Brand Humanness. The centre of my musings of late to be sure. So why not change the name of the blog? Makes sense from where I sit. At least for now.
I visited Toronto last week. Interesting place that. First things first – the Salad King (check saladking.com) has amazing green curry – if ever in the big smoke, run, don’t walk, to the Salad King.
Living in Nova Scotia, bashing Toronto is almost a regional pastime. I’ll resist any urges to do the same. However, the place did seem to lack a certain humanness. Toronto is certainly “agency central” here in Canada – where those with budgets to spend typically head for so-called marketing enlightenment. That’s a shame. Because, while Toronto-based agencies are certainly trotting out some great creative, I think they are perhaps the least equipped to guide brands towards a higher level of humanness.
Which, I suppose, begs the question: What the hell is brand humanness? And, further, what evidence do I have that it works?
In all honesty, I haven’t really developed a definition yet. And, while a google search will show some folks talking about it – I’m not sure they’ve defined it for themselves either. I do know, however, that brand humanness has to do with designing your organization to care for people in much the same way that we, as humans, can care for each other. Caring for employees, customers, suppliers, the planet, etc.
What evidence do I have that it works? None. Can I find some? Sure. The basic premise is quite simple however… if people can connect to your brand and those that make it tick in a caring and engaged way, in a meaningful way, then loyalty follows. More importantly, the organization you end up being a part of will change and evolve in a dramatically different way – one that is focused on fostering something of a community.
More on all of this later. It’s 10:00 AM on a Saturday, and there’s a motorcycle in the dooryard begging to be ridden.
