adaptation kept the brand visible and memorable.

1.2 The Law of Brand Accumulation - Marketing as a Cumulative Function

Marketing = ∫ Brand . δt + ε (ε = noise, decay, distraction (entropy of attention))

Legend: ∫ (Integral): The "cumulative sum" of all marketing touchpoints. ε (Epsilon): The "noise" or "decay" that can weaken the brand.

Marketing isn’t a campaign. It’s a cumulative function. It’s the integral of your brand’s expression across time, medium, and memory, aggregating every impression, interaction, hesitation, and moment of delight.

In calculus, integration adds up infinitesimal slices over a continuum. In branding, these slices are:

• A button someone hovered over but never clicked.
• The tone of your error message.
• A founder’s quote in a forgotten podcast.
• A pack design spotted in someone else’s fridge.

All of them compound into what people feel, believe, and expect. But there’s always ε, the misalignment, the excess noise across inconsistent channels, unclear value props, or marketing driven by FOMO, not focus. If you don’t actively manage ε, your brand loses coherence. The story splits, the signal fades, and marketing becomes motion without meaning.

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Think about Mokobara when it launched.
The luggage market in India was already dominated by Samsonite, American Torister, and VIP. Nobody was waiting for “another suitcase brand.”

Yet Mokobara built its “smart, minimal, premium travel” positioning not through one big splash, but by stacking consistent, high-quality moments, an integral part of brand experiences over time. Premium-feel Instagram ads that stood apart from the usual discount-heavy luggage promos. Product photography placing luggage in aspirational, everyday travel settings, not just airports. Emailers and social content are designed to create FOMO and suspense.

Also, Strategic collaborations amplified this accumulation:

• IndiGo 6E parnership : A limited-edition collection in signature blue, offering flyers a year of 2 kg extra baggage allowance, free engraving, and premium build details like German Makrolon shells and silent wheels. This embedded Mokobara directly into the travel routines of IndiGo’s frequent flyers while staying visually and functionally on-brand.
• Netflix ‘Crew’ tie-up: integrating Mokobara luggage naturally into scenes of airports, planes, and aspirational travel in a mainstream entertainment context.
• Kids’ trolleys: Extending the same design language to younger travellers; playful in scale but consistent in build quality, minimalism, and thoughtful features, reinforcing brand values without dilution.

Across all these moments, the “ε” inconsistency stayed near zero. Every touchpoint, from product design to partnerships, reinforced the same premium, minimalist travel narrative. This coherence allowed Mokobara to stand out in a market crowded with discount-driven and noisy branding.

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1.3 Differentiation Relevance - Standing Out with Direction

Differentiation = ∇ Brand / ∇ Market

Legend: ∇ (Nabla): The "sharp contrast" that makes the brand stand out.

Differentiation isn’t distance. It’s directional contrast. It’s not just how different you are, but for whom and how meaningfully you diverge from others relative to your market’s movement.

In vector calculus, ∇ (nabla) captures change across dimensions. Here, we measure how your brand's signals shift across competitive noise, cultural relevance, user need, and narrative whitespace.

So, differentiation only matters more when:

• The brand gradient (∇Brand) is sharp: Your brand is clear and bold; it has a strong point of view, uses fresh metonyms, and signals what you truly stand for.
• The market gradient (∇Market) is shifting: Your market is noisy and crowded, where everyone’s chasing the same trends, talking the same language, and offering similar value.

In that chaos, value isn’t about being different for the sake of it; it’s about creating clarity, purpose, and meaning where others create confusion. To be different not in isolation, but in a way that pulls your audience off their default path toward you.

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Before MyMuse, India’s sexual wellness market’s ∇ Market looked like this:

• Overtly sexualised imports: flashy packaging, exaggerated claims, and a tone that felt male-gaze heavy.
• Clinical, discreet “pharmacy aisle” brands: overly sterile design, coded language, and shame-driven positioning (“we won’t tell anyone”).

MyMuse’s ∇ Brand sliced in a completely new direction:

• Design-led products that could sit on your bedside table without looking out of place, premium materials, muted tones, modern form factors.
• A warm, conversational voice breaking down taboos with humour, relatability, and zero euphemisms.
• Inclusive positioning, marketing to couples, individuals, and all genders without leaning into stereotypes.
• Lifestyle integration, framing sexual wellness as part of self-care and pleasure, not a hidden, guilty act.

This wasn’t just “looking different”; it was reframing the category’s meaning. MyMuse pulled audiences off the default path of secrecy or sleaze, into a space that felt aspirational, respectful, and proudly displayed. They didn’t just launch products; they normalized conversations about pleasure in India’s urban mainstream via events, content, and collaborations. That cultural positioning became as much a part of their differentiation as the products themselves.

1.4 Perception Field Theorem - How Meaning Evolves in the Market

Perception Flux (Φ) = ∮ Positioning x δ (Minds)

Legend: Φ (Phi): The brand's "perception flux," or how it influences people's minds. ∮ (Loop Integral): A "feedback loop" that reinforces perception.

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Brand perception isn’t a point in time. It’s a loop integral, the accumulated influence of your positioning as it passes through minds, biases, moods, and myths. Just like magnetic flux measures field lines across a surface, perception flux captures how your brand flows through human cognition, shaped by:

• Feedback loops
• Social proof
• Microinteractions
• Cultural memory
• Personal resonance

Branding doesn’t travel in straight lines. It loops, lingers, distorts, and resurfaces. And the surface through which it flows isn’t neutral; it’s emotional, messy, and ever-shifting.

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During CoVid 2020, the Indian government positioned “Thaali Bajao” (clap, bang plates at 5 PM) as a symbolic act to thank healthcare workers during the pandemic.

On paper, the positioning was simple: a unifying gesture of gratitude and solidarity.

But the Perception Flux (Φ) took on a life of its own as it passed through millions of minds, biases, and moods:

• Feedback loops: Videos of entire apartment complexes banging plates together created FOMO and participation pressure.
• Social proof: Seeing celebrities and politicians join in made it “official,” but also gave fuel for satire.
• Microinteractions: In some neighbourhoods, it became a loud, chaotic mini-festival, more about the noise than the cause.
• Cultural memory: Some connected it to age-old rituals of making sound to “drive away evil spirits,” adding a superstitious twist.
• Personal resonance: For some, it was genuinely emotional. For others, it was meme gold: remix-worthy content for WhatsApp and TikTok.

By the time the loop closed, the act no longer meant the same thing for everyone. It had lingers of sincerity, layers of humour, and shades of scepticism, proof that positioning doesn’t move in straight lines. It ricochets, morphs, and comes back wearing new clothes.

Closing the Loop

So next time someone asks, “What is a brand?”

You don’t say, “a logo.” You can say: It’s the derivative of what we stand for today, compounded over time, differentiated in the market, distorted by perception, and selectively remembered by others.

Brand has pronouns! Sometimes ‘we,’ often ‘they,’ rarely ‘you,’ but never ‘it.’ And much like physics, it isn't about what’s immediately visible. We don’t need more frameworks that simplify branding into templates. We need better tools to see, model, and challenge how brands behave, how they construct meaning, capture attention, and seed emotion, all across time, perception, and systems. And maybe, just maybe, if we stop flattening complexity into neat little boxes, we’ll start thinking in fields, not funnels.

These Marketwell Equations aren’t final answers. They’re a provocation to move from artifact-thinking to field-thinking. So if you’re a strategist, designer, or marketer who’s tired of flattening complexity just to make it legible, consider this your invitation.

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About Become

Become® is India’s leading strategy design consultancy, partnering with visionary founders and marketing leaders to build category-defining brands that thrive in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. With over a decade of experience and a portfolio spanning 200+ global brands, Become specializes in positioning, storytelling, and digital transformation, helping companies adapt but lead in the age of AI and beyond.

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