primal branding: displacing religion with products
Book review of book by Patrick Hanlon called Primal Branding: Create Zealots for your Brand, Your Company, and Your Future. Reviewed by David Mays.
Hanlon has been a senior executive at some of the world’s most creative advertising agencies. Hanlon says that a brand is a community of believers held together by seven assets that create a belief system. A concept book, it is long on description including many illustrative examples and stories.
“What is the magic glue that sticks together consumers and Google, Mini Cooper, and Oprah and not others?” (4) “The result of this quest led to a much larger question of how ideologies—belief systems—come to exist.” There are ‘seven definable assets that construct meaning behind the brand…seven brand messages that must be delivered to create preferential brand appeal.” (6)
“Primal branding is about delivering the primal code.” “Those seven assets are: ‘the creation story”; “the creed”; “the icons”; “the rituals”’ “the pagans”’ “the sacred words”’ and “the leader.” Together, these pieces of primal code construct a belief system. Brands are belief systems.” (6)
“Once you look at a brand as a belief system, it automatically gains all the advantages that enterprise strives for: trust, vibrancy, relevance, a sense of values, community, leadership, vision, empathy, commitment, and more. With the seven pieces of primal code in place you have created a belief system and products and services that people can believe in.” (7)
“Believing is belonging. When you are able to create brands that people believe in, you also create groups of people who feel that they belong.” “…we all want to belong to something larger than ourselves. That community can surround a product or service, a personality, a social or political cause, or a civic community.” (7)
“What we call primal branding is the ability to make people feel better about your brand than another.” (7)
The Creation Story. “Where you come from is as important for people to know as what you believe and what your advantages are.” “It is crucial for everyone to have an understanding of who you are and where you come from. It is the foundation of trust.” (11-12) “Creation stories usually embody the who and the why. Who the founder of any nation or organization was and why they started is important for people to know.” (13-14) “The creation story often involves a mythic quest.” (16) “The creation story is the crucial first step in providing answers to why people should care about you, or your product or service.” (19)
The Creed. “All ideologies begin with a set of core principles.” (20) “Defining, understanding, and communicating your mission are critical to the success of your brand….” “These are all simple, concise statements that embody hugely bold ideas. The creed is the singular notion that you want people to believe.” (21)
The Icons. “Icons are quick concentrations of meaning that cause your brand identity and brand values to spontaneously resonate. The Nike swoosh.” “The smell of Cinnabons,” …sensory imprints that instantly summon the brand essence.” “The simplest and often easiest icon to recognize is the company logo.” (26) But there are many other kinds of icons.
The Rituals. “Our daily lives are filled with … key ritualistic behaviors.” Driving to work in the morning. Logging onto the Internet or searching Google. “Rituals are touch points with your brand and ideology that might be made more pleasant, more engaging, enhanced, simplified, less frustrating, or more fun.” (54)
“When large corporations merge…they bring with them a collision of competing rituals.” “The truth is that the spirit of both companies is built, in part, around those seemingly unimportant rituals.” (55)
Rituals are the meaningful repeated points of contact between you and your guest, customer, client, or target market.” “These interactions with the customer can be flat experiences, or they can serve as enriching touch points that excite consumers and intensify the brand experience.” (68) “The real power is understanding how rituals can be tweaked and made more interesting, more evolved, or otherwise better suited to their purposes.” (56)
The Pagans, or Nonbelievers. “Part of saying who you are and what you stand for is also declaring who you are not and what you don’t stand for.” (70) 7Up declared itself the ‘uncola.’ “Defining your pagans is important in defining who you are. This can be difficult when marketers do not want to exclude potential customers and mass markets.” (71)
The Sacred Words. “All belief systems come with a set of specialized words that must be learned before people can belong.” “If you are a computer user you understand what it means to ‘log on,’ what a ‘virus’ is, and what it means to ‘crash.’ (72) “Words tell who we are.” “Therefore, sacred words are not simply professional jargon but … also bind people together as a group and are often crucial to working together effectively.” (73)
Any teenage text messaging knows ttyl 2g 2wk lyl. “If you know the language, you belong.” (75) “Many sacred words are invented constructions. iPod. Iced grande skinny decaf latte.” (76) “Belief systems come with their own invented lexicon that has precious meaning for those who believe.” (77)
The Leader. “All successful belief systems have a person who is the catalyst, the risk taker, the visionary, the iconoclast who set out against all odds…to re-create the world according to their own sense of self, community, and opportunity.” (78) “Enterprise without a leader is like a headless elephant. It may eventually get somewhere, but only by destroying everything in its path along the way.” (78)
Primal Belonging.
“All belief systems have people who believe, advocates who feel that the brand offers a place where they can belong.” “First, consumers invest themselves in your brand by purchasing products or services because they believe in them. Second, they are willing to help convince others to belong…. Finally, advocates believe so strongly in the brand that they fiercely defend it against rivals.” (87)
“Properly managed, the primal construct can help you create a belief system that results in a group of evangelists committed to advocating for you through thick and thin.”
“Often, the most overlooked group is the people inside your own organization. If you can’t get your employees to believe, how can they possibly convince others…to believe?” (88)
“Building a sense of community is what belonging is all about.” (94)
Primal Perfect. [I’m not sure what these titles mean. dlm]
To order at Starbucks you have to learn the sacred language. The ritual of affordable luxury is intensified. Pepsi topes the list of Coke pagans. The IBM creed was the slogan, “Think!” The Amazon creation story was about Jeff Bezos writing up the business plan in the back seat while his wife drove across the country. Fast Company magazine developed a relationship with its readers. The icons were the magazine issues and the monthly ritual was picking it up on the newsstand. The humble brown vehicles tell customers UPS represents their customers and not themselves. The icons, rituals, and creed of the Marine Corps run very deep.
“The primal code is all part of a narrative; it is storytelling. When pieces of the story are missing, the story becomes less interesting, people become less interested. …they feel dissatisfied and turn away.” (153)
The Primal Personality.
Television and movie stars are brands. “If Oprah has a creed, it is about self-determination and personal growth.” “…doing what my heart says all the time.” (195)
Primal Reengineering.
“Primal branding is an organizing principle to help products, services, personalities, and civic communities achieve popular appeal.” (209) “The sever pieces of primal code are a map—or checklist—that can help guide your efforts to create a brand that people can believe in.” (210)
“Many firms still haven’t figured out their company creed, or a statement that declares what they are all about.” (211)
“Brands are active engagements that continually reboot themselves to keep the consumer wondering what’s going to happen next.” (211)
“The first step in primal branding is to determine where your brand exists in the minds of customers.” (215)
“The origin story is the beginning of the brand narrative, the start of the mission.” “When companies merge…the origin story needs to be rebooted around the new corporate vision.” (217)
“The creed should answer the question, Why do we belong in people’s lives? … Why should people care?” “What, after all, does your company believe in?” (218) “The creed is a principle; it is what the company is about.” It is a ‘promise to a customer.” “The responsibility is to make sure that in every way you are meeting the expectation of the consumer.” (220)
“The expression of what your product or service is about becomes concentrated and instantly communicated in your icons.” “Icons can be as simple as your company logo or as discreet as senses like taste or smell. Icons can be the product itself.” “How does your brand make an impression?” (220)
“…rituals are actions that involve how the product is used, how the service is engaged, where and how the consumer goes to shop, and how the product is maintained, returned, renewed, downloaded, or updated.” “…think through how people become involved with your brand.” (223)
The pagans are most often your competition. “Who are you not? What are you trying to avoid? Who are you up against?” (225)
“What are the words that define your company or yourself? What words resonate internally or with consumers? What words help define who you are or what you want to become?” (226)
“Finally, you must find leaders. The natural place to look within large organizations is to the founder, chief executive officer, or president.” (227)
“Creating a corporate work culture that people can believe in is critical for employee enthusiasm, work performance, and efficiency. It also motivates vendors, suppliers, lenders, and others who come into contact with the organization. Establishing and promoting a working culture is critical when companies merge together.” (229)
When employees don’t understand the values of the company they bring their own. “The result is a confused sense of mission, blurred motivations, loss of leadership, disgruntled employees, and apathy.” (230)
“Using primal branding, leaders can create and sustain a company and mission that people believe in.” “The essence of this belonging resonates in a refreshed sense of commitment, trust, empathy, vision, mission, and values within the organization.” “Building corporate cultures is one of the most vital tasks facing organizations today.” (213)
“Brands are ideologies with their own universe of truths, iconography, history, heroes, and demons.” (233) “The more pieces of code communicated to your public, the stronger your cause, organization, product, service, or community.” “Creating a world of believers means creating a group of people who feel they belong to your ideals and want to convince others of your cause.” (235)
“Think of the things that means something to you. They all come from someplace (‘creation story’). They stand for something (‘creed’). They are symbolized by a sign, a sound, a smell (‘icon’). You do certain specified things regarding them (‘rituals’). Certain words evoke that experience (‘sacred words’). You contrast that experience against other experiences (‘pagans’). They have an individual, whether real or fictional, who is behind the whole thing (‘leader’). It’s all about creating a sense of meaning.” (237)
“Primal branding contains a web of relationships and inferences that bang at the drum of our emotional mind-set.” (239)
Further reading on branding:
22 Immutable Laws of Branding, Al Ries,
http://www.davidmays.org/BookNotes05/Rie22Im.html
Branded Nation, James B. Twitchell
http://www.davidmays.org/BookNotes05/TwiBran.html
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Hey Alan, Thanks for sharing this. It has come in great timing as I continue to plan for Expressions business plan. That said, I couldn’t help but notice a connection with its thought patterns and that of some of Keesmaat’s and Walsh’s ideas behind the structure of Empire in their book ‘Colossians Remixed’. They seem to center the idea of Empire around the developments of the Systemic Centralizations of Power, Socioeconomic and Military Control (Ideologies if you will), Powerful Myths, Imperial Images, and an Alternative Imagination. Anyways, just some thoughts!
One Word: Starbucks.
Isaiah… remember context! “Tim Horton’s”!
Alan
Interestign to think about that in the context of blog identity as well as the wider issue of Christian identity. As for the latter, in “The New Testament and the People of God” N T Wright proposed a fourfold analysis of worldview which included stories, symbols, questions and praxis. The parallel to creation story, icons and rituals is particularly obvious.
Between personal identity and Christian identity lies the middle ground that perhaps is the most important to explore here, that of missional-incarnational Christian identity. This is necessarily more narrow than Christian identity because not all Christians identify with what we’re on about, however much we wish it were otherwise. But how would you define missional-incarnational Christian identity according to this schema?
Big Al,
Timely post! I’m writing a final for a class on marketings influence in the church. Mainly how we use insider language that is not common on the street. Yet this review indicates that specialized language gets created by most successful organizations. So, it’s easy to see how the church has succumbed to this mantra.
“Identifying your pagans” noted above is rather interesting. (7up is the uncola, etc).
thanks bro, need to pick this up for sourcing!
This is getting to weird! I took marketing classes and I am brushing up on them. A few threads ago, I had become discouraged, Matt & Eric, helped me out. I shared how I sat down with another supervisor and prayed for God to take us back to the simplicity. This man has harboured grudges against the owner of our company. Many of our supervisors are christians from all walks of life but they do not live it, at least not at work. A huge disparity between our upper management and our workers. Many of these supervisors shared their faith and brought me to Christ, but there has been no unity.
Matt, thank you soooo much! I’m finally learning how to worship! Alan, the books you recommend are totally awesome! I’m learning discipleship! Eric, how can I thank you enough for all that you shared, especially your spiritual experiences!
Oh, and Alan your last thread on the ways He is working were totally cool!
All, to say what? The man I prayed with, one of the supervisors who has been their 25years, took it upon himself to walk into the owners office, to ask how he could pray for the owner(which he has horrible thoughts about), the owner not only shared his heart, but it turns out he has no direction for our company. Learning submission, surrender, and obedience and trying to practice it in this place has been horribly difficult. I’ve lived under the threat of being fired for 7 years, and the more I would forgive, the worse this owner would be. It seemed like the more I loved him, the more he hated me.
This owner asked if I was a true christian and wanted me to join in prayers, to bring it to the work place. We are reading Joel to bring this dream into our company. The impact this has is tremondous! The industry is one that disposes of a lot of chemical waste and uses low income unskilled labor to do it. On an individual basis I have seen how vision can give so much hope, men who actually practice their beliefs in their cultures.
On a larger scale, we are looking at how our insurance, benefits, and the way we treat our employees, affects the entire picture. They are not disposable anymore! The problem was me! We just had a huge layoff. I was worried! When I went to work I never saw so much joy! I never saw such a community pull together with a vision! Now it’s time to work on our brand name! I don’t know what it will be? Other, than today, because today I am 41 years old, I dedicated it to my father, and Our Father. I learned how to pray! Really pray!
Alan, a birthday request and a covenant…………to the best of my ability I will support you on your journey, what ever that means………..You however, will never forget how important, submission, surrender, and obedience are in you journey!______________________________________
P.S I ask this only because you’ve done so much in my life, to have so much knowledge and wisdom, brings challenge, challenge not to strike a rock! Reverence for God is soooooo essential, I’ll never forget that, because that is what you’ve taught me.
Penney, thanks for your fantastically encouraging words. I (and I can talk for Matt and Eric here…what gems they are!) am humbled. And you are right about wisdom and knowledge bringing responsibility…I feel it everyday and am amazed that God even uses me. I feel all to human believe me. Thanks for your prayers.
Matt, you are onto something about the branding of a certain type of Christianity within the braoder religion as a whole. I think you are right about the missional-incarnational tag. If it is a brand, and perhaps it is, then I am happy to be branded by it! Thanks for your amazing mind. You too Eric.
Aw shucks, while we are at it, hugs all around!
1/ Penney, that’s just awesome. Really humbling. May God bless you more and more in this.
2/ Alan, thanks too. And yes I think its good to explore in what sense our belief systems may correspond to “brands” as doing so can reveal how we ourselves are succeptible to consumerism (religious style) and consequently, idolatry.
Do you recall Naomi Klein’s book “No Logo”? Should we not be exploring symbolic subversion as part of our missional-incarnational calling? In some quarters symbolic subversion is known as semiotic jujitsu, in that it involves turning the symbols of our culture against themselves to reveal deeper, hidden, forgotten truths. I think this is what Jesus did with the temple and torah symbols to a large extent in his Jewish context (ahh, there’s N T Wright influence again) and this partly undergirds my own emphasis on alternate Christian art. See this image for instance:
http://mattstone.blogs.com/journeysinbetween/2007/12/christmas-shopp.html. I think one of the ways we may be said to be symbolically subverting things is with our visions of buildingless church.
3/ BTW, given my ministry I feel obliged to note I think its unfortunate the author equates “unbelievers” with “pagans”
Hmm, for some reason that link isn’t working. Anyway It’s one I blogged about on the 14th December which shows a melting Jesus with shopping bags in his outstreached arms. I like images that (1)prophetically confront Christian complacency, (2) showcase Christian cultural diversity and (3) get people asking questions about syncretism vs contextualization. I think this image is particularly interesting as its essentially an anti-Icon that identifies Nonbelievers, combining two of the themes above.
Hey Matt, can you send me a copy of the image bro? I collect such things!!
Hey Matt, I’d like a copy as well if you don’t mind: jesustribe@comcast.net
Matt… great question in “how would you define missional-incarnational Christian identity according to this schema?” I’m not sure that it deviates from the 4 P’s Alan mentioned earlier in the previous posts. Rather it reshapes them using different words:
Presence – “the creation story”;
Proximity – “the pagans”; “the rituals”; “the sacred words”
Powerlessness – “the leader”
Proclamation – “the creed”; “the icons”
I must confess in wrestling myself with the idea of “identifying pagans.” Within the framework of commodities this may fit but, in human communal practice I personally feel more drawn to what connects rather then creates a differential.
Penny… I was so amazed and inspired at this picture of incarnation in your work place! This is truly awesome!!!
Thanks for the encouraging words too Alan! Do you think you might be able to post Matt’s picture once you have it?
Only got time for a quick dip into the blogosphere so I’ll have to do the picture later.
Ok Erik, here’s my own take on it. The “creation story” of missional-incarnational Christianity equates to our alternative take on church history. Diversity within the movement can be partially attributed to variances in how we tell the story, depending on what parts each of us take as most significant. So, those focussed on legitimizing a more eco-sensitive and contemplative Christianity (the New Monastics for instance) tend to emphasize the place of the Celtic missionaries within church history, others more focussed on legitimizing a more organic Christianity (Alan for instance) tend to emphasize the place of the early church and Constaintine within church history, others seeking to legitimize a more pluralistic Christianity (me for instance) tend to emphasize the apocalyptic vision of a multi-cultural church worshipping God together. And when we come to symbols, think of how the New Monastics latch onto the heroic figure of the Celtic monk, then consider how my use of the heroic figures of Jesus, Mary Magdaline and others as interpreted by artists from multiple cultures and subcultures fits into my approach.
But above all of this diversity, a common story is told by missional-incarnational Christians of the irrepressable missional impulse of God bubbling to the surface, re-emerging in many ways and in many forms after a long dormancy in the Western culture. If we look closely we can see we are all searching for new ways to articulate our formative stories of Jesus, the apostles and significant figures in church history in the process of forging an alternative Christian communities and alternative Christian identities. Contrast this to the stories, symbols and heroes of the establishment and see how much this tells us about ourselves.
I do have a problem with identifing pagans, as I strongly believe that all mankind is in the same boat. Jesus was all of us in the incarnation,death,resurrection, and ascension. Jesus’s mission was universally not for the elected few.
Maybe, we can identify pagans as somebody who has not experienced or believed the truth of who are true are. I just dont like to make into them and us. In Christ we are all us, nobody is outside of God.
Also, identifying pagans makes believers in a position higher than pagans. It sets us on path of feeling superior to others. Im my thoughts God became human to identify him/herself with humanity. I think that as belivers maybe we should identify with pagans.
This is a great conversation! My wife and I are heading to a friends wedding reception so I hope that it is ok to respond in brief.
Matt I totally see the three streams to which you identify and find it fascinating myself to delve into the deeper dynamics of them all. In a personal confession I can’t help but find internal merit to them all! If we look into the monastic paradigms I have no doubt we would find states of organic community as well as inclusive (pluralist) reflections. At the same time, can we not see the same within the others? Incarnationally I would personally like to reflect them all by nature and encompass a community which reflects that value!
The picture to which I see the “4 P’s” (I hope it is ok to refer to them as this Alan?!) and any other scheme which encompasses them (Branding for example), is one which questions their ability in local context and practice. For example: the “creation story” seems to have connection to the practice of presence in a two fold picture. Yes, you are correct that the individual’s historical and theoretical world view has impact to the beginnings of his or her creational story line and the way in which he/she engages the local context. In another sense however, a “new” creational dialogue is started through the relational and communal experiences to which the individual engages within the local dynamic. The danger to either comes from “branding” itself! To identify an individual within the conception of branded label; monastic, organic, inclusive, or otherwise; would be a huge injustice to the freedom of spiritual expression which all humans have! Perhaps I am wrong.
Todd… I greatly appreciate your identifying with the struggle in “identifying pagans”. I agree that there needs to be more work to the practice of grace then the simple “your in” or “your out”. Coming from years of being prejudged from my life in a wheelchair has shown me great needs for greater grace! That said, Jesus’ greatest expression of love from the cross I think does call for a huge reaction from those who identify with him. Having witnessed states of tragedy myself with human suffering it is hard to forget the impulse (missional I suppose) to “heal the sick, bring sight to the blind, and feed the hungry”, whether in spirit, mind, or body. As such, we cannot become like the Pharisee’s in leading the blind with the blind. Spiritual suffering is hard to look at and sometimes even harder to see but, we cannot turn a blind eye to it the same way the Church has to the physical needs of people. Perhaps seeking to “identify our pagans” must be redefined as “identifying our brothers and sisters in need”!?
Mixing with self identified Pagans as I do, that is, people who call themselves Pagan and are proud of it, I could be tempted to say all the identification work is done for me
But as I indicated earlier, I do think the author’s choice of words here is quite unfortunate as I don’t think he is at all referring to religious belief, at least not exclusively. Rather, I think he is referring to is people who, for whatever reason, don’t buy into your stories, symbols and practices as a source of identity. So in his language, applied to our context, “Pagans” could just as easily refer to establishment church leaders like Don Carson. You see my concern? Highly euphemistic marketing language like this becomes problematic when imported back into religious contexts.
Now, to take this line of argument further, let me invoke Westboro Baptist, you know, the “God Hates Fags” group. In dwelling amongst self identified Pagans, Wiccans and Spirituality consumers I sometimes find it extremely valuable to define myself AGAINST Westboro Baptist when certain subjects come up. It opens up many doors, “Ah, you’re a Christian I CAN identify with”. So, in my context, my “Pagans” aren’t Pagans, my “Pagans” are hate groups … and those who would tolerate their stories, symbols, heroes and language.
Oh, and Erik, there are more than three streams! The three I mentioned are just what came off the top of my head. Actually, thinking about it further I would probably prefer the metaphor of weaves in a tapestry bringing out different colours. Or parts of a body
I used the word “emphasis” quite deliberately because I am not suggesting that Alan doesn’t care about contemplative community or that I don’t care about organic community. I do and I presume he does too until proved otherwise. I am merely suggesting that we each emphasize some things more and some things less and these variations are holistically reflected in the stories, symbols, etc, etc, that we identify with. I think one of the glories of missional-incarnational Christianity is that it grants permission to explore a diversity of approaches … but then I would say that wouldn’t I? 
Yes! I think you are so right Matt in the way this author uses the word “pagan”.
I too have spent time with Pagans and it seems the real desire is to find a stronger sense of real and authentic community. If you ask me, that’s what Jesus is about!
Yes, I know there is more then “three streams” and I didn’t mean to sound limiting in that way. Like you, I often use the picture of a prism when considering the “colors” of truth and faith projected into our lives. I do very much like the idea of diversity in the incarnational community!
I hope I did not offend you in my line of thought. Just trying to wrap my head around the idea of (i)ncarnation and the ways in which I might be in holistic practice of it with relationship to a creational story, images, ect.
Erik, no offense at all, I was merely clarifying as it sounded like I’d been too vague. I like using prisms metaphor on occasions too.
To expand, as Christians I think we should be affirming the Christ stories, symbols and practices shared the world over as most essential to our path. These subplots and derivative symbols we are exploring here are of a secondary nature only, occasioned by our variences in context. But, given context variation is potentially infinite, we should expect a multitude of alternate flavours of Christianity to arise when context is taken seriously.
And I think part of what will give rise to those context variations is the alternative systems we are called to engage with. My own spin on things has arisen out of deep engagement with esoteric and eastern spiritualities in Sydney festivals, in suburban homes and in online communities. Yet even amongst those of us that do that there is a fair degree of variation and differentiation in approach. For none of us come to these communities from exactly the same place.
The incarnation involved the transcendant God becoming immanent in a particular time and a particular place amongst a particular people. Incarnational ministry is thus intrinsically particular, perhaps even ideosyncratic. But in all of this I continually remind myself that all these things are secondary. That just as Jesus ascended from his Jewish context and was enthroned as Lord of all, we are called to explore our conext with one eye on heaven, remembering that what unites us all, what is above this, is primary.
matt, i love the exploring symbolic subversion, and i believe that is utterly part-and-parcel of our missional-incarnational calling.
i wonder what practices and/or disciplines might move and shake this some…like i’m thinking of the impact of the subversive ‘discipline of secrecy’ missionally practiced in a culture of self-promotion…or the ‘practice of presence and attention’ seditiously moving among an ADD cultural milieu…what kind of catalytic leaven might these be?