Warning:  This post is a bit of a rant.

My daughter came across the term “Brand Slut” in The Little Hiptionary (a Bangin’ Pocket Reference for Kewl Peeps Everywhere) and remarked “Oh Mom, this is so you.”

Now, I’ve actually heard that term (being in marketing).  It refers to someone who displays loyalty to no single brand. I never really thought of myself as a Brand Slut but as I pondered this, I realized that my daughter was right.

I love handbags, but I’ve got equal numbers of Coach, Kate Spade and Dooney and Burke in my closet.  I will try any and every new fitness product.  (In fact, I have an entire closet dedicated to fitness wear, shoes, bike tools, various shapes and sizes of fuel belts, water bottles, gel containers, wetsuits, swim caps, etc. I peeked into the closet as I thought about this: No brand consistency; none whatsoever.)  I’m not even loyal to a particular tri bike (very unusual among triathletes) or a specific brand of running shoes. 

I tried and tried to think of a brand I’ve been loyal to.  There are brands I like (Starbucks coffee for example), but none that I would go too far out of my way for (if it is raining, I’m hitting the Mcdonalds drive-through). 

The only brand I can remember being an evangelist for was an infant formula that stopped my colicky baby from crying (full disclosure: one of our clients sells a similar product, although not the one that I used).  I actually baked cookies and Fed Ex’d them to the CEO.

Perhaps, being in marketing for so long has made me marketing-immune.  And yet, who ISN’T marketing-weary these days? Consumers are saying “NO MAS” en masse these days – something that marketers still don’t seem to be grasping.  In fact, there is ample evidence that marketers are still living (for the most part) on Planet Fantasy when it comes to their understanding of consumers.  Take this lead-in to a recent Marketing Prof’s article:

“Just as sports teams have fans, brands have evangelists. And just as each fan feels a sense of ownership in the team, a brand evangelist has that same sense of ownership in the brand. That sense of ownership gives brand evangelists a powerful incentive to see the brand succeed.”

Reality check: Consumers don’t care so much about the *success* of your brand.  Even if they love your brand enough to create a YouTube video or drive around the country to visit every single store you own or bake cookies for the CEO, they do not care about — and, in fact, are blissfully unaware of — how much product you are selling (unless of course the brand is failing so miserably that it goes away, which would be a bad thing for someone who likes the product). 

When I told my friends about the infant formula I loved, I didn’t do it because I wanted the formula company to succeed.  I did it to help my friends, who were also young mothers.  We had a pact to share information and resources as a way of supporting EACH OTHER – not a particular brand. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that there is no such thing as a brand evangelist – far from it. Even Brand Sluts like me will likely find a brand or two to be totally loyal to (and evangelize for) at least once in their lifetimes.

But marketers will never find the holy grail of brand evangelism (much less “create” evangelists) if they continue to drink their own Kool Aid about what drives consumers (hint: it has nothing to do with YOU and everything to do with THEM).  In fact, if Marketing doesn’t change its ways fundamentally (and by this I mean continuing to talk without listening, continuing to interrupt, annoy and even mislead consumers), I predict we may end up creating more Brand Sluts than Brand Evangelists.

 

 

Related posts:

1. Your Brand Here
2. Take Charge of Your Brand or Lose It
3. Online Shopping Sites — What Makes a Good One?
4. Authentic Engagement with Word of Mouth Marketing
5. How to measure brand awareness

Tags: brand evangelists, brand sluts
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