Here's another installment of my brands in stand-up comedy series. It's my unserious way of highlighting seriously strong brand characteristics.

Here’s the boilerplate I’ll repeat for each episode; go ahead and skip it if you've read the previous article:

How do you know if you have a brand, and not just a product name?

You can tell a joke about a brand, and have a stranger laugh at it. You can’t do that with a product name.

Jokes, like brands, trade on common understanding. That means common to an external target audience, out there, in the wild. For years now, I’ve taken notice whenever a stand-up comedian uses a brand as the premise for a joke.

In order for a joke to work, a comedian has to believe that a roomful of strangers will have not only heard of the brand, but have a common understanding of what that brand means. That meaning provides the premise, the “take” the comedian will play with in hopes of getting a laugh. A commonly held, consistent meaning, not a description of features and benefits.

In my first edition, we heard from Pete Holmes about his Lululemon pants. In keeping with the trouser theme, here’s Sheng Wang’s existential take on Costco, and buying pants therein.

Pete Holmes’ Lululemon bit played on the gender-based expectations of the brand’s customer base, while Sheng Wang takes on both the fashion implications of Costco’s apparel selection as well as the shopping experience itself.

The audience reactions for both bits prove the jokes work, and they can only work if the characterization of the brands is dead-on accurate.

My point isn’t that the brands in question here have a problem; the jokes are proof they have become part of the culture. That’s a very, very powerful place to be.