This is an enjoyable way to begin the brand discussion with a group. It generally creates good discussion, and gets participants out of their normal frames of thought. “Forced Relationship” is basically a technique of forcing yourself to think of your organization’s brand in terms of another product or industry. “If our company were an auto manufacturer, which would it be?” Since we often understand other companies’ brands better than our own, it is a means to start fresh in our thinking. I usually pick three from the list posted at the end of this article, and spend about an hour on the discussion.

This technique, in various forms, is also known as a Forced Analogy, “How is my problem like a (insert random object).” One approach in a forced analogy is to compare a problem or an organization to the various aspects of something else that is familiar to the participants. How is this similar to a shark’s teeth, a shark’s skin, a shark’s living environment, etc.

As I use the exercise, I give the group 2-3 categories drawn from the discussion guide at the bottom of this post. Usually I use at least one category (such as automobile) for which the various brands are well known by most consumers. Automobiles are generally helpful as a category because there is so much advertising done for them that most people have a pretty good idea of what the brand represents. At the very least, people have ideas about how different sorts of vehicles represent different functionality.