Brand beliefs are unfalsifiable.

What’s the better brand of headphones?
Bose or Beats by Dre?
Prove it!
You can’t, because it’s subjective.
It’s a belief.
All brand evaluations are subjective beliefs (a redundant expression).
Because they’re unfalsifiable.
And that’s what makes them so powerful.
An interesting new paper provides some insight.
The researchers found that people derive psychological benefit from believing in things.
Especially things that can’t be proven wrong.
And when we’re presented with evidence that contradicts our opinion:
“The Bose QuietComfort 15s have the best noise cancelling in an over-ear headphone.”
We comfort ourselves and our brand decisions with unfalsifiable evidence.
“But the Beats Studio headphones are cool.”
So what?
So don’t try to make sense of the marketplace by surveying people.
Or by doing scientific, objective analysis of various brands.
You may determine the “facts”
But you won’t arrive at people’s “truth.”
And it’s their “truth,” their beliefs, that drive their decisions.
And one other thing.
Those brand beliefs are highly resistant.
Not to change, but to evidence.
Because evidence threatens people’s decisions, their beliefs.
And it’s their beliefs, which create their identities.

What's your leadership myth?

There’s a generally accepted organizational myth.
One that imagines that businesses are made.
By acquiring, arranging and rearranging parts.
People, teams, departments, managers.
Leaders think of themselves as technicians and architects.
Strategists who develop a plan and fashion the business in accordance with that plan.
Artists who impose their will on the “material” and bring their creation to life.
But businesses are not put together or molded.
You don’t work on them from the outside in, like a potter works with clay.
Businesses flourish.
They’re living organisms that grow from the inside out.
They expand, they blossom.
Like a human body, they progressively complicate themselves.
And so that’s how we should lead them.
Like we lead our bodies.
We give up control.
We delegate responsibility.
We trust our organs to do what they’re supposed to do.
The stomach cares about what the stomach cares about.
It does what it needs to do to keep the body running.
If the head tries to control the stomach, the body won’t function properly.
The same is true of all of our other organs.
Nevertheless the head is in control.
Of what the body experiences.
The meaning, nutrition, exercise, rest and positive thoughts.
And that’s the leader’s ultimate responsibility.
To continuously feed and nourish the body.
Or the body will fail.
Prematurely.

Brand loyalty or brand betrayal?

Most aphorisms have an equal and opposite one.
“He who hesitates is lost.”
“Everything comes to those who wait.”
A recent study tested a pair of proverbs on brands.
The researchers wanted to know.
Is it, “Out of sight, out of mind?”
Or, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
What they found may surprise you.
(It doesn’t surprise me at all).
Participants in the study stopped consuming certain brands, like Facebook.
Some substituted, or were prompted to use, an alternative brand, like WhatsApp.
Others simply went cold turkey.
Here’s the “insight.”
How much a person desires a brand depends.
On the length of time that passes before they can find it.
And whether or not they can find a suitable replacement to satisfy their desire.
So it’s “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
The longer they go without, the greater their desire.
Unless they find a substitute.
Then it’s “Out of sight, out of mind.”
Is there are lesson here?
Probably three.
First, your brand isn’t as critically important to your loyal customers as you may believe.
Second, make sure they never have a problem finding, purchasing and consuming it.
If you do, they’ll probably remain loyal.
And finally, try like hell not to be substitutable.

The brand identity illusion.

Have you ever heard, or been asked, this question?
“If your organization, or brand, were a car, what make or model would it be and why?”
No?
You’re very lucky. I’ve heard it a lot.
In fact, too many times to count.
And not once have I come across the perspective inherent in this response:
“My brand would be a customizable, decked out limousine.
One in which I can give my customers the rides of their lives!”
Most organizations are obsessed with navel gazing.
Trying to discover “who they are” and “what makes them special.”
They hire consultants and spend countless hours pondering their unique identities.
And for what reason?
To help them create their brand personalities and craft their messages, of course.
There’s only one little problem with their approach.
It’s completely backwards.
Business is not psychotherapy.
It’s theater!
It’s not about going “in,” because your audience is interested in you and your unearthed identity.
Sorry, but they’re not.
It’s about going “out,” and ingratiating yourself to your audience.
By making them feel good about themselves, and their decisions, in your presence.
It’s about unearthing what they need to feel good, smart and special, and then giving it to them.
It’s easy to become hypnotized and confused by your own marketplace experiences.
That’s what great brands are hoping to have happen.
They want you to get lost in their carefully constructed brand identities.
And to have you believe that it’s all about their uniqueness and passion.
For their coffee, equipment, motorcycle, phone, you name it.
In fact, it’s really all about you.
Great organizations are like great directors and producers.
They’re obsessed with their brand performance (and pulling you into it).
Before you even know it, you’re rationalizing the purchase of a $4 cup of coffee, a $3 golf ball, a $30,000 Screamin’ Eagle Fat Boy, or a $500 phone.
Why?
Because you’re a Starbucks kind of girl.
You’re a champion like Tiger.
You’re a rebel accountant.
You think different, dammit. That’s why!
The present, bemused way of thinking, is a chimera.
“A brand is a promise and engagement is the Holy Grail.
All we have to do is engage people with our communication and deliver on our brand promise.”
Really?
What precisely is Starbucks’ brand promise?
How about Nike’s or Harley’s?
Surely you must know Apple’s brand promise?
And do you really believe that GEICO’s brand is all about promising to save you 15% on your car insurance?
Yes?
Then you’ve been hypnotized, my friend.
Leadership brands don’t make promises.
They create and fulfill expectations through carefully and precisely crafted associations.
Expectations of receiving a particular feeling about your identity.
Starbucks wants you to feel special as you exchange pleasantries with their Barista, and urbane as you hurry down the sidewalk flaunting your overflowing shoulder bag and upscale logoed cup.
Nike wants you to feel like a winner, as you proudly tee up your $4 swoosh-embossed golf ball.
Despite the fact that you’ll inevitably smash it into the woods, where it will land humbly amongst the $1 Spauldings and Wilsons.
Harley wants you to feel like a member of an exclusive, free bird club, as you hang up your pinstripe suit and don a $40 t-shirt, $300 pair of boots and $400 black leather Harley jacket.
And Apple? Well, let’s just say Apple totally gets branding and the spirit of our times.
Dre headphones anyone?
Please don’t get me wrong.
I am not saying that it’s all about image and that product and service attributes are irrelevant.
In fact, it’s just the opposite.
From selecting organic eggs for my children, which tells me that I’m a caring Dad, to driving a Tesla, which tells me that I’m a progressive one.
Today the substance of a brand is as important, if not more so, than the sizzle in creating resonant associations and the subsequent brand “feeling.”
What I am saying is that your products, services, pricing, place of business, promotion, and people are all a means to an end.
And that end is the outward-focused, enhanced identity of your audience.
So forget about trying to figure out whether you’re a Buick or a Bugatti.
It really doesn’t matter.
Instead, get busy ingratiating yourself to your audience.
By helping them feel good about themselves and their decisions.
And after a while, that unique and valuable way of being will become your true, and valuable, brand identity.

Go out of your mind.

Two recent studies on depression made me think about organizations.
One found that young adults diagnosed with major depressive disorder have hyper-connected brain networks.
Especially in the areas associated with rumination.
They run problems over and over in their minds.
Never arriving at a solution.
The other found that depression is alleviated by feeling like part of a group.
Not just socializing with people, but strongly identifying with them.
Over the years, I’ve discovered those same insights.
With organizations.
Depressed, dysfunctional ones ruminate.
The classic symptom being reports and meetings.
Meetings to discuss performance.
Meetings to discuss problems.
Meetings to discuss meetings.
All of those meetings are really nothing more than collective rumination.
And, as the author of the first study made clear, “As rumination goes up, cognitive control goes down.”
Strategy and execution become muddied, disconnected.
Thriving, healthy organizations are also hyper-connected.
But not in their minds.
To the outside world and to each other, in purpose and vision.
They strongly identify with their audience, and focus relentlessly on improving their lives.
So if you find yourself and your organization ruminating, stop and engage with the outside world.
You’ll go out of your mind.
And, eventually, come to your senses.

Desire is the ball.

Desire is what makes the economy hum.
It’s the name of the game.
Stop and look and you’ll experience the vibrant force of desire all around.
Neighbors mowing their lawns and washing their cars.
Girls and boys putting on makeup and splashing on body fragrance.
Children getting dressed for school.
Fans on their way to a ballgame.
Friends texting.
Citizens voting.
Entrepreneurs downloading software.
Families heading to prayer service.
Men and women browsing bookstore shelves, painting pictures, and tending gardens.
Desire is life.
Life is desire.
Lack of desire is clinically referred to as depression.
Prolonged lack of desire by the masses is also called depression . . . by economists.
Desire is what gives us a sense of purpose and hope.
Desire is what keeps us hungry, curious, and adventurous.
You are currently experiencing desire, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this post.
Desire is also what fuels relationships.
My desire for meaning and attention keeps me hopping on airplanes and hunting and pecking at the keyboard of my MacBook.
I’m driven to help passionate people like you be the best they can be, for themselves and for others.
Your desire for understanding and solutions, for control over your chaotic environment, drove you here.
Our desire for achievement and identity, our hunger to stand out and to make a difference, is what keeps us connected.
My university degree is in economics.
Supply and demand.
Guns and butter.
X/Y plots.
The hard stuff.
Thinking about it now reminds me of something that George Bernard Shaw once quipped.
“If all the economists were laid end to end, they’d never reach a conclusion.”
I’ve reached a conclusion.
My informed intuition, rich through years of experience, confirms that demand is about the soft stuff.
It’s not the curve on a graph.
It’s the feeling in someone’s gut.
It’s not a trend.
It’s a hunger.
We are feeling, then thinking people.
Hearts, then minds.
We desire, all the time.
And reason is simply a tool to help us advance those desires.
Desire is what animates the marketplace.
Desire for control.
Desire for attention.
Desire for validation.
Desire for contribution.
Desire for excitement.
Desire for status.
Desire for growth.
Desire for belonging.
Desire is the stimulant.
Desire is the ball.
Please don’t take your eyes off of it.

Our culture is marketing.

“Our culture is marketing.
This is what we do.
And what is marketing?
Trying to get people to do what you want them to.”
It has the ring of poetry or song lyrics.
It’s actually from a talk by the screenwriter Charlie Kaufman.
Kaufman is a very thoughtful human being.
He has written some wonderfully daring and inventive screenplays.
Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Charlie oozes authenticity.
He also has a disdain for marketing.
He sees it as a plague of “mass distraction and manipulation.”
I feel what he feels.
The marketplace is brimming with frivolous, spiritless, and outright deceptive people and brands.
As a society of thoughtful human beings, we can certainly do much better.
But I don’t see that reality as a condemnation of marketing.
“Marketing” is simply a descriptor.
Just like the word “movie.”
It’s not inherently evil or manipulative.
The outcome is driven by the marketer’s intentions.
Sure, most marketing is bullshit and crap.
An offense to our sensibilities, a waste of 30 seconds.
But so are most movies.
And they rob us of 90 minutes.
So let’s stop condemning marketing.
And the media, movies, video games, books, businesses, schools, banks, and government.
If we’re mad as hell, let’s get off of our comfortable pulpits.
And do the hard work of making, and demanding, better ones.

The how of great brands.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with many leading brands over the years.
I’ve also watched purposeful, passionate organizations struggle for significance.
I’ve seen dedicated religious leaders lose their ministries to apathy.
While others swelled their church attendance into the thousands.
I’ve witnessed friends start businesses to change the world and ultimately fail.
While self-interested, financially motivated ones continue to thrive.
As much as I would have liked to (and believe me, I’ve tried), I have not found an organization’s “why,” its purpose or cause, to be the basis for its growth.
It feels good to make that connection, to think in terms of intent instead of execution.
But it’s clearly not the case.
And for one simple reason.
People don’t buy “what” you do or “why” you do it.
They buy “how” you do it.
The unique and compelling way you bring your idea to life for their benefit.
It’s your “how” that creates engagement, adoption and devotion.
Did Steve Jobs and Apple believe more passionately in elegant product design than Sony?
Jobs was inspired by Akio Morito and fascinated with Sony products.
Did Martin Luther King Jr. have more passion for equality and civil rights in America than Howard Thurman?
Thurman enlivened King and served as his spiritual advisor.
How about the Wright Brothers?
Were they more stirred to fly than folks like Gustave Whitehead and Lyman Gilmore?
Of course not.
But they did conceive a patented control system, which is still used in modern aircraft today.
Don’t let your feelings fool you.
Intentions carry weight.
They help inform decision-making, inspire like-minded people, and sustain motivation during difficult times.
But they only matter if you bring them to life in a bold and memorable way.
What matters most in today’s marketplace is timing, guts, and creative execution.
It’s the combination of domain expertise, strategic value creation, and an obsessive attention to detail that gives rise to great brands.
What propelled Apple to its cult and Wall Street status?
Steve Jobs’ powerful strategic vision and uncompromising sense of “how.”
Why do we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.?
Not because he cared deeply.
Rather, because he inspired us to care with his carefully crafted experiences and expertly delivered oratory.
What accounts for the rapid growth of companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook?
Their “how,” pure and simple.
Yes, the “why” is what fuels entrepreneurial endeavors.
It gives the founders the curiosity, passion and resilience to find the right “how.”
But it’s that “how” that pulls others in.
The personal connection to the aesthetic experience.
The sense of control.
And the identity affirmation and enhancement.
What “why”-inspired organizations need in today’s hyper-competitive marketplace is strong leadership.
Leadership that keeps people focused on innovating and improving the “how.”
Without a strategic obsession on the external needs and feelings of your audience, your “why” will slowly fade.
As more “how”-driven organizations attract away your customers, members, volunteers and donors.
And, like you, I’d really hate to see that happen.

Is there a brand elephant?

My friend was writing an article for a business magazine.
He emailed me a few questions.
Ones that really made me pause and consider (again) this notion called “brand.”
He asked, about a well-known company’s recent initiatives.
“Isn’t where [the company] sources ingredients more important [than creative content]?
How about employment policies, or frequency of lawsuits filed by or against?”
I instantly thought of the blind men and the elephant.
An ancient parable about subjective reality confronting the totality of truth.
Five blind men (or men in a dark room) touch an elephant to discover what it is.
The elephant is massive, so they can only touch a part of it.
Later, when they compare notes, they are in complete disagreement.
The man who touched the leg said the elephant was like a pillar.
The tail toucher said the elephant was like a rope.
The one who felt the trunk compared it to a tree branch.
The man who felt the ear said the elephant was like a fan.
And the tusk feeler insisted the elephant was like a spear.
The same is true of the marketplace.
People are blind to the totality of most brands.
They simply don’t have the time or cognitive resources to be otherwise.
Some people choose brands based on price or convenience.
Others are influenced by what people like them are choosing.
Some choose brands due to how advertising makes them feel.
While others may care about product attributes, ingredients and sourcing.
And some people are moved by a brand’s sustainability and employment practices.
They’re all touching different and sometimes multiple, but true, aspects of the brand.
But they never touch every aspect.
So does a brand, as a totality of truth, even exist?
If your brand elephant is lacking a tail, does it even matter?
The German physicist Werner Heisenberg’s remarked:
“We have to remember that what we observe is not nature in itself.
But nature exposed to our method of questioning.”
The same is true of brands.
A brand is not a solid, stable truth.
It’s not an objective concept, like an elephant.
A brand is a dynamic idea.
One that evolves over time.
And one that changes in our minds through multiple touches.
One managed for the short term.
While, at the same time, being passionately developed for an envisioned future.

Living the brand.

It’s still highly debated.
But most neuroscientists agree.
Our decisions boil down to three types.
Pavlovian.
Reflexive and automatic behavior.
Like plopping down in front of the TV with a bag of chips.
Habitual.
Complex and learned, but eventually automatic.
Like driving to work.
And goal-directed.
Thoughtful and deliberative.
Like planning a vacation to an exotic locale.
These decisions can work together.
Reinforcing our behavior and advancing our agendas.
Or they can work at odds.
Slowing us down or completely derailing us.
A great brand, personal or organizational, is lived.
Fully and consistently.
All three decision-making modes work together.
The goal-directed informs and trains the habitual.
It also modifies the environment to steer the reflexive.
But most people ignore pavlovian and habitual behaviors.
They think they can craft a strategy, convene a few meetings, and propel a new future.
They wrongly assume that their goal-directed decisions will change behaviors.
How utterly misguided.
Why are there always so many diet books on the bestseller list?
Think about it.