Analog branding, or, wax on, wax off.

From an archaeology dig in England

A strong brand can occupy hot real estate on a person’s brain, my marketing textbooks say so. Companies invest serious dollars (or euros, yens, pesos, rupees, etc.) to have obtain permanent residence in the perception of consumers.

Leaving imprints is a matter of history and communication. Archaeologists have studied hieroglyphics, cave wall markings, and journals, among other things. Sigillography is the field of inquiry for seals, the symbolic kind and not the animals.

Wax seals were used by individuals on their correspondence as a means to seal close envelopes, and with a signet ring, officializes the transaction. Monarchs and the Church gave their thumbs up through seals. Don Corleone had nothing on these kings, queens and popes whose rings were more than what people kissed; signet rings, which contained coats of arms, were used to sign letters, accords, and contracts.

Before rubber stamps and inkpads at government offices, signet rings held authority that put traitors and suspected witches to their deaths. Nowadays, the wait for getting approval can be so time and energy consuming that the wait is enough to cause a natural death due to ennui. Too much of a stretch? No.