Mixed emotions, here.

Legendary settings like these are so immersive that they transcend words on a page or pixels on a screen. They become places an audience doesn’t just passively perceive, but ones they actively inhabit. That’s part of the power that speculative fiction giants like George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien have wielded to capture the hearts and minds of millions.

Now, consider this: what if all of us in the branding field—designers, strategists, marketers—are in the very same business as these speculative fiction masters?

On the one hand, as regular readers will know, in this house we believe in Bill Hicks.

On the other hand, if the marketing people are slithering into your orchard, you’re presumably onto something somewhat zeitgeisty.

I am, of course, talking about the business of creating worlds.

Welcome to the club, lady. You should probably hire Jay Springett, if you wouldn’t hire me.

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(The part of me that is mean and has no friends is quite enjoying imagining Jeff Vandermeer’s likely reaction to his work being used to make a very banal point about better ways to peddle sweatshop trainers and fancy laptops.)