Published in The Attention Architect, a newsletter on LinkedIn, April 12, 20 22

“We’d like to rebrand our church,” the pastor said on the other end of the line, “and we’ve heard your firm walks on water,” he added with an unexpected chuckle.

His request surprised me because most of our work is for saving companies, not souls, and I wasn’t sure we were the right firm for the job. While I believed in the religious dimensions of branding, I didn’t want to cheapen the meaning of the spiritual pursuit for myself or anyone else. But at the same time, I knew our ability to reach the “non-customer” — or what a church might consider the “un-churched” or “non-believers” — was proven to work.

So after careful consideration with my team, we decided to take on the mission.

THE CRUX OF THE ISSUE

During our first brand workshop, I listened to the leadership council discuss the need for the church to deepen its relationship with the loyal congregation (customers) while also developing more effective “outreach” (marketing) programs for non-believers. While the discussions started pleasantly, it didn’t take long for a heated debate to unfold between a distinguished theological scholar and an old southern minister.

The scholar provided the group with an eloquent list of liturgical reasons for how the church’s rituals, traditions, and ceremonies have gone off the path and why they needed to apply more strict adherence to the historical sacraments, even if it turned off younger members and non-believers. The council members were impressed by the schooling they’d just received from the scholar, but when the minister finally got his turn to speak, his opening line floored me:

“It’s not about the pipes; it’s about the water.”

“The church’s appeal,” he reminded the council, “is not about the maze of plumbing systems we’ve created; it’s about the life-changing message that gets carried through those pipes and the transformation potential we offer to those folk who are thirsty for answers.”

At that moment, I realized how similar the minister’s belief system was to our firm’s branding philosophy.

BELIEVING IN A BRAND

Far too many companies focus on the rituals and traditions (pipes) of marketing instead of capturing the essence of their brand’s “holy water.” They downplay this transformational power because it’s not tangible.

It’s more of an intangible feeling and spirit of a brand, which requires a belief in something you can’t see or touch.

This inability to grasp what some evangelists consider the truth of their brand drives many linear thinkers bonkers. They want certainty, verifiability, and metrics to confirm everything. 

But some things in life — like patriotism, spiritualism, and romance — can’t be explained by the numbers. 

While our society has everything it could ever want regarding sophisticated products and technological advancements, we are not happy with all we have. I’d argue we have a crisis of meaning in our era, and what we seem to be missing are the mythologies and belief systems that gave our ancestors’ lives meaning, purpose, and direction. Companies can restore some of this meaning and give people belief systems they can hold onto, but first, they must believe in the transformation power of what they make to carry people from one place to the next.

OUR NEED TO CHANGE STATES

The secret to understanding humans is to realize that we constantly seek “state changes.” We want to go from bald to hairy, fat to thin, poor to rich, hungry to full, dirty to clean, stressed to relaxed, tasteless to tasteful, unhealthy to healthy, lonely to belonging, old to young, and weak to strong. But we can’t do these things on our own; we need people, products, and agents of change that can serve as catalysts to help get us there.

Every day, we willingly indulge in these state change exchanges, for better or worse. We purchase a double espresso shot, a shot of tequila, an energy drink shot, or a shot of Botox to get rid of life’s natural wrinkles and go from one state to the next. We pay handsome premiums to breathe in that new car smell or exhaust ourselves through a new gym membership or pricey Peloton bike. We invest great hope in the hidden power and promise of vitamin supplements, protein powder, or antidepressants. And sadly, we even resort to some unhealthy state change behaviors, such as drug or gambling addictions, to give us that short-lived endorphin state change.

The unspoken expectations for these state changes are often unrealistically high and don’t always quench our thirst for fulfillment as we initially hoped, but brands with the holy water can genuinely change lives for the better.

BECOMING OUR OTHER SELVES

Most of us have titles attached to our lives, such as mom, dad, boss, manager, employee, and loyal son/daughter. While these labels come with time-consuming duties and rewards, they rarely represent the complete picture of who we are in total. Instead, they capture partial slices of our being, but there are always other sides of us we’d like to explore, indulge in, and even dream about becoming someday.

For instance, buying a Harley isn’t about a transportation solution to get around town. There are already many cheaper, lighter, faster, and easier-to-finance motorcycle options on the market to solve that job. Buying a Harley is about transforming yourself into a loud, thumping badass, particularly for mid-life crisis males fading in strength. At the same time, the fear of riding a motorcycle combined with the fear of “pulling off that rebel look” acts as a steep hurdle to getting potential new members to sign up. What they need in those moments is an agent of change, a catalytic converter, which the brand can do when positioned correctly.

Forget the need for speed. Instead, hold out the transformation potential to solve “the end of loneliness,” which millions of people experience in mid-life, by becoming an instant member of the Harley tribe and participating in the fellowship of thousands of like-minded brethren, and you have an unmatchable brand promise. 

And forget about the zero to sixty stats when purchasing a Harley lets you become part of a belief system and compelling ethos of freedom, rebellion, and “sticking it to the man.” This transformation message is mighty attractive for those folks who’ve felt trapped in life and forced to conform to a society and corporate system that doesn’t seem to care or watch out for them in the way they believe they deserve.

A CHANGED PERSON

Our ability to believe in things and imbue them with special meaning is universal and timeless. We carry around this emotional capacity wherever we go. It’s not something we can take on and off like a wristwatch or ring. Instead, it’s a permanent part of how we can look at things if positioned correctly.

For example, let’s examine how consumers can look at something as ordinary or mundane as considering the purchase of a new backyard patio and grill setup.

Of course, people who buy patio furniture care about price and function, but the end goal and ultimate hope are to create a backyard patio and grill scene that will transform their lives on weekends and allow them to enjoy the “good life” they seek. But when the marketing material and branding messages only talk about the features and benefits of their products, they miss the transformation potential of their offering and end up being treated as just another commodity offering with no special meaning or power to change people.

Helping your customers imagine the life-changing properties of your products shouldn’t be an afterthought that you hope customers will see or put together on their own. It needs to be a central part of how they view your proposition and promise, and the marketer’s job is to help frame up that transformation potential in a way the customers can sense, feel and believe in it as the answer to their weekend prayers.

THE THREE QUESTIONS OF BRAND TRANSFORMATION LEVELS

The key for churches, Harley dealerships, furniture stores, and businesses is to help customers believe they can walk into their place of business one way and come out the other end a changed person. To get to the core of this transformation potential, I use three imaginary customer questions to get the party started:

WHO WILL I BECOME WHILE USING YOUR PRODUCT

Do I become a sailor (Old Spice), polo player (Ralph Lauren), a badass (Harley Davidson), a health nut (Whole Foods), or an aristocrat (Rolls Royce)?

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ME AFTER I USE THIS PRODUCT?

Will I appear more intelligent, sexy, rugged, revered, or hard to resist? Will I become more powerful, empowered, skilled, or informed? Or will I feel more energized, relaxed, excited, clean, or cultured?

HOW WILL I (AND OTHERS) KNOW THAT I'M CHANGED?

If someone saw me before and after I bought this product, how could they tell that something had changed in me? How will others know I’m a “believer” in the brand and a fellow tribe member? Will I walk, talk and behave differently? Will my appearance or wardrobe change, like it often happens with leather jackets, patches, and tattoos in the Harley world? Or in the Lululemon scene with stretchy yoga pants, rolled-up matt, and a water bottle? These visible symbols and signals hold tremendous meaning and are critical tokens for those experiencing a state change. What are your tokens of meaning? 

CONVERT WITH CLAIRITY

It’s not uncommon for me to find company leaders, staff, and salespeople that can’t tell me with clarity, consistency, and seduction what their brand’s transformation potential offers customers. And if the employees of the brand can’t explain this transformation potential in short, compelling terms, how can customers ever recognize it?

My recommendation to companies is to get crystal clear about your brand’s transformation potential and to find creative ways to help customers imagine the possibilities for how their lives will become better, improved, and changed by using your product.

As the minister said, focus less on the pipes and more on the holy water of how your brand offering can change customers’ lives.