The primitive form of love, at first sight, appeared a long time ago in the Holy Bible of how God arranged Adam and Eve to meet in the Garden of Eden. It was instant chemistry. Gladly, it is not a human’s imagination. Today scientists have grounded proofs on how human’s brains work exactly in that “meant to be” moments and the psychological drivers behind this “miracle”. If we take every of our brands as a human being, this kind of reality is not far out of reach. As digital takes over the reign, brand magic can even happen in a single wipe.
The formula is simple as packed in four big bullet points:
1. Define the right one(s)
2. Stand out visually
3. Provoke feeling
4. Drive urgency.
DEFINE THE RIGHT ONE (S) — FIND YOUR CONSUMER PROFILE
A lot of people have a strong belief that they are destined to meet and fall in love with somebody. As the story may go, you go to a place, suddenly you bump into someone and BANG. When we do the very first exercise in marketing, the process is actually the reverse. That someone in that particular place is meticulously planned well beforehand. Identifying potential consumer segment, their portraits and receptivity touch-points are fundamental for any marketers.
For example, if you are a bookworm, then probably you may have interest in another bookworm (unless you want an opposite taste, the key is always to define what you want). In the bookworm segment, you may fragment it down to book category such as sci-fi, romantic, classic, tech, etc. A bookworm who loves romantic may probably a fan of poems, thus he/she may by chance participate in groups of poem sharing or a page that writes about a specific author he/she likes. Be present there and prepare for your chance to come.
In digital context, the behaviors should be looked through the lenses of media consumption habits. A Facebook addict will be very different from an Instagram and Tiktok player. The more details you can draw out, the higher chance you come across your destiny.
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR SOULMATES?
The idea of soulmates is not new but it now becomes more popular with the complexity of social engagement. Look for the ones who care about your growth & existence rather than the ones who just cross by. This is the best fit for brands exploiting loyalty trade-up (ie. long-term commitment). A soulmate consumer can be an early adopter or laggard. Key is the connection, which we can build purposefully.
An example of soulmate consumers is Naruto’s fans. The whole story was built up in 15 years as the growth of Naruto and his fight to protect peace of the Ninja world. What made Naruto phenomenal were not only Kishimoto Masashi’s meticulously creative work but also his insightful understanding of the audience thanks to Naruto’s large community who were always ready to contribute ideas to better the story. Another example is Lego and its amazing consumer co-creation platforms/labs where kids are invited as idea initiators. In other words, Lego is actively building its early soulmate pools vs. looking for them passively.
Next topic: Story 1 (Part 2): Namaste, I see you – How to design outstanding brand image
Authors: Nguyet Nguyen (Azurie) & Hoang Ha (Sylvie)
