Does your brand matter or is it a passing, fleeting thought?

By Robert Wheatley

Every dollar spent in marketing communications comes with an attached request for measurable results. This is why clients hire us. Usually the expected outcome is in the form of elevated brand reputation or purposeful buying behavior. Thus the point of communicating is to engage, inform and ultimately motivate. Marketers spend money to make money. In communications this means a tangible link between outreach and impact on attitudes and behavior.

The battle for meaning and preference really exists in the six inches (or so) of grey matter between both ears. So no one, then, would dispute that ultimately all brands are competing for a share of brain time.

Not surprisingly what occupies most conscious brain energy is centered on things that matter. So is it possible that inconsequential information gets less brain time? Think so. To what extent does the recipient ignore peripherally interesting brand-to-consumer communication?

Take the home improvement fan whose creative juices and sense of style is activated in the presence of a home environment they helped construct. Could it be the furniture and decorating operates as a reflection of their personality? Perhaps their home is tied very closely to how they define themselves. Maybe investing in changes, upgrades and improvements is integral to their lifestyle passions. Their personal artistry is not on canvas but in the attitude revealed in their decorating.

Brands that understand this important concept work (very) hard to help enable the decorating-centric person’s interests. Brands that act as helper and facilitator, a singularly unselfish act, are able to acquire greater relevance and meaning. The outcome: an opportunity for real engagement and attention. Brain time.

Yet so often we find brand communications mired in self-centered messaging about technical advantages, specifications, features, ingredients and other items that may help deliver a desirable outcome — but really are of little consequence to the consumer’s life and therefore of less interest.

So what’s important?

For most people it’s our lives and lifestyle that matter. Our relationships, families, siblings, children, events, activities, jobs, hobbies, religious beliefs, interests, passions, wants, desires, ambitions, dreams and aspirations that get the most conscious time and attention.

How does a brand get brain time?

When brands enable, become part of, are attached to, or “ride” alongside events and activities of meaning and value to people, an opportunity arises for authentic communication to take place. Meaning and value precedes effective communication. Want to be seen and heard? Then stop playing in the outer circle of less consequential information. Stop focusing on your features and specifications. Consider more holistically how your brand can play a dynamic role in your consumer’s life. Greater meaning = greater value = more brain time.

What do you think?