What is World-Building?
What do all enduring movies, brands, games, clubs, products, and books have in common?
They created a new world, different from our current reality.
They created a world, with its own norms and conventions, that followers want to be part of. They created a world that was noticeably different to signal that followers must pay attention to it.
The more detailed and specific in its presentation, the more resonant. The easier to suspend disbelief. The more we can imagine it and feel it.
Brand & Culture as World Building
Every strong brand is actually a world.
Every weak brand is just a message.
Worlds don’t start with words. They start with feeling.
Before you write copy, design assets, or launch campaigns, you must define the emotional physics of your world:
What does it feel like to be here?
What emotions are amplified?
What behaviours are rewarded?
What is rejected?
What kind of person thrives in this world?
Culture is a world.
An internal brand is a world.
A product ecosystem is a world.
When you don’t define your world, your audience does, and they probably aren’t doing it in your favour.
The World Framework
A strong brand creates a world people want to step into and stay inside. A world has beliefs, rules, signals, and rituals. It tells people what matters here, how to belong, and what’s expected. In a true brand world, every touchpoint, from digital to in-person, reinforces that narrative, making decisions easier and connections stronger.
When you build a world rather than just delivering information, it suddenly is much easier to make meaning from. This is true whether building an external brand for customers, a company culture for employees, or a public health campaign. With worlds, people don’t just take action, they organize part of their identity around you.
A world is not a some abstract concept. It’s a tangible system:
Beliefs - what this world accepts as true
Rules - what’s rewarded and what’s rejected
Signals - how you attract members and members recognize each other
Rituals - how engagement repeats and deepens
When these are clear, people don’t need to be persuaded, they simply opt-in or out.
