BRAND X, WILL YOU MARRY ME?

by thejolliffe

This is for those who believe we can communicate and build brands purely by design.

 

Ha.

 

Here’s a thing. To connect consumers to brands, first think how people connect to people.

 

When we meet, we eye each other. And we assume. Stylish. Clean. Suave. Intriguing. Maybe. Loaded. Modest. Mad. Honest. Professional. Maybe. Hard-working. Smiley. Boozy. Fiery. Maybe.

 

Good start. But love at first sight is a myth.

 

Only when they speak, you feel the tingle.

 

Because it’s what people say that affirms who they are.

 

Their attitudes, offerings, tastes, stupidities, opinions, loves and hates, passions, compassions and views of the world. Whether they’re generous, warm, capable, kindly, cold, understanding, arrogant, sympathetic, business-like, practical, blunt, systematic. Listeners or blabbers.

 

Or just bullshitters.

 

It’s the same with brands.

 

After all, today’s brand relationships are like human ones. A two-way dialogue. Not a come-and-get-me. Based on values in common. Not just needs.

 

In partnerships that develop and move on, both sides call the shots. One-siders end in divorce.

 

So, it’s easy to see why consumers can’t bond with a brand after just seeing its face. It’s not enough. It’ll get you a one-night stand, but never to the altar.

 

A be-with-me, not just a look-at-me.

 

To build a true, exploitable, bond with its followers, a brand needs to open its mouth. Just like us.

 

And say who it is. And more. In its own words, nobody else’s. Till the thing goes beyond the first date, the nervous first snog, the first fumble, the sex and the joint account.

 

A brand’s words are its inner self. Every time we read or hear them, in advertising, in packaging, in social, we’re assured that the one who’s talking is the one we first met.

 

Words sustain relationships. Period.

 

Forget the sharp suit or the haircut. It’s for life.