Isn’t this such a great thought? “Don’t build a product, then try to market it. Instead, build a customer attitude, then build a product to match that attitude.” It’s part of an absorbing and insightful article by Graeme Newell on why you shouldn’t focus your advertising around your product.
And it points to a parallel thought for me that clearly distinguishes brands with purpose from those that lack purpose. Purposeful brands focus on the history of the attitude that drives them far more than their chronicled timeline. They talk about what first motivated them to want to change the world and what impels them to continue shaking the tree.
That’s powerful precisely because it’s timeless. And it’s relevant because it’s so connective. It explains to those of a similar mind how a brand they like came to the very same realisations that they have.
By way of a structure for such a story, I hacked Emma Coats’ wonderful Pixar code to render my take on how marketers might retell how they came to be the brand they are. This is is the result:
When we started, everyone believed …
We were so outraged by this, we decided to …
And then we …
And then we …
Suddenly people found they could …
So we …
Today, our customers …
And we continue to …