Brands with Attitude.

We are "fifteen minutes" away from the 100th anniversary of the publication of Dale Carnegie's classic "How to Win Friends, and Influence People".?

Long before the emergence of the industry - because it is an industry - of self-help (in all its flavours), coaching (in all its versions), and McDonald's-style drive-thru spirituality, all disciplines governed by the premise that success in life depends on the ability to understand the other, old Dale made it clear that the most effective way to connect with people was (is, and will continue to be) empathy.

There is nothing more powerful than putting yourself in the shoes of the person in front of you, understanding their situation, and approaching life from their perspective, in order to understand them and find a way to connect.?We all like to be seen, heard, deciphered.?In contrast, there is nothing more shocking than someone who talks about himself, to himself, and to himself.

At this stage of market and consumer sophistication, it should come as no surprise that the same principle applies equally to the world of brands.?"Don't tell me about You: how nice, wonderful, and unique You are; I am interested in what You can do for me, to me, with me.?Depending on that, I will - or will not - put you on my grocery list, you will enter my cupboard, and you will be part of my life", is what today's consumer would say.

It sounds obvious.

However, even today there are brands that ignore it, thinking that customers will naturally gravitate towards them just by articulating their narrative around their ingredients (Lala Milk with 54g of protein), or the absence of them (Corona Cero), or their characteristics (Bimbo Artisan Bread), without the slightest reference to what all this can do for the customer.

The underlying customer question of "what's in it for me" can be answered from different angles.?There are many ways to make a brand relevant to its target customer.?

The key is to insert the brand as the only existing option to what the customer needs, wants, desires.??The answers range from the tangible, functional, responding to the problem-solution binomial (a formula used by detergent, shampoo and pharma brands since the 50's), to what less sophisticated marketers - of which there are plenty - would call an "emotional" benefit.?This is without realising that all, absolutely all, the benefits a brand offers are adopted, or rejected, on the basis of the emotions they generate, no matter how "rational" the sales pitch.

Experience - particularly in markets where competition does exist, and the customer has several options from which to choose - tells us that the stronger the connection a brand makes with a customer, the more the brand's benefit is driven by a deeper understanding of what motivates the customer (American Express: "I want to be perceived as a successful person"); what he or she is running away from (Ford Explorer: "I want to escape from my everyday urban life"); and what he or she dreams of (Royal Caribbean: "This is the life I want to have").

Within the vast arsenal of strategy options that brands have to connect with their customers, one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, is to talk about Attitude.

A person's predisposition towards a situation, someone or something is a fertile field in which to sow the brand's narrative.?

Let's think of iconic brands that were built on an Attitude strategy.?

Marlboro's success is largely due to the air of independence, freedom, and authenticity with which the brand accustomed the market to associate it.?Those who chose Marlboro - if they are still around to tell the tale - did so out of a desire to identify with the way of life of those who lived in Marlboro Country.

Something similar is true of Tag Heuer, the average luxury watch brand, which has been building its narrative for 30 years now by presenting itself as the watch of choice for people who don't give up in the face of adversity.?Thus, the Tag attitude is faithfully reflected in the slogan "Don't crack under pressure".

It was no accident that Ray Ban was the choice of James Dean in "Rebel without a Cause"; of Tom Cruise in "Top Gun" and "Risky Business"; of Arnold Shwarzenegger in "Terminator"; of Robert De Niro in "Taxi Driver"; of Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Steve Buscemi, and Chris Penn, in "Reservoir Dogs"; of Daniel Craig in each of the 5 times he played 007.

And so those who want to go through life with the composure, nonchalance, and disdain of the coolest characters in cinema will choose to wear the most iconic brand of dark glasses.

And your brand: what attitude does it have?

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