Is your brand in the friend zone?

Our friends at the semiotics firm Axis Mundi have published a thought-provoking commentary,?“Exiting the Friend Zone,”?about brands’ failed quests for consumer intimacy.

They begin with a look at some historically successful examples of breaking down the wall that can separate brand and consumer.? Coca-Cola did this 50+ years ago, when it borrowed from the ethos of the hippie movement with it’s now legendary?“Hilltop” ad, featuring the song, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.”? Dove’s?“Campaign for Real Beauty”?is another example.?

Those campaigns worked, in part, because the brand’s message was consistent with the brand’s existing equity. But it’s easy to get this wrong.

Axis Mundi argues that brands often to get caught up in whatever TikTok influencer or cool trends are hot?right now?in our digital ecosystem.? But what is hot?right now?changes every day.? Chase that too aggressively and you risk becoming trapped in what they call a “vibe puddle” where your brand stands for both everything and nothing.

This incoherence “has left both brands and consumers unmoored, frantically pursuing ever-closer proximity even as this pursuit erodes their ability to establish stable relationships.”

They offer a model with three levels: “The Zone of Aspiration,” ?“The Horizon of Desire,” and “The Friend Zone” to illustrate how brands can push their desired values a little too far and fail to make a genuine connection.

It is a fascinating analysis of consumer culture and the trends in our culture more broadly.