Branding Between the Ears: Using Cognitive Science to Build Lasting Customer Connections

CHAPTER 5

BRAND VIBES

Tugging at the Heartstrings

If you don’t understand what I’m going through, how can you help me?

—LISA, PATIENT WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

That simple question from Lisa, a patient in one of our focus groups many years ago, left me a little confused. As a brand marketer, I wondered:

“Why can’t I just tell you what my drug will do for you? It is what it is. You make the call on whether you want it. Why do you need to know if I understand how you feel?” Nothing that I had learned in marketing by that time suggested that brands needed to have a special chemistry with their customers. Wasn’t it supposed to be simply, “You’ve ...