Mark Schaefer recently held one of his annual The Uprising events, and was kind enough to share several insights. A few of my own takeaways from his article are below.
“The world is longing to belong — especially now. The more time we spend online, the more lonely, isolated, and depressed we feel. There is certainly a role for companies and brands to play in meeting this need.”
“The ‘kinship economy’ where human relationships are central to a strategy that leads to brand love.”
“The future of branding — it’s a path to belonging that includes helping people connect to the world, interpret cultural moments through the eyes of the brand, and use the brand as a platform that amplifies human expression and creativity.”
“Why [would] a person would “hire” your product to perform a certain task? She provided a dramatic example of a symphony advertisement that promoted music and artists that were probably meaningless to an average person. She then showed a re-worked version positioning the symphony as an antidote to daily stress.”
“We can help people ‘belong’ to our brand if we connect to their emotional needs instead of beating our chest about product features.”
“Purpose” and aligning with shared meaning is one of the few ways left to earn customer loyalty.
Your “who” and your “why” guides your “how” and your “what.”
