So what is my WOW brand?

From clothes to tech; to toys and alcoholic drinks; drinks that are good for you and some that aren't; brands that are food and brands you put on food; places that sell food - eat in or take out; from bras to cosmetics to fragrances; brands that make and play music; cars, jeans and all sorts of other things...

How do you take a list of about 68 brands and whittle it down to one WOW brand? Welcome to the "Tim WOW brand sieve" consisting of 5 simple steps:

• Step 1 - Does the brand play to a real need? To make it easier - it has to be easily seen by me!
• Step 2 - Does the brand go to great lengths to create an experience? Again to simplify the experience has to be recognisable and multifaceted
• Step 3 - Does the brand offer quality and value? To make this call (given that people can't define what they mean) I'm going to assume the following - is the price clear and are the benefits clear?
• Step 4 - Does the brand give access to a personal and positive image? Basically anything that looks like it isn't a brand is out
• Step 5 - And this is the clincher... If a WOW brand is there to excite, delight and inspire... Then by definition it has to be creating a buzz... I'm therefore going to take the liberty to say "any brand I have never heard of is off the list"... A bit dramatic, given my demographic and needs based profile, but an elegant solution (!!!!! WARNING!!!! By making this simple step I have of course biased the whole selection process as I'm a 35 year old English man, with a private education, a great family etc etc etc)

So... The brands that make it via this 5 step process?

Facebook, Hunter Boots, Ikea, Innocent, Guinness, Lego and Apple

From a list of 68 to 7... Not bad... But what am I going to choose?

"A small brick that can connect to other small bricks to make cool things"

On balance Lego topped it - not only does it meet a need, create an experience, provide real quality at a great price, and provide image... A brand that was launched in 1946 and is still going strong has to be a WOW brand!

A little footnote... It was a real hard choice between Lego and Facebook... Lego won as Facebook is still young and we have no idea what technology could be round the corner that will usurp Facebook from its dominant place... Imagine a world without lego!