How to build an inspirational brand?
How do you build a brand that moves people? That makes them change their behaviour and inspires them far beyond what was ever intended. Of course we want people to buy our product or our service, but when your brand can create motivation, or inspiration, you will have loyal customers for life.
Nike is the epitome of an inspirational brand. Whether you like their product or not, or agree with their practices (they have had a few child labor and sweatshop scandals in their life time), you have heard their tagline “Just do it” and seen some of their empowerment advertisements.
Wieden+Kennedy, the advertising agency that came up with the “Just do it” slogan have said that people were “applying it to everything” and looked at it in terms of “anything they were procrastinating about''. People were asking out their crushes, getting divorced, finishing projects all because of the “Just do it” slogan.
Why was it so successful? And how do you create this
kind of power and momentum in your brand?
I believe it was successful for two reasons:
- It said what people needed to hear. In the 1990s brands having this level of honesty with the consumer wasn’t nearly as common as it is now. I think a lot of businesses are concerned about being this radically honest with their customers and verbalizing fears and concerns in an inspiring way.
- It had nothing to do with shoes. The name, the tagline, the advertising never once mentions their product. The advertisements show people wearing Nike gear, but you aren’t given a list of why Nike gear is better than Adidas or Puma. They are telling you a story you want to be a part of instead of telling you facts about their product.
How do you start?
What keeps them up at night? What are they scared to do? Answering these questions is a great place to start. These are emotion based questions and are critical for an inspiring brand. If Nike thought that people just needed shoes, their advertising would be vastly different.
When you can get to the emotional root of the problem you solve, you can change your messaging, visuals and branding to meet those needs. Once you can define that emotional trigger, you can figure out what will motivate them to make change. Be the support system they need to achieve their dreams.
You also need to walk the walk
Honesty and authenticity are more important than ever in the branding world. The next generation is looking for brands that represent them and are hyper aware of businesses trying to present themselves as something they’re not.
Show up for your customers the way they need you to show up every single time. If you are pushing empowerment, you and your staff need to feel empowered, if you are pushing health and wellness, you and your staff need to feel healthy.
Lead by example and create moments of authenticity when connecting with your customers online or in-person.
Overnight success?
Nike’s success from the “Just do it” campaign was as close to an overnight success as you can have in advertising, but they took a chance that they weren’t sure was going to be successful.
You do not have to do it all overnight! Start by defining your customer pain points and how you can solve them, and then come up with an action plan to start changing your brand over to fulfill those emotional needs.
Katie Dooley is a brand strategist and publicist with Paper Lime Creative, a boutique branding agency in Edmonton, Canada