February 1, 2005
more demanding spiritually
More Thoughts on "The Hughtrain":
It’s no longer just enough for people to believe that your product does what it says on the label. They want to believe in you and what you do. And they’ll go elsewhere if they don’t.This whole spiritual-marketing conversation is getting a lot more common amongst me and my colleagues these days.It’s not enough for the customer to love your product. They have to love your process as well.
People are not just getting more demanding as consumers, they are getting more demanding as spiritual entities.
Not surprising. We're all getting older. We're finding out that money isn't everything. Neither is (*GASP!*) getting laid.
We want our lives to have more "purpose" than our horny, greedy, younger selves wanted a decade or two ago.
But let's not get too pleased with ourseves. Frankly, a lot of it is driven by economic necessity. After all most of us, in one way or another, make our living via selling.
And all things being equal, people would rather buy from folk who believe in good, strong, powerful, wonderful things than from people who don't. Especially in markets which are already over-saturated with outstanding choices.
Suddenly it's the stuff that money can't buy that's providing the competitive advantage.
Heh. I think that's wonderful.
Posted by hugh macleod at February 1, 2005 6:32 PM | TrackBackSpooky, we're on the same wavelength again. I was just thinking about spiritual-marketing - both figuratively and LITERALLY - the marketing of God and the megachurch phenomenon in the States in the last couple of days. (New posts up.) Speaking of purpose - surprise surprise -"The Purpose Driven Life" is one of the best selling nonfiction books of ALL time (underlying premise good, but can't say I like the book as a whole). On the other hand, "The Purpose Driven Church", is an amazing case study of marketing savvy that is grounded in purpose.
Posted by: Evelyn Rodriguez at February 2, 2005 12:56 AMI think we want to believe in ourselves and we want the brand to play the role of "portal" - the emotional portal to feelings. So, say in the traditional positioning statement the role would be enable the consumer to move from point A to point B, defined by her [e.g., if she wants that "right after diet feeling" she can define it as sleek, strong, sensual, real, belonging, enough]so that she can then go out into the world and make and imprint. I believe the consumer wants help connecting her actions and feelings, that is the role of the brand. That is why people are reading books like The Purpose Driven Life...only it's a purposefully driven life every day. Thoughts?
Posted by: Wendy at February 3, 2005 1:19 PMI think we want to believe in ourselves and we want the brand to play the role of "portal" - the emotional portal to feelings. So, say in the traditional positioning statement the role would be enable the consumer to move from point A to point B, defined by her [e.g., if she wants that "right after diet feeling" she can define it as sleek, strong, sensual, real, belonging, enough]so that she can then go out into the world and make and imprint. I believe the consumer wants help connecting her actions and feelings, that is the role of the brand. That is why people are reading books like The Purpose Driven Life...only it's a purposefully driven life every day. Thoughts?
Posted by: Wendy at February 3, 2005 1:20 PMoops...sorry.
Posted by: Wendy at February 3, 2005 1:20 PMI hope you don't mind me saying, I rather like this softer side of Hugh.
Posted by: David Burn at February 4, 2005 3:12 AM