Primal Branding: Response & Reaction Part 1

A friend of mine recently recommended Patrick Hanlon's "Primal Branding." Overall, I find the book to be an easy read and appreciate Hanlon's ability to help marketing people move beyond the rote practices of awareness generation to a better understanding of how humans create communities around brand (or symbolic reality). However, I still find the explanations incomplete. I believe that the work done on Symbolic Convergence Theory is a more thorough and parsimonious explanation of human behavior. For many in marketing, it was an important evolutional step to understand the emotional connection that people have with brands - we do things for reasons the rational mind can't explain or understand on an empirical level. I believe Hanlon moves the dialog further in a more intelligent direction with "Primal Branding" yet I feel that if fails to explicitly account for the four major components any person, group or communities' connection to a "brand" (belief system, symbolic entity, etc). The four components are (1) meaning, (2) motive, (3) emotion, and (4) identity. SCT helps us continue to evolve our thinking around communities and symbolic identity.

These help get us on the road, but don't quite get us to the destination. Over the next week, I will post the similarities between Primal Brand and SCT (along with Sanctioning Agent's SymbolicID process and other big ideas in communication theory and practice) and ways that SCT can help you better understand the meaning, motives, emotions and identities associated with brands, symbolic realities, and communities. Topics to be covered include:

- Compare the technical terms or constructs between Primal Branding & SCT*

- Look at the shelf life/life cycle of symbolic realities

- Address the master analogues that compete for explanation in a symbolically created reality.

* Note: The technical terms of SCT (and Bormann's dramatism theory) have appeared in hundreds of articles from the 1970s to present day.

What if I don't want to turn into a chicken?

McDonald's latest commercial campaign has me a bit perplexed. It's the one with the man, a loner, who loves his chicken sandwiches so much he starts turning into a chicken. The defensive ad person may say "hey it's memorable and you're talking about it." True, but that doesn't translate into sales or excite desire for the object. When I see a chicken-man freak eating a chicken sandwich, I'm less inclined to stop in and get some of that cock-a-doodle.

Avian flu, I'm lovin' it.

No More Sissy Soap

Marketing for MEN great idea!!!! Seriously, very original. You should be proud of yourselves in a very manly way. Who bought off on the Dial for Men campaign? You know Dial, that sissy soap that killed germs. Well, turns out that it must of been mothering and smothering those germs, because men need to take back the bathroom. Please, what hacks write this tripe and what boneheads buy off on this junk?

Better clean up with some manly-man soap before you go to Friday's for their meat platter (BEEF!! PORK!!! RIBS!!!). I hope to God they don't have my tractor pull event presented on one of those new Sony TVs that are for men AND women.

I fear that the writers of beer commercials have breeched security and are now taking a faux homme campaign to new fronts. I need my commodity chain restaurants manly and my soap manlier. That can be a man-law, right?

Seriously, I can understand a new product campaign/brand extension based on gender when the brand had previously been known as being for one gender. Especially, higher-end cosmetic companies introducing skincare products for men. But Dial soap? Ugh! If you're that much of a man, you'd use Lava. Then take some Flomax, so your homo-erotic fishing trips aren't interrupted by frequent trips to the bathroom.

Baby Related Fear Appeals

As a new father, one of the marketing/branding/advertising themes that I'm noticing is the use of fear appeals. Basic formaul of the appeal - create dissonance, provide solution (which involves purchasing your product or service) for the dissonance.

Some are as simple as you want to be a good parent, without our product you're not. Other's are a bit more extreme, implying retardation or death if you don't use their product.

I suppose it's easier to cultivate fear than it is to create and ground a winning, unique identity when you're trying to separate new parents from their wallets -- in the name of their babies. You're not against babies, are you?

Agent Fiona Mae

The newest member of the Sanctioning Agent team joined the agency on May 31. We're excited and expect big things from her.

Here are some key stats:
Weight: 7 lbs, 15 oz
Length: 22"
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

Babies & Brands

As my wife and I prepare for the birth of our first child (expected later this month), I find myself making product decisions and forming opinions where none had existed only months ago (much like our wedding).

Preparing for baby, made me think of a piece of flawed logic in an otherwise decent book about consumer behavior. Lou Carbone makes an illogical comparison in Clued In. He compares the brand equity and ad spends between Starbucks and Huggies. It’s a comparison of caffeinated apples and disposable oranges. One product is addictive and the other is not used by the purchaser. Diapers are purchased by people who don’t use the product and had no idea that they would need to make the purchase months earlier.

I find myself engaging in righteous, social, and pragmatic evaluations of potential products and services for the home. In this case, diapers:

Righteous – nothing’s too good for our future daughter, as my wife and I bring multiple consumer guides to baby stores.

Social – asking my friends what diapers they’re using and why. Turns out that Pampers has less blow-outs than Huggies. It sounds like we’re going to be Pampers house.

Pragmatic – what’s the cheapest way to get Pampers? Costco, here we come.

The above assumes the pragmatic argument of disposables beats out the righteous eco-argument of cloth diapers.

Wiki now used for shopping commentary

In the April 24th edition of the New York Times, Bob Tedeshi wrote about ecommerce companies trying to embrace Wiki style reviews. This is another flavor of consumer generated media. As stated earlier with CGM, it’s imperative that symbolic identity and brand are managed.

What I know is…the continued duality of fragmented and converging channels of communication require more disciplined brand management.

I covered this topic last month with the Chevy Tahoe contest. http://www.sanctioningagent.com/blog/2006/04/chevy-tahoe-consumer-generated-media.html

Takeaways:
1. CGM is not inherently good or bad.
2. Position or be positioned…with the speed of the net, make sure you’re managing your story and that it’s grounded with tangible reality links.
3. Me too is not a brand strategy.

New Case Study

A new case study is available on the Sanctioning Agent site. Read how Sanctioning Agent helped a Minneapolis-based theatre company.