Are you in the caterpillar or butterfly stage of branding your company, product or service?

This is an apt comparison to the lifecycle of creating your brand. Each stage is vital to the full soul development of your beautiful creation. A brand that gracefully lands on the shoulder of humanity. An imago brand that scatters coherent light, migrating to meet your customer where they are.

Brands become a part of us as their symbols, stories, myths, and languages pollinate, crossing borders of culture with a message of love.

“Was I before a man who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now a butterfly who dreams about being a man?”
—Zhuangzi

Caterpillars mature though a series of stages called instars. At the end of each instar the larva sheds the old cuticle and expands, before rapidly hardening and developing pigment.

Development of the butterfly wing patterns begins at the last larval instar.

Wing development starts with wing disks. In the final instars stage the wing size increases dramatically and begin to develop patterns with wing hallmarks.

Brand development has its own instar phases.

Butterfly conception is followed by maturing larva which then transforms into a chrysalis. Metamorphosis begins. At this point, several boundaries seen in the adult color pattern are marked by changes in the expression of particular transcription factors in the early pupa.

The imago is now nearly ready to fly. Just after it emerges from its pupal stage a butterfly cannot fly until its wings are unfolded. Next, it spends time inflating its wings to let them dry. This can take up to three hours.

Minute scales create the coloration of the butterfly wings. The structural coloration is the result of coherent scattering of light by the scales.

Butterflies also have geographic and seasonal forms. Mimicry is common. They have impressive scent antennae, their sense of taste is 200x stronger than a human, and their vision is well developed. Some species are especially sensitive to the ultra violet spectrum.

Some are territorial and actively chase off other species or strays.

These instars phase attributes are all very similar to the lifecycle of a brand and its strategic advance.

Butterfly eggs are affixed to a leaf with a special glue. The nature of the glue is unknown. It hardens quickly. It is so hard that the silk pad, to which the setae are glued, cannot be separated.

When we look at sticky brands, we need look no further than nature and its amazing feats.

Working with us is like that. We stick with you though thick and thin, and our nature kindly nurtures a brand the world will love.

For more joy…check this out.

These are the most stunning examples of wings you will ever see.

Entire Alphabet Found on the Wing Patterns of Butterflies