Thought Leaders Circle

Attraction towards a brand comes from two sources:

1. a  brand mirrors me

This  means when we face a brand we see ourselves in it, that the values, beliefs and behaviours of the brand are similar to our own. People think a brand that respects my values, such as: good health, a personal relationship, being cool, nature, family and good value for money, is one that I will be attracted to. What is interesting, in our research for leading brands such as in healthcare and banking, these values don’t necessarily have to translate into product or service value for a person to be attracted, they will simply choose a brand that shares their personal values system, because it feels good.

This is a powerful thought for those brands still trying to hang their identity on the gee whizzery of a product attribute, or the quicker, harder, faster service promise, not that these are not important, but for the ‘love at first sight’ attraction they just don’t cut it.

2. a brand that takes me closer to my ideal self

Our ideal self is not ‘one dimensional’, we have many roles and self perceptions that comprise our ideal self. The art and science of great brand planning is to identify, which part of our ideal self is the brand appealing to eg: is it the business woman, health goddess, investor, homemaker or our environmentally conscious self? A brand needs to understand that when  a customer is in this role, what story do they tell themselves, what behaviours do they have and how to they feel about the difference between ourself today and who we want to be, our ideal self.

Louise Kelly

Managing Director

Hearts and Minds

http://www.heartsandminds.com.au