KEVIN ROBERTS, CEO WORLDWIDE, SAATCHI & SAATCH I

Foreword by A.G. LaAcy, C hairman , Presiden t, and C hie f Executive, Procter & Gamble

powe rHouse Books New York, NY

"I have learned, based on my experience,
that everything is dominated by the
market. So whenever we are struck with
any obstacles or difficulties, 1 always say
to myself: 'Listen to the market, listen
to the voice of the customer.' That's the
fundamental essence of marketing.
Always, we have to come back to the
market, back to the customer. That is
the Toyota way.

"So, whenever we're stuck, we always go

back to the basics. Because branding,
image, or Lovemarks are determined by
the customers, not us . We really cannot
determine anything. The customer does
that. That is the essence."

Yoshio Ishizaka, Executive Vice President,

Member of the Board, Toyota Motor Corporation

Contents
FOREWORD A.G. LAFLEY 9
CHAPTER 1: START ME UP II
H ere's what I lea rn ed from fi ve g reat busin esses I've wo rked for: Always
sllrrollnd you rsel f with Inspiration al Pla ye rs Z ig when others zag Get Ollt
of the office and in to rh e street Li ve o n th e ed ge No thin g is Im poss ible

CHAPTER 2: TIME CHANGES EVERYTHING 23

T he journey fro m products ro trade ma rks, from tradema rks co brands. A q uick
look at why brands are runni ng our of juice as they confront th e Attenrio n Eco no m y

CHAPTER 3: EMOTIONAL RESCUE 37

W hy I believe emo ti o nal co nnecti o ns ca n transform bran ds. If YO LI spend
yo ur days rev iew in g d ata, read eve ry wo rd of th is chapter. Twi ce.
INS IGHTS: Mauri ce Levy, Publicis Groupe

CHAPTER 4: ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE 49

Taking brands to rh e next level depends on o ne fo ur-Icn cr word: L-O-V- E.
INS IG HTS: Sea n Firzpatrick, sportsman; Tim Sand ers. Yahoo!

CHAPTER 5: GIMME SOME RESPECT 59

Love wi ll chan ge th e way we do busin ess, but on ly if it is built o n Res pen.
No Respec t, no Love. Simple. Let's celebrate what Respect has achi eved

CHAPTER 6: LOVE IS IN THE AIR 65

Okay, so how do yo u crea re Loya lry Beyo nd Reason ?
INS IGHTS: Ala n Webber, Fast Company magazine

CHAPTER 7: BEAUTIFUL OBSESSION 73

SO what are Love marks? They inspire Loya lty Beyo nd Reaso n through th ei r
o bsess ion w ith Mystery, Sens uality, and Inri macy. H ere are o ur first id eas abo ut
purring rhem inro aer io n. INS IGHTS: Jim Srengel , Procrer & Gamble

CHAPTER 8: ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM 81

U nd e rstand how Mystery can tran sfo rm rela tio nship s w ith co nsum ers.
G rea r sto ri es; m ythi c chara cte rs; the past , prese m , and future toget her;
drea ms and inspiration. Be insp ired by rh e id eas and action s of g reat
Mysre ry makers. INS IG HTS: Da n Sro rper, Purumayo World Music;
Cecilia D ea n , Visioflflire magazine; Mauri ce Levy, Public is Gro upe;
Sea n La nd ers, a rt ist
CHAPTER 9: THE HUMAN TOUCH 103
The five senses-sight, hea ring, smell, [Quch, tas te-make Lovemarks real in rhe world.
Leadin g sensualists show how they move liS. INS IG HTS: Dan Sror pe r, Purumayo
Wo rld Music; Masao Ino ue, Toyma; Alan Webber, Fm! Company magazine

CHAPTER 10: CLOSE TO YOU 127

Intimacy is rh e chall enge of our tim e. l nrimacy demands tim e and ge nu ine feelin g,
both in ve ry shorr suppl y. See how businesses deep inro Inr imacy ca n create empathy,
co mmitment, and passion. INSIGHTS: Clare Hamill, N ike Goddess

CHAPTER 11 : ACROSS THE BORDER 145

The Love/ Res pec t Ax is is yo ur first step. By plerring where YOLI arc roclay, YOLI can
trace whe re YO LI need to go. Using the Love/ Respect Ax is, Kodak shows how it
rein vigora ted itself with th e yo urh marker. INS IGHTS: Eri c Lenr , Ko d ak

CHAPTER 12: I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW 153

The rei nve nrion of resea rch. Xplor ing a nd power listening-and powerfu l
new proof that Lovemarks are what maner most to co nsumers. INSIGHTS:
Malcolm G ladwell , wrirer; Peter Cooper, QualiQuam Imernational; Jim Stengel ,
Procte r & Gamble; Masao Inolle, Toyota; Cla re Hamill , N ike Goddess

CHAPTER 13: I' LL FOLLOW THE SUN 169

An Inspirarional Cons um er is precious beyo nd measure. Saatchi & Saatchi people
share their most inspi ring co nsumer sto ri es. Tell me yo urs at www.love ma rks. co m
INS IGHTS: Tim Sa nd ers, Yahoo!; Malcolm G ladwell, writer

CHAPTER 14: ROLLING THUNDER 185

Lovemarks in action. Real li fe client stOri es from Olay, Brahma bee r, Lex us, C hcc rios,
and Tide showing the power of M ys tery, Sensuality. and jmimacy

CHAPTER 15: WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW 20 1

The rol e of business is to make the world a berrer place for everyonc. Becoming
a Lovemark has to be th e destination of eve ry business. Step up to th e challen ge.
INS IGHTS: Sandra Dawso n, Cambridge Univers ity; Alan Webber, Fast Company
magazin e; Dr. Arn o Penzias, No bel Pri ze winn er; Bob Isherwood, Saatchi & Saa tch i

INDEX 216

FURTHER READING 219

Foreword
by A.G . Lafley, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive,
The Procter & Gamble Company

The best brands consistently win two crucial mome nts of truth. The first mom ent occurs
at the sto re shelf, when a consumer decides whethe r to buy one brand or another. The second
occurs at home, when she uses the brand- and is delighted , or isn't. Brands that win these
moments of rruth again and again ea rn a special place in co nsum ers' hea rts and minds; rhe
stro ngest of these establish a li felo ng bond with co nsumers.

Most of the [,stest-growin g P&G brands today Focus intensely on winning these m oments
of truth. Th ey a re in touch with consumers, not as demographics or psychogra phi cs, but as
peop le- as indi viduals. Fast-growin g bra nds such as C rest, Olay, and Pampers have very
e motio na l, aspirational equities. We are lea rnin g that a brand like Crest doesn't sta nd only
For toothpaste or toothbrushes, bur For hea lth y smil es-a nd an expanding line up of brand ed
products and se rvices that ca n help create those smiles .

It's no coi ncidence rhar all of th ese brands are growi ng with the help of Kevin Roberrs a nd
his coll eagues at Saatchi & Saatchi. I've known and have worked closely wit h Kevin For seven
yea rs. His pass ionate belief in building brands co nsumers love is inspirational , and effective.
It is helping reinvent how we at P&G think about creatin g, nurturing, and growing big brands.

T h is book will provide even the most experie nced marketers with Fresh new ways to think
about branding. It provo kes readers to think about mystery, sensuality, and intimacy as brand -
building tools. It provides practical insights into leveraging the power of emotion, res pect, a nd
love. And it provides prove n case studi es that brin g the Love mark concept to liFe.

In short, thi s is an important book for all o f us who care about consumers and th e brands
they love.

A.C. L1.Aey, C hai rman , President , and Chid Execurive,

The Procter & Gamb le Compan y

9
Chaptet.l

.
STA,RT ME UP .:
:~'.i!
 I was born an optimist.

During my childhood in Lancaster I always believed that nothing was impossible. Where bener
to find myself than as CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, the Ideas Company that made
this belief a founding declaration?

I've been lucky to have been guided by exceptional people who have mentored me.
Inspirational Players. People who believe that to dream is as important as to act, and that
winners are powered by passion and emotion.

By the time I was ready to enter the world of work I wanted to go somewhere that was top of
its class. Somewhere that relied on passion and inspiration as its driving force. Who better to
work for than the most inspirational businesswoman of the 60s, Mary Quant?

12 lovem......
Mary opened her famous Lo ndon bourique
Bazaa r in 19 55 and was swin gi ng-60s
London person ified. The miniskirrs,
hot- pallts, shin y plasti c rain coats, and
painr-box makeup all added up ro rhe
Mary Quanr decade. Mary was rhe
first person [0 opcrarionalizc rh e
co ncept "less is more." As she sa id:

''A woman is only as

young as her knees."
When Bea rl e George Harriso n and
model ['arr i Boyd married in 1966,
they both dressed head-ro-roe in Quanr.

."
...~
/
(

It wasn't my in credib le cool and fashion

sense that landed me the job. it was
beca use I had learned French and
Spanish at school and Quanr was
moving into Europe. fu one does,
I started in the lowest of jobs:
fus istanr Brand Manager. The
business was moving so fast it
wasn't long before they promoted
my marketing manager and a
gaping opportunity opened up
right in fronr of me.
 I Wl'llt to Tony Eva ns. the boss of the ilHcrna tio nal d ivision . and said .

"I'll do the job for half the salary of the previous guy
for the next six months. If you think I'm worth it,
then you can pay me what the job deserves."
I Ie said , "Okay, yo u're on . D o it. "

Working in cosmetics was incredible. Every thing happened so fas t. It was try, r.,i l, learn , try
.lga in , win. rry again. Every mOlH h. Wt' were f,f{)\ving o ur busi ness at 500 pt'rce nt a year wit h
a product lifccyclc o f aro und nine mo n ths. That's new produ cts conceived , lau nched , sold , and
d iscoIltinued with in ni ne mo nths!

Fo r Illl' it was like enro ll ing in the Un iversity of Branding. I loved every m inute. Inn ovation
a nd flln were ou r passion . \X/e we re the fi rst (0 do "makeup (0 make love in": a wa terp roof
kissahk lipst ick. waterp roo f masca ra. We did the first eve r makclip for men.

W ith her perfe'ctl y o n-brand , super cool h airc u t hy Vidal Sassoon , Mary u nderstood as well as
anyo ll e I have ever Ill et th at hrands a re ah o ut clll ot io n and personality. She also kllew that in
tilt, l'nd it was what con sumers desired tha t wo uld pro pel her business in to the srrarosp here.
"T he fundam ental s of fas h ion re ma in the s" me," she wrote in her book, QUI1n1 by QUl1nt:

"Women wear clothes to make them feel good and

to feel sexy. Women turn themselves on. Men like to
look at women to be turned on-to feel sexy is to
k now you're allve. "
W ht'llt'vn I .11 11 in Illectings and hea r compl ica ted stra tegies fo r getti ng co nsume r an clltio n.
I rC lllt'mbcr M.lfY (~ u a nt 's simple heli ef in human desires and pass ions.

11 R ove m .ar~A
My ex perie nce in bringing new produc ts to market landed me my nex t job: G illette's Internatio nal
New Products M anage r fo r their fast-g rowin g business in the M iddle East. It was my fi rst taste
of the serio us corporate wo rld ; a three-year stay where I first visi ted the Casi no d u Liban, Aew
Pa n Am 001, a nd sta rted a love affa ir with G illette razo r blades that grows stronger wirh eve ry
innova ti o n they launch. I'm now a Mach 3 Turbo jun kie. G illerte was the fi rs t step rowa rds rhe
com pany th at would cha nge my life: Proc ter & Ga mble, th e inte rnational m ulti -bi ll ion-do ll ar
co nsu mer goods co mpany. T he people who inve nted brand man age m ent.

p&G
My rela rio nship wit h P&G sra rred o n January 1, 1975-the d ay I jo ined . W har can I say'
I love r &G . I always have.

I found out everything important I know about people, business,

and marketing at P&G.
And in amazi ng places li ke Sa na'a, AI Ain , Casablanca, a nd Fel ixsrowe Ferry w here I spent five
mo nths selling P&G brands to the trade. I love P&G's scale. I love the ambitio n o f the enterprise.
Th e disciplines inve nted at P&G have shaped my life. To be a P&G Brand Ma nage r in the 1970s
was to be Kin g of the Wo rl d.

In rhe Midd le East 1 lea rned lessons th at have been in valuab le to me abo ut how ro connecr
with co nsu mers, and how to do it in a place w here mass marketi ng was in its infa ncy.

I learned to love the peo pl e. In Arab co untries yo u make fr iends fo r life. T he peo pl e we re
genu ine, emo t io nal, fa m ily- focused , h ospi ta ble. They understood their tradi tio ns and the past,
a nd rhey really un de rstood tha t they h ad a co mp letely differe nt future. It was very excit ing.
T here was lirde resistance to the new beca use they d id n't have much of a presen t. They had
a past and they had a future.

Stan Me Up 15
 I also lea rn eel there that yo u co uld make a
big diffe rence fas t. The re weren't Weste rn -
style barri ers in place, so new ideas go t to
th e surface much qui cker. Th ere was no
burea uc racy to go through , they d idn't have
a n orga ni zed, data- ri ch trade to say " NO! ))
And yo u didn't have corporate HQ on yo ur
tail. Whe n yo u broug ht Tide, Ariel, or
Pampers in to Oujda , Abha, or Sa lalah it was
trul y li fe-c ha ngin g. It didn't improve li ves a
little bit: it improved li ves significa ntl y.
P&G is a company to tally committed to
doin g th e rig ht thin g. W hy?
Because the principles
don 't belong to Procter &
Gamble, they belong to the
people who work there.
Jo hn Pepper, H e rbert Schmitz, Ron Pea rce,
and Fo uad Kurya tim li ve the principles-
and th e d rea ms-<:very d ay. No one li ves
th ese va lues more than current P&G lead e r
A.G. L1Aey.
All th ese yea rs later I sti ll believe in th e
powe r of th ose prin ciples I learn ed at P&G .
Totall y. C ha rl es Decker summed up man y
of th e best in his book, Winning with the
!'eire 99. Do the ri ght thing. Capitalize o n
yo ur mistakes. Winning is everyt hing.
Th in k sid eways. Make som ething happen.
Neve r try to fool rhe conslim er.
For m e the Midd le East was perfect. It was
full of ad ve nture and I could be out th ere in
16 lovemarkA
th e streets and markers. wa tching. listening,
doing, lea rnin g. Seven yea rs late r, still in
love w ith the Middle East, I seized an
o pportuni ty and moved to anothe r g rea t
co mpany-Pepsi. More fan tasti c opportun i-
ties and serious challenges. Like buildin g a
Pepsi p lant in Kathmandu. Like gradu ating
fro m Pepsi's elite negotiation schoo l a nd
ge ttin g "th e Iraq job" on th e strength of it.
Like building seven Pepsi pl ants in Iraq.
Pepsi introduced me to m o rc Inspirat ional
Players like Roger E nrico, Alan Pottasch- th e
fath er of the Pepsi ge neratio n-and a tO ugh
nut w ith a hea rt of gold , Bob Beeby-
Pres ide nt of PepsiCo Internatio nal.
I beca m e President and CEO of Pepsi in
Ca nada in 1987 . Another wo rld! In the
M idd le East, Pepsi was N umber O ne; in
Canada it was a different sto ry. We had
been sitting behind Coke for yea rs. If you
wa nt to learn about the power of brands at
street level, th e Pepsi/Coke battl e is as good
a place as any I know. In C anada we had
the add ed problem of competin g aga inst
some of Pepsi's own brands like Di et Pepsi
a nd Mounta in Dew. So Pepsi itse lf was at
risk of slid ing to Number T hree, don',
wo rry abom N umbe r Two.
My gut reaction has always
been to zig when everyone
else zags. The best way for
us to avoid becoming
Number Three, I figured,
was to become Number One!
Lemonade was a reall y big ca rego ry in
Canada. So we boughr th e 7 UP brand.
Ar rh e sa m e time we drove Di et Pepsi hard
against Die t Coke, the independent botrlers'
network rook up the challe nge and stree t
by streer, city by city, province by province,
just poured it on. We passed C oke.
No rhin g is impossible.
Ar rhar tim e, in th e late 1980s, Ca nada
was anxioLl s abo ut the implications of the
Free Trade Agreement wit h th e United
States, and how it was going (0 be rh e
en d of all thin gs Ca nadian. I rook th e
completely opposite view. M y fee ling was
rha t because Ca nada was s mall , fast, and
flex ible, we could n't lose.
Being on the edge of the U nited Srates
mad e LI S more powerful , no r less . G reat
rhin gs always co me from the ed ge, as I've
had th e chan ce ro di scover pe rso nall y.
To inspire our people and pann ers, we
hired a ve ry bi g a nd ve ry smart hotel in
Toronto. Eve ryo ne cam e: the trade, our
ow n peo pl e, all our botrl ers, rh e media.
My keynote speech was all about comperirion.
How Pepsi had just beaten C oke, and
how, in the sam e way, Canada co uld be
competitive wirh America . About halfway
through my prese ntation , a huge red-and-
wh ite Coca-Cola vending machine roll ed
onto th e stage. I ignored it.
As I ended m y speech I reached down
behind the podium , picked up a machine
gu n and started blastin g the Coke dispen ser.
When you machine-gun a
vending machine, it makes
. .
a seriOUS nOIse.
We had people di vi ng under tabl es and
heading for the doors. It was in credibl e.
For safery's sake we had invol ved the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police, so we weren't
being comple tely irrespon sible.
And what happen ed th e next d ay' The
word around th e trad e was unbelievable.
The shoot-up was on rhe ne ws, in th e
papers and magazines. It was th e powe r
of humor and branding at wo rk in ve ry
diffe rent tim es . And it rru ly galvanized
our sal es force and our botrle rs.
SlaT! M e Up 17
 Great ideas, like humor, come from the corners -l
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break up log-jams in both personal relationships CO
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I have always loved the extreme, and my next move proved it. I went from
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C anada, a large continent at the (OP of the world, to an extraordin ary country
on th e very edge of the Pacific O cean-New Zealand. In 1989 I moved to
Auckland with my family as C hief Operating O ffi cer fo r Lion Nathan, which
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The first time I met with the finan cial analys ts at Lion Nathan in New Zealand ,
I walked into the room with a real lion I had borrowed from the zoo. I ca n ~
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tell you, fro m that dayan, no one in the company ever fo rgot the Lio n in
Lion Nathan!
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My home is New Zealand. We're as close to th e South Pole as yo u can get and m
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still have running water. The edge gives us a special atti tude. C utting edge, lead- 0..
~ ing edge, bleeding edge, the edge of inspiration , on the edge of our seats . It's a 5'
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place to shake off conventions and worn-out fo rmulas, and shake out ideas.
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~ I believe "edge cultures" will have even higher value in this millennium. Great .-+
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18 iovemarRJ..
obe revered as a hothouse
fori world-changing creative ...--Ii.

ideas that transform

our clients' brands,
businesses and
\ reputations.
I signed up o n the spot. Saatchi & Saatchi gave me the chance to test my bel ief in the power
of big ideas and in emotio n.

I was de termin ed to refocus on emotional connectio ns, both within Saatchi & Saatchi and
with peo pl e eve rywhere. T here was press ure o n me to res tructure the business . We're talkin g
1997, when the management consultancies were still in the ascendancy with th eir sli ce 'n'
dice reci pe fo r dea ling with anything that moved. I was advised to bring in my tru sted guys:
my HR guy, my marketing guy, my money guy. Instead I bro ught in nobod y and I move d
nobody fo r twO yea rs.

My instin ct was to go against the prevailing wisdom. I went to Saatchi & Saatchi peo ple and
sa id , "Here's o ur Insp ira tional D ream. We're all goi ng to pull together to stay in the premier
league fo r 24 mo nths. After that, we' ll thin k abo ut makin g changes, bringing people in and
moving peo ple aro und. I thin k you can do it, and we're all goi ng to do th is thing together."
As it turned out, they could. And we d id .

In my experience, when yo u go inro most companies what yo u find is good people and bad
management. Yo u can turn that around really quickl y by starting with an Inspi ra tional
Drea m, settin g so me challenges, and getting everybody foc used.

As it wo rked o ut, to get moving took only one year, not te n, as one wise-guy predi cted .

And in that time we were also able to kick-start three great ideas.

The first
was to transform Saatchi & Saatchi from an ad vertising age ncy in to an Ideas Company.
In fact, the hottest Ideas Co mpany o n the planet.

The second
was to start deliveri ng no t just great performa nce, but Peak Perfo rmance.
Saatchi & Saatchi had to be N umber One, Two, o rThree in the world- preferably Number O ne.
We had to be in co ntinuous co ntentio n-and we wo uld do it with inspiratio n.

And the third

was the most exciting of them all. It combined everything I had learned.
It was the answer to the critical question :

What comes after brands?

5ran Me Up 21
For more years than I can remember I have used the
same shampoo: Head & Shoulders. Ridiculous, isn't it?
I mean it's a shampoo to remove dandruff, which it
does. BlIt I've no hair, let alone dandruff! Still, I love
Head & Shoulders. I won't buy or use anything else.

It's a Lovemark of mine.

 Over the yea rs, I have visited China many times.
Saatchi & Saatchi was one of the first businesses to
take part in C hina's amazing transform atio n. It has
been nothing short of awe-inspiring to watch this
enormously complex and ancient nation assim ilate
Western business practices in a matter of a few
yea rs. And set out to surpass them.

Th e C hinese have an ancient curse: "May you live

in interesting times." Well , my message to C hina is:

Hold on to your hats, interesting

times ahead .
No t onl y is C hina borrowi ng from the powerful
fi nancial and social models of the West, but they
are doing it at a time when those very models are
shi ft ing fund amentally.

T he jo urney from products to trademarks to brands

is one of the great stories of the last century. It is a
story that has had profound effects on how businesses
deal with co nsumers. And how peop le dea l
with businesses.

Each step has brought consumers closer to the

businesses that produce the goods and services they
need. C loser to their need for design, quali ry, price,
usability, availabiliry, innovation , and safery.

Each step has:

turned up the voice of the co nsumer

added weight to what is most difficult to
measure- the intangibles of relationships,
brands ... people power
pulled emotion closer to the center

Interesting times? I love them.

24 i ove marbh

Products to
trademarks
In the beginning, products were just,
well ... products. One product was pretty
much indistingu ishable from another. Get
hit over the head with Jake's club or Fred's
club, th e headache was much the sa me.
Trade was kept in th e fam il y. Making the
ri ght choi ce was easy.
But people being people, even in such a
simpl e trading system , trademarks made an
ea rl y entry. There are trademarks on pottery
in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) dating as far
back as 3,000 B.C.
There is a cafe I go to nam ed SPQR. It
is named after one of th e most feared and
respected trademarks the world has ever
known. Four letters that to ld you the
mighty Roman Empire was at hand.
Over th e centuries, trade increas ingly
stretched past local boundaries and the
impona nce of trademarks increased. Fine to
trust the local village blacksmith. You co uld
check out the forge, bite th e m etal, ask
around. But the weird guy bringing in iron
implements from th e next village? No t so
easy. So trademarks moved up a notch
from simple name-tags to marks of trus t
and reliabi lity.
From a business perspect ive, trademarks
play great defense. They offer legal
protection for the un ique qualities of yo ur
produ cts and se rvi ces, and declare yo ur
interests. Trademarks defi ne territory.
That's how it works when yo u are in
charge of a business .
To consumers, the picture
looks somewhat different.
Consumers care about a trademark because
it offers reass urance. "This w ill have the
quality I paid for."
For both sides, businesses and co nsu m ers,
trademarks are a sign of continuity in a
constandy shifting environment.
As Kate Wilson, a prom ine nt New Zealand
parent attorn ey, on ce told me:
"Patents expire, copyrights eventually
run their course, but trademarks
last foreve r."
Trademarks are not exem pt from change.
SPQR gets thousands of hits on Google,
but most of th em are not for the Senate
and Peopl e of Rom e but for a popul a r
compute r ga m e- SPQR: The Empires
Darkest Hour'
T ime Chan ges Eve rything 25
 The history of trademarks is littered with
once-famous narnes (hat have gone generic.
Bad news for them, as all the value they have
created with co nsumers can be sucked up by
juSt abo ut anyone. Band-Aid has become the
generic term fo r any bandage that sticks over
a sm all wound. )ell-O and Vaseline have
been pushed down the same route. And the
process is sti ll happening. In some countries,
unique product names like Rollerblades and
Walkman have been accepted as the given
and defining names for in-line skates and
portab le music players.
Just holding a trademark doesn't guara ntee
successful diffe rentiation , but it can be a
great sta rt. Over the 20th century so me
trademarks have grown inro enduring ico ns.

Th e MGM lion first roared in 1928 for the silent movie White Shadows a/the
South Seas. Work out the technology on that one! And if you have ever wonde red
what it says in the circle that frames the lion, try AI1 Gratia Artis-Art for Art's Sake.

26 !ovemarbl.o
 T he cl assic Coca-Cola bottle was designed in 191 5
and registered as a trademark in 1960. Even the stories
around the botrle des ign are great, with lots of
mysterious co nnections. Reminds me of th e urban
myths aro und the c1ubbers' energy drink Red Bull.
Co ntains bull se men. Secret wea pon the

..l
military cann ed. Etcetera, etcetera.

world package in the ff

e~ ':M
'IIned'

he most P ;:;:;:'~p ".,..'-'.

the great trademarks of
the 20th century. So protecti ve
was the co mpany of its high status that when
Stanley Kubrick wanted to use an IBM machine as the
rogue computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the company
pulled o ut. Kubrick, tongue- in-cheek, named the soft-
spo ken killer co mputer by moving one letter back in
the alph abet, and creating HAL.

In an average day you can expect

to have contact with around 1,500
trademarked products. If you go to
the supermarket, rack that up
to 35 ,000!

T ime Changes Everyrhing 27

Everyo ne wants to trademark their stuff Names and slogans are old hat.
Now th e push is to trademark shapes, scents, and so unds. Even colors.

Owens Co rning trademarked the very particular PINKof th eir fiberglass

insulation material in the 1980s.

But not all expansionary efforts have been successful. [n June of 2000,
H arley-Davidson finally gave up its gutsy six-year effort to trademark the
roar of its V-Twi n engine. In its application, the company claimed that the
sound of this engin e was "as recognizable to motorcycle enthusiasts as ' The
Star Spangled Banner. '"

Harley- Davidso n fin ally withdrew.

Joanne Bischmann , the co mpany's Vice Pres ident of Marketing, said, "If
o ur CUStomers know the sound cannOt be imitated, that's good eno ugh for
me and for H arley-Davidson."
Th e id ea of separaring one producr from anor her wir h th e
aid of trademarks was a good o ne. And ir wo rked- for a while.
That was until it came up aga inst busi ness' own necrotizingfosciitis)
o r Resh-earing disease: co mmodi fica tion.

For anyone in business, the rapid cycling of their

valued products into generic stuff is a dark and
constant fear.
One day YO LI are sini ng 0 11 a premiulll product, enjoying high margins and
fighri ng off co nsum ers. Th e nexr yo ur produ ct is being bottom-loaded on
bac k shelves or dumped inro "Specials" b ins.

The warning signs:

 Now we're not just talking about bulk stuff like salt and pork bellies , rice and sugar. Anything
can become a commodity, given enough competitive pressure. C onsider the once mighty airline
industry. No wonder brands were seized on as a way to fight back.

Brands were developed to create differences for products

that were in danger of becoming as hard to tell apart as
chunks of gravel.
They are also a proven way for compan ies to capture and exploit their innovations. If you are
making a big R&D investment you are going to protect it with a patent. But the little or
"patent pending" note was never enough . You had to make sure everyone knows the value of
what they are getting. Brands do this brilliantly.

When I was working with Procter & Gambl e in the 1970s, we were proud that it was P&G
that had articulated the concept of brands fi rst. Neil McElroy was a hero. He had understood
the potential of the brand idea and codified it in 1931 into the brand-management system that
made it a reality.

P&G understood that brand disciplines could bring together the legal protection of patents
and trademarks with the stuff that has meaning for consumers: consistency, quality,
performance, and value.

Commodities got a big hit, right on the nose.

They wou ldn't be back for another round until late in the century.

30 20vemarb
Our world of brands
As we watch television, open the mail, or go for a stroll,
we now live in a world of brands.

My experience on th e street-in th e back offi ces of retailers and ar bottling plants as we battled
for Pepsi in the Middle East-gave me the first hints that branding was at the final front ier.

Talking wirh co nsum ers, I could see that as their choices gtew wider, their loyalty to brands
that didn't to uch them in any perso nal way was shaky.

And there was much morc co mpetition comi ng. Sure the main event was the tussle between us
and Coke, but morc and more local and international co mpetitio n was edging in.

The deep insight for me was that many of our markerers saw Peps i as a business of margins.
T hi s is the first sure srep towards becoming a commodi ty. I always thought of Pepsi's business
as a business of selling case by case. Let me explain.

One of the realities I faced in business was that I didn't have an M.B.A. I hadn't been trained
in all the ru les-so it meant I had to focus on the people: they were the ones who did the real
day-to-day business and were close to co nsumers.

Time Changes Everything 31

Many of m y colleagues didn't feel the same way. They
believed that busin ess was won through the best plans,
memos, recommendations. and posit io n pape rs. I
beli eved that the co la business was won th ro ugh
cases. In dividual cases of Pepsi sold by individual
reta ilers to individual peop le who wa nted to drink it.

Cases are strategic. H erbert Schmitz at P&G to ld

me that. He was right. And because I believed this,
and still believe it to this day, I was never in the
office. I'm still not.

Later, when I was working for Lion Nathan and

marketing beer, the fundam e ntal problems with
brands became eve n clea rer. T here is no such thin g
as bad beer. They're all refreshing, taste great, a nd
are the world's best socia l lubri cant. Techno logy is
not a barri er. Beer is reall y srill just a local co rtage
industry. Breweries a re ever)"Vhere.

Through the lens of this incredibly

competitive business I could see
a relentless process that was
turning what we truly valued into
the commonplace,

To me it was clear that brands were stuck on rh e

"_er" words: Bigge r, brighter, berter, stronger, faster,
easi er, newer and, the final stake throu gh the heart,
chea per. These are all tables takes, just th e stake any
player has to bring to rhe ga me to earn a
seat ar the tab le. I remember seeing a
cover article in The Economist. It declared
that 1988 was 'The Year of th e Brand. " I
thought, "Yeah, ri ght. But is it the beginn ing
or the end?"
The Attention Economy
Brands had a dream-run pumpin g the global econom y. Maybe they could have survived the
pressures of commodification if not for o ne big and unavoidable fact. By the 1990s it was cl ear
that we were living in the Attention Economy. There we re thousands of TV channels, movies,
radio "ations, newspapers, and magazines. Millions of websites. Billions of phone calls, faxes ,
and e- mails. And right through all of it, new product laun ches and new improved product-lin e
extensions and ads struggling ro be heard. Too much information!

People are overwhelmed by the choices they face . Forget the Info rmation Economy. Human
attentio n has become our principal currency.

"I don't want 500 television channels. I just want the

one channel that gives me what I want to see."

Time Changes Eve rythin g 33

 Job N umber One fo r any marketer these
days is co mpeting for attention . W hoeve r
yo u are. Where ver you arc . And on ce you've
captured that anc nrion , you've got to show
YO LI deserve it.

Th e process really only has two steps-so

why does eve ryo ne find it so hard ' It's all
because we obsess over rh e arrention part
and forget abo ut why we need that attention
in the first place : the relationships.

Emotional co nnections w ith consume rs

have to be at the foundation of all o ur cool
marketing moves and innovat ive tactics. V iral
marketing. guerrilla marketing. enrcnainmenr
market ing, ex peri ence marketing- they ca n all
seize atten tion if they are done right, but
on ce they have it, th ey have nowhere much
to put it. No thing to build, nothin g to add
to, nothing [Q valu e or ca re about.

Let the relemarketing debacle be a warnin g.

W hen it was first hot in the 1980s ir was a
ragi ng success. You could sell ANYT H ING
o n the phone. Fasr-forward a decade or so
and yo u looked at a very different picture.

Even if the telemarketers get

past our answering machines
and caller ID, the rules have
changed dramatically.
Nowadays we'll hang up
rather than order the
steak knives.

34 R ovE m a r ~1..
Brands are out of juice ...
Th ey ca n't stand out in the marketplace, and
th ey are strugglin g to connen with peopl e.
He re are six reasons why:
1. Brands are worn out from overuse
Michael Eisner of Disney has called the word
brand "overused, sterile, and unimaginative."
He's right. As the brand manual grows heavier
and more detailed , you know you're in trouble.
Making sure the Rowers in reception confo rm
to the brand guidelines just shows yo u a rc
loolcing in the wrong direction. Consumers are
who yo u should be paying attention to. What
matters to them. Otherwise, yo u're hiding, and
you're in trouble.
2. Brands are no longer mysterious
There is a n ew anti-brand sensibility. There
is much more consumer awa reness, morc
consumers who unde rstand how brands wo rk
and , morc impo rtantly, how brands are
intended ro wo rk on th em! Fo r most brands,
there is nowh ere left to hide. Th e informa-
tion age means that brands are part of the
public domain. Hidden agendas, subliminal
messages, tri cky moves .. .forge t it. For most
brands, it is a new age of consumer savvy; at
th e ex tremes, it's th e atracks of Naomi Kl e in
and the ant i-global gang.
3. Brands can't understand the
new consumer
The new consumer is better inform ed , more
criti cal, less loyal, and harder to read. Th e
white suburban housewife who for decades
seemed to buy all th e soa p powder no lon ger
exists. She has been joined by a new population
of multi -ge nerational , multi -e thnic , multi -
national consumers .
4. Brands struggle with good
old-fashioned competition
Th e morc brands we inve nt, rh e less we
notice them as individuals. If yo u're not
Number One o r Two, you might as well
forget it. And the greater the number of
brands, th e thinner the resources promoting
th e m. You get a treadmill of no vel ty,
produc tion value, in c re me ntal c hange,
tacti caJ promotions, and events.
5. Brands have been captured by formula
1 lo se patie nce w ith th e wanna-be scie nce
of brands. Th e d efinition s, th e charts,
tables, and diag rams. The re a re too man y
people following the sam e rule book.
When everybody tries to beat diffe rentiation
in the same way, nobody gets anywhere.
You get row upon row of w ha t I call
"brandroids." Formulas can't deal with
human emotion. Formu las have no
imagination or empathy.
6. Brands have been smothered
by creeping conservatism
The story of brands has gone from daring
and in spiration ro ca ution and risk-aversion.
Once the darling of the bold and the brave,
brands are relying on th e accumulation of
past experi ences rather than the potential o f
future ones. Headstones are replacing stepping
srones. If th e antics of R.jchard Branson ca use
a riot (and th ey do), how bland and borin g
has everyon e else becom e?
Time Changes Everything 35
 Bra nds can no longer cope wirh so me of rhe mosr impo rta nr challenges we face (Oday
as ma rkerers, producers, traders, and busi ness peopl e.

How to cu r rh ro ugh rhe informa t ion duner

How to con nect meaningfully with consumers
How (Q create integrated experiences
How to co nvince people to co mmi t for li fe
How to make the world a bener place

T here is o nl y o ne way (0 thri ve as marketers in the At ten tio n Eco nom y:

Stop racing after every new fad and focus on making

consistent , emotional connections with consumers . If you
stand for nothing , you fall for everything .

The journey is over

The great jo urn ey fro m products (0 trade marks a nd fro m trademarks (0 brands is over.
Trade ma rks a re rablesrakes. Brands a re tabl estakes. Bo th a re useful in the quest fo r differentia-
ti o n and vital to survival, but they're not winning ga me-breakers.

Today the stakes have reached a new high. T he social fabr ic is spread more thinl y than ever.
People are looking for new, emotio nal co nnectio ns. T hey are lookin g fo r what they can love.
T hey are insisting o n more cho ice, rhey h ave higher expectations, and they need emo tio nal pull
(0 help them make d ecisions. And , fi nally, they wa nt mo re ways (0 connect wit h everything in

thei r lives-in clud ing brands.

Businesses have always assumed that people see the

brands the same way they do . This is why they can get
it SO-O-O-O wrong.
But so me special brands don't seem (0 m ake th at m istake. They are so fa r o ut in fron t that they
seem (0 have evolved in(O something else. T hey are what inspired Saatchi & Saarch i (0 develop
Lovemarks as the furure beyond b rands.

36 lovemarbh
 In my 35 years in busin ess I have always trusred my emotions . I have always believed that by
to uching emot ion you get the best people to work with you, th e best cl ients to inspire you, the
bes t partners, and the most devoted customers.

The last ten years have seen emotion dominate the bestseller-a nd the not-so-bestsel ler- lists.
C lick your way through Amazo n.com for tirles and see what I mean. Art and Emotion , Body
and Emotion , Culture and Emotion, Reason and Emotion. Sounds fin e. Then there's Emotion
and Spirit, Emotion and Focus, Emotion and Religion, Emotion and Insanity, Emotion in
Organizations. There's more where that came from.

People everywhere are w;

Emotion has become a legitimate subject for serious research. On
what was obvious to everyone who cared to look.

38 ~ovmar~r..
 In the business world there's Emotional Branding, Emotional Markets, Emotional Capital,
Emotional Value and, of course, Emotional Marketing from my friends at Hallmark.

It goes deeper. How about Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Genius, Emotional Unavailability.
And then, a little further out in the galaxy, Emotional Yoga, Emotional Cleansing, Emotional
Alchemy, Emotional Claustrophobia, and Emotional Control.

And two books no self-respecting business should be without; th e helpfu l Emotionally Weird,
and the essential Emotional Vampires.

ting to embrace emotion.

scientists got into emotion it didn't take them long to prove

Emotional Rescue 39
 "Father and Son"
Cat Stevens was a mega-star of the 1970s with such hits (0 his credit as "M oonshadow,"
" Morn ing Has Broken," and "Peace Train. " He co nverted (0 Islam in I 977, changed his name
(0 Yusuf Islam, and pre((y well left the music bus iness. Since then, he has devoted h is time (0

charities and education in support of his religion. He is very cautiolls about (he lise of his
music. Man y of his songs deal with th em es from his life before conversion, and he no longe r
wants (0 be associated with them. Li((l e surprise then that he had never allowed an y of hi s
songs (Q be Ll sed in TV commercials.

When creatives at Saatchi & Saatchi Welli ng(On gOt it inra their heads to use a Cat Stevens
song for a comme rcial, the first reaction was "find another song. " Trouble was, the so ng th ey
wanted was abso lutely perfect: " Father and Son."

I was once like you are now,

and I know that it's not easy
to be calm when you've found something going on.
But take your time, think a lot,
why, think of everything you've got.
For you will still be here tomorrow,
but your dreams may not.

Our people didn't just want th e song as th e background music. The son g was the sra ry.
An emotiona l portra it of a most special relationship-a father and son grow in g rogeth er
from birth ra d eath.

The client was Te lecom N ew Zea land. Like many o ther telecommunications compani es,
rhey had never been big on emotion. Th ey are und er intense pressure every minute of
every da y. Th e whole indust ry lives in a waking nightmare of margin -s hav ing, competit ion,
un ex pected technology shifts, ri sing consumer expectations. They usuall y don't see peopl e's
feelings as a pr iority.

40 iovmar~~
But Telecom New Zealand had been a monopoly
and was now confronting competition with energy.
They were adventurous and up for a challenge.
T hey knew that when you act like a commodity,
yo u get treated like on e-that old vicio us cycle.
Forget about being loved; it's rough ro get even a
little respect on the street.

That might have been the end of the sto ry in

so me places, but our people took it as a perso nal
challenge. They truly believe that Nothing is
Impossible. A passionate plea to Yusuf was drafted .
Sure, permission had never been given before, but
that was then. Our people pinned their hearts to
their letter and waited. Weeks later as the team sat
in the mixing room despairing of even getting a
response, they heard the rustle of a fax. 1t was
ftom Yusuf H e had responded to the visuals
accompanying his words and the emotional truth
of th e story. He had written one word on the fax
they had sent him pleading to use his song: "Yes."

Since joining Saatchi & Saatchi,

I have given hundreds of
presentations around the globe.
"Father and Son" is the spot
I always play at the end.
In Dubai, Denmark, Los Angeles, Lo ndon ,
New York, Sao Paulo, Barcelona, and Syd ney,
the response never varies. People feel this spot
is talking to them personally. T he Story makes
a deep emotional connection.

Our client wanted a more connected counrry-

Cat Stevens sa ng the song. His Greatest Hits
album moved into the Top 10 CD sales in
New Zealand a month after launch.

Emotional ResclIe 41
 Human beings are powered by emotion,
not by reason
5 wd y afte r study has proven that if rhe emotio n centers of o ur brain are damaged in so me way,
we do n't just lose th e ability to laugh or cry, we lose th e ability to make decisions. Alarm bells
for eve ry business right there.

T he neurologist Do nald Cain e puts it brilliantly:

"The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion

leads to action while reason leads to conclusions."

You don't have to be a brain surgeo n to get that.

The rea li ty we face docs not require mastery of
arca ne terminology, and it's not about evaluating
competing th eori es about how rhe mind wo rks
o r how it is structu red.

T he brain is more complex, more densely

connected, and mOfC mys terious than any o f
LI S can dream. That's as much as we have to

know. Emotio n and reason are intertwined ,

bur w hen they arc in conAic(, emotion wins
every time. W ithout the Aeeting and intense
stim ulus of e motio n, rational rhouglu w inds
down and disi ntegrates.

Maurice Levy, C hai rman of Publicis Groupe,

owners of Saatchi & Saatchi, elaborates :

"Consumers who make decisions based purely on

facts represent a very small minority of the world's
population . They are people without feelings, or perhaps
people who put their heart and emotions in the fridge when they are leaving home in the
morning, and only take them out again when they go back home in the evening. Although
even for these people, there is always some product or service they buy based on impulse
or emotion.

42 iovemar~A
"The vast majority of the population, however, consumes and shops with their mind and
their heart, or if you prefer, their emotions. They look for a rational reason: what the
product does and why it is a superior choice. And they take an emotional decision: I like it,
I prefer it, I feel good about it.

"The way this works is very subtle. Most of the time, before seeing something in detail, you
have a sense of what it is. Before understanding, you feel. And making people feel good
about a brand, getting a positive emotion, is key. This is what makes the difference.

"To get emotion back into business in this period when cost-cutting is king is very difficult.
People making decisions are tense, under pressure, and rationality is reassuring. But emotions
are more rewarding, both in the short and long-term. "
[Maurie.: Levy, Chairman , Publicis Groupe, ParisI

Writer Vi rginia Postrel has a great example of how igno ring the real emotions of co nsumers ca n
poi nt us in the wro ng dircnion. About ten yea rs ago, many wo me n's fashion retailers had the
sa me dumb idea : it's possi ble to rationally predict what women wa nt. Th e demographics sa id
that wo men were gerring older and bigger and so perfect logic ki cked in. Older, bigger wo men
are not go ing to be interested in yourh. novelty, or sex appeal. Bad call. Turned ou t that women
didn't feel o ld er and bigger at all. They rushed to buy slinky slip-dresses and curvy, mini skirted
bus iness suits. T he logicians tanked and th e few reta ilers who backed a genuin e understandin g
of th e hum an hea rt did great.

W hat is importa nt is to engage with the new realities of emotion. We must work out what they
mean to us. How they affect behavio r. And then do someth ing different because of it.
Marketing people talk about emorio n. They present charts and di agrams. even raise their voices
and wave thei r arms, but fundamental ly they treat emotio n as . . .o ut-there, felt by so meone else
and able to be manipula ted.

Analyzing orher people's emotions and refusing to acknowledge ou r own dumps us in the same
o ld ru t. W hat a waste. T he emotio ns are a serio lls o pportuni ry to get in rouch w ith co nsumers.
And best of all , emotio n is an unlimited resource. It's always there-waiting to be tapped with new
ideas, new inspiratio ns, new ex periences.

So what kind of emotio ns are we talking about? Everyo ne has a different list, but peopl e tend
to agree o n [wo points: first, emotions can be separated in to primary and secondary emotionsi
and seco nd , most of ou r emotions are negative. Emotio ns can inspire and excite us. They ca n
also fr ighten and threa ten us. It's survival. Our emotio ns tell us w hat's important, and in o ur
ancient past it was smart to pay the most attentio n to the bad stuff.

Emot ional Resclle 43

Chapter 4
My late father-in-law Don Honeywill played
the famous sax intra on the Beatles
song "All You Need Is Love ." It's a
song that means a lot to me and my
family. Intimacy in action.
Plato gO t it right: "At the touch of Love, everyo ne
beco mes a poet. " Or a cynic. I'm no cyn ic. At
Saatchi & Saatchi our pursuit of Love and what it
could mean for business has been focused and intense.
People love people. We love ex periences, we love teams,
we love events, we love abstract ideas like our country or
town or cause. We love art. A nd we love sru ff The objects
we make or buy or exchange. The objects rhar defin e
who we are and where we sta nd.

We are consumers by nature. For vi rtuall y all

the world's c irizens, our possess ions add
mea ning to our li ves. That's why we
buy, exchange, give, rreasure,
and possess them.

The
things
we ha ve
chosen to
li ve with are
nor in ert obj ects.
We wrap o ur imagi-
nat ions around th em.
We ex press ourselves
through th em. We make
them into what we care about.
Sea n Fitzpatrick played for the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team for 12 yea rs. H e was one
of the greatest ca ptains the ga me has known. H e told me what place Love has in a game as
hard-fough t as rugby.

"To be in the All Blacks is about loving

what you do. It's about caring for each
other. The team is a family and you
love your family. If you love your
mate you're going to look after
him and you're going to do
anything for him.

"That's the beauty of playing in

a team. You have 15 guys who all
have one goal in mind rather than a
set of individual goals. A collective
goal. The aim is to be successful. The
aim is to win and to do everything you can
to make yourselves better players and better
people. At the same time you want to help
your mates be better players and better
people, the same as you would for your
brothers or your sisters."

AJI You Need Is Love 5 1

 Six truths about Love
The First o ne is a warning. Human beings need Love. Without it they die. Sol itary
people without Love are three to fi ve times more likely to die early! Match this with plummeting
birth rates in many Western countries and major increases in the number of people living
alone, and yo u've got to say that the wo rl d needs a lot more loving in it.

Next comes a definition. Love means more than liking a lot. We are not ta lking
affection plus. Love is abo ut a profound sense of attachment. Want a reall y great metaphor'
When resea rchers at Emory University in Atlanta track brain processes through sca ns, they can
see different areas of the brain light up as they are engaged. How about that? We literall y light up!
If yo u want a definition of Love, that's nOt a bad one.

Third, Love is about responding, about delicate, intuitive sensing. Love is always
two-way. When it is not, it cannot live up to the name Love. Some people will always be better
at it than othe rs, but we all have the capac ity and need for Love.

Our Fourth truth concerns who and what we love . Everyo ne knows about the glories of
romantic Love, but let's not forget the Love between couples who have been tOget her for years,
Love within famil ies, the Love of close friends-very different relationships that join the
experiences we love. For me, it's Bruce Sp ringsteen concens, Saturday nights, and a cold Becks
beer. Whatever [urns you on.

Fifth, Love takes time. The skill of respo nding to the emo tional rhythms of Love takes an
in vestment of years. Love has hisro ry. Love gives us meaning and makes us who we arc.

Finally, and perhaps most profoundl y, Love cannot be com manded or demanded. It can
on ly be given. Like power, you get Love by giving it.

52 lovemarbh
" I don't think there is anything higher
than Love. I mean, I'm not sure what
could possibly come after Love because
Love is so expansive. I had such a difficult
time coming up with a definition for
Love in my book, but the way I define
Love is the selfless promotion of the
growth of the other.

So to me, if you selflessly promote the

growth of your customers and your
colleagues, that's true Love. I don't
know what more you could do for
someone. "
[Ti m Sanders. Chief Solutions Officer. Yahoo! . and aUl hor of 1-OI'l' Is the Killer rlpp]

, , Whenever someone asks me to define

Love, I usually think for a minute,
then I spin around and pin the guy's
arm behind his back. Now who's
asking the questions? , ,
lJack Handey, comicl

All You Need Is Love ).1

/II may not be a smart man,
but I do know what Love is./I IForrest Gump]

''Love: Two minds

without a single thought." [Philip Borry[

"Ah, good 01' trustworthy beer.

My Love for you will never die."
IH >rner Sim psoni

"When Love and skill work together,

expect a masterpiece."
"Love doesn't make the world go 'round.
Love is what makes the ride worthwhile."
IFranklin P Jones)

"People think Love is an emotion.

Love is good sens,~:'
54 ioVmar~h
"I Love Mickey Mouse more
than any woman I've ever known."
/Y u C y

"Love keeps the cold out

better than a cloak./I [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]

"Love does not consist of gazing

at each other, but in looking outward together

in the same direction:'

/I Love is a canvas pattern furnished by Nature,
and embroidered by imagination:'
[Voltaire]

/I Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer

to the problem of human existence."
[Erich Fromm]

"I'm in favor of Love

as long as it doesn't happen when the Simpsons are on TV./I
[Anilo-oge 6J
When I fi rs t suggested that Love was the
way to transform business, gtown CEO s
blushed and slid down behind their annual
accounts. But I kept at them.
I knew it was Love that was
missing. I knew that Love
was the only way to ante up
the emotional temperature
and create the new kinds of
relationships brands needed.
I knew that Love was the only way businesses
could res pond to the rapid shift in control
to consumers.
Once we got comfo rtable wi th saying the
"L" wo rd, we delved more deeply into
understanding its breadth and relevance to
business. We wondered about a way to rank
brands or anythin g else acco rding to the
intensity of Love people felt for them. The
really great things would be placed near the
top with lesser ones towa rds the bottom.
Conventional wisdom says
that brands are taking over
people's lives. And that this
is a bad thing. But maybe it
works the other way. Maybe
life is taking over brands.
All You Need Is Love 57
 relatIonships
a catchphrase?

brands could grow and evolve with richer

and deeper conn s in the same way
that people can in ir lives?

the emotion that could make this

rmlatiion was Love? ..

built on what?
Chapter 5

GIMME SOME RESPECT ~~

. I
. , ., r .
 The Lovemarks of this new century will be the brands and businesses
that create genuine emo tional connections with the communities
and networks they live in. T his means getting up close and personal.
And no o ne is goin g to let yo u get close eno ugh to to uch them unless
they respect what yo u do and who you are.

Love needs Respect right from the start. W itho ut it, Love will no t
last. It will fade like all passio ns and infatuations. Respect is what
yo u need when yo u are in fo r the lo ng haul.

Respect is one of the fo unding principles of Lovemarks .

II
Respect is love
in plain clothes."
[Frankie Byrne]

Management loves the idea of Respect. It sounds serious and objective,

easily measured and managed . In fact, Respect has been prodded and
squeezed so often ovet the last century that its real power has been
undervalued. Respect is the foundation of successful business.

At Saatchi & Saatchi we decided o ne thing was mandatory from the

get-go : No Respect, No Love.

But Respect needs to be reinvigorated. We need to understand what

it demands. We need to expand our Respect metrics from fin ancial
and production performance to take on the deeper deman ds Respect
makes of us. Respect looks to performance, reputatio n, and trust as
its organizing principles. W ithin each of these principles I believe
there is an inspiring code of conduct to lead yo u fo rward .

60 20vemarkh
Perform, perform, perform
Respect grows o ut of performance. Perfo rma nce at each and every interactio n.
Peak pe rformance is the u ltimate tablestake of all tablestakes .

Pursue innovation
Inn ovatio n is kaizen, co ntinuous improve ment, for consume rs. Every busi ness roday
is ex pected to innovate-a nd to innovate mean ingfull y while creating value.

Commit to total commitment

Go ing the full distance is the price of Res pect. The new active consumer judges yo u
at every encou nter, every touchpoint, and will punish failure by not coming back.

Make it easy
The increas ing complexity of many goods and services has raised the stakes . The
equatio n is sim ple. If it's hard to use, it will die. Goodbye VCR. Hello DVD.

Don't hide
Peo ple ca n respect you only if they know who yo u are. Rem e mber, in today's
Interne t e nviron ment th ere is nowhere YOli cannOt be found . Don't even try.

Jealously guard your reputation

Built over a li fet ime. D estroyed in an instant. Consumers today are ruthless if yo u
let them down. So don't.

Get in the lead and stay there

To be o ut front can be lo nely and unco mfortable, bu t remem ber, the lead husky gets
rhe best view.

Tell the truth

Front up. Be o pen. Admit mistakes. Don't cover up, it will get yo u every tim e.
Believe in yo urself- at t imes like this it may be th e o nl y thing yo u have. And at times
like th is yo ur reputation is yo ur premium defense.

Gimme Some Rcs pcCl 61

 Nurture integrity
The corporate shake-ups of the last few years have put the spotlight bac k on integrity:
the integrity of yo ur people, yo ur products, yo ur services, you r financial statements
and, most importantly, yo ur perso nal integrity.

Accept responsibility
Take on the biggest respo nsibility of all- to make the world a better place for
eve ryone, creati ng self-esteem, wealth, prosperity, jobs, and choices . Quality is
the measure by which yo u exceed expectations. Quality is all about sta ndards.
Keep it simp le: set high standards and then exceed them . Meet, Beat, Repeat.

Never pull back on service

Service is where transactio ns are transformed inro relationships. Where Respect
meets Love. It is the first moment of truth.

Deliver great design

Attention Economy 101. Competition is hot and getting hotter. If you're not
aesthetically stimulating and functionally effective yo u just merge inro the crowd.
You have to be different, not just act different.

Don't underestimate value

Not just real dollar value but the perception of value. Only when people perceive
the value they are getting as higher than the cost will they respect the deal you offer.
Sam Walton built Wal -Mart, the biggest retail em pire in the world, by a rel entless
foclIs on best val ue.

Deserve trust
Consumers want to trllst you. They want yo u to remain true to the ideals and
asp iratio ns you share with them. Practice what you preach. Never let them down.

Never, ever fail the reliability test

Expectatio ns skyrocket: cars always sta rt the first time, the coffee's always ho t, the
ATM is always open. Today reliabili ty is the door charge for Respect before the
show begins.

62 20vemarb
It's a ro ugh list. Demanding and uncomprom isin g. Don't even drea m about Lovemark status
unless you can tick off each and every item. The relationship between Respect and Love is
deep, co mpellin g, symbiotic. At the risk of repea ting myself:

No Respect,
No Love,
No Respect,
No Love,
No Respect,
No Love,
Period.
Gimlll c Some Rcspec[ 63
Five thomgs
to do t
omorrow
 Long before I joined Saarchi & Saatchi, I was aware that brands
were entering an endgame. Being invited to be CEO of the most
exciting advertising agency in the world certainly sharpened my
focus. It was all very well knowing the problems with brands, but
what was the solution'

How could we inspire brands to evolve to the next level? The

usual sruff like organizational change, rejigging structure, and
smarter logistics wasn't going to do it.

There had to be something new, something

that wou ld create

Loyalty Beyond Reason.

My thinking started to crystallize around a line Tide used back
in the 1970s. "Tide for cleaning you can Count on." I thought,
"So mething you could always count on. That would be hugely
valuable. That would be Loyalry Beyond Reason. "

And the first word that came to me was trust. Many of our clients
responded to the idea of trust. The Internet had put trust firmly
on the agenda. Trust felt like part of the vocabulary.

I was hot on the trail of something I thought of as Trustmarks

when I met Alan Webber, Founding Editor of the business
magazine Fast Company. We were at a top-to-top CEO forum
at Cambridge University convened by P&G. Here's how Alan
remembers it:

66 iovemarb.
 "IIC;U was, we

::~::
~~rt:!~ ~""rillto sotqj'hing
rttlp.any. ~l'do as
~ edi~~Mt(J' fisten to
_ _ t'4~~ently they
turn a phrase or use a construction
oflanguage that just sounds like the
name of an article waiting to be
wti~J.I:9t ~.~~! and
....,tIe ~ ~\; ~ they
know it but they haven't yet pop~ it up
to the level of importance that it's worth.
That's what happened in those round-
table conversaciolu lit ~e.

"In my notebooks I just kept cirG~

of the! laagulige that Kevin was _"'''II~ .~ ~
~ about the emotions of maIi<1if.it1.g
the nCed to migrate a brand
leftIs of em'~t1on~.,..

meant. Yet here was a

is tablestakes! Old
go beyond the brand
deeper into the .-elation-
 ----
/ \1)
/ I
/'
 My ideas were based o n work we had done compa ring brands with what we now know were
emerging as Lovemarks. The best brands were Trustmarks, we had decided, but the grea t ones
were Lovema rks. We charted the differences.

BRAND Qovemark
Information Relatio nship

Recognized by consumers Loved by people

Generic Personal

Presents a narrative C rea tes a Love s[Ory

The promise of quality The to uch of Sensuality

Symbolic Iconic

Defined Infused

Statement Sto ry

Defined attributes W rap ped in Mys tery

Values Spirit

Professional Pass io natel y creati ve

Advertising agency Ideas company

I said in the article:

''I'm sure that yo u can charge a premium for brands that people love.
And I'm also sure that you can only have one Lovemark in any category."

70 ~ovemar~h
I was sure rhen. bur now I see I was wrong. Now rhar we have moved more deeply inro
Lovemarks we ca n see rhar rhis was way roo narrow. The sushi shop on the corner of yo ur
block ca n be a Lovemark to you. Lovem arks ca n be creared by designers. producers. service
people, cities, and natio ns .

s
c

Can consumers make Lovemarks out of two products in the

same category? As far as I'm concerned, they can do any-
thing they damn well please!

Love Is in the Air 7 1

 One of the things that we all learn in our business
careers is that language matters. That has been a hall-
mark of Ftlst ComptlllY. If you describe something or
name something accurately, that coinage becomes not
just a marketable product, it fundamentally changes
the conversation, and people begin to reframe the way
they think and talk to each other. They begin to create
categories in their own business experience they didn't
even know existed.

"I definitely feel that's what our article with Kevin did.
It opened up a whole new category where people could
think about the way their companies perform. It's
interesting that a recent Nobel prize for economics
went to a couple of economists who were, once and for
all, making it an official, acceptable fact that the most
important part of economics is emotional. That emotion
is one of the key elements of economic behavior.

"One of the points Kevin was making in our article-and

obviously it has emerged even more strongly-is that
the way you relate to the market is, in many respects,
making manifest that which is fundamentally intangible.
It's not about the cost per thousand, or the rate, or
what you are charging for this product. It's the way it
feels, the way it represents itself, and then the way it
either does or doesn't live up to those representations.

[Alan \\ 'ehhcr. Founding Editor, Ftw Comp'II~}'l

72 iovem a r~/.I
hapter 7

BEAUTIFUL
OBSESSION
 Lovemarks made immed iate sense. Every person we deal w ith is a n em otional hum an bei ng,
a nd ye r b usiness had been rreari ng rhem like numbers. Ta rgets. Sra risrics.

Res pecr was so merh ing rhar Saarchi & Saa tch i undersrood . Over rhe yea rs we had p ur a lo r of
ri me in ro b uilding ou r cl iem s' p rodu cts in ro so me of the most highl y res peered bra nds in the
wo rld. Now it was time to focus o n w hat made some b ra nds sta nd o u t fro m the crowd . W hat
made so me brands Loved .

W hen it ca me to working ou t wha t gave Lovema rks their special emo tional reso nance, we
ca me prerry q uickly W :

Mystery
Sensuality
Intimacy

T hese didn't so und like rrad itiona l brand a[(fibu tes. And they cap tured the new emo ti o nal
co nnectio ns we were seekin g. As I have a lready rne nt io ned , we we re convinced from [h e sta rt
by a ve ry impo rta nt idea thar beca me the hearr of Lovemarks.

Lovemarks are not owned by the manufacturers, the producers,

the businesses. They are owned by the people who love them .
Fro m there it was easy ro agree that yo u on ly get ro be a Lovemark whe n the people who love
yo u tell YOLi so. But JUSt sirring aro u nd waiti ng fo r co nsumers to tell yo u yo u're a Love ma rk
could mea n a ve ry lo ng wa it.

Love is abo ut act ion. It's about creating a mea ni ngfu l relatio nship. It's a co nsta nr process of
keep in g in to uch , wo rkin g w ith co nsume rs, understa ndin g them , spend ing time with the m.
And this is what insightfu l marketers, empat het ic des igners, and sma rt peo pl e o n th e checko ut
a nd produ crio n lin e d o every day.

Now we we re ready to crea te o ur princip les.

74 iovemar~.1
:)
Co nsume rs ca n smell a fake a m il e off. If yo u're not in Love with your own busin ess, they
won't be either.

Th ey need to be brough t in to advising on new product d evelopment a nd working up ideas

fo r services. In vo lve th em in everything, but the re is no point in just reAecting back what they
have already ro ld YO LI. Make yo ur own commitme nt to change. Be creati ve.

" W ill yo u still love me tomo rrow'" Loyalty demands consiste ncy. C ha nge is fin e, but both
partn ers must be fu ll participants.

Lovema rks are infused w ith powerful a nd evocative sto ries. At thei r best these g row inro
mythical ta les. They recall th e great ad ve ntures of the busi ness, its products and th eir legendary
consumers. Sto rytel ling gives luster by open ing up new meanings, con nections, and feel ings.

Lovcma rks a re, by defi nition , top of th eir class for the peopl e who love the m. Th e pass io n for
a Lovema rk can be intense. At the fa r end of th e scale peop le will lay down th eir lives for a
Lovemark. In fact, nations ma y well be so me of th e most powerfu l Love marks of them all.

Be:llHiful Obsession 75
 We were seeing Lovemarks as highly charged emotional relationships.
Whenever we talked Lovemarks we found ourselves referring to people
we knew or had heard of.

We asked ourselves:

How do families build up their vast reservoirs

of Love? What Love inspires people to become
extraordinary? When times are tough what kind
of Love do people call on to see them through?
What builds Loyalty that goes Beyond Reason?

Lovemarks could not be constrained by the world defin ed by brands and

marketing. Sure th is world was important, bur Lovemarks had to be open
to more. Open to the local and to the global. To connect with people as
well as services. Places as well as products. The objects peo ple make them-
selves as well as what they buy.

Constantly testing our ideas against everyth ing that peopl e love, we agreed
that Mystery, Sensual ity, and Intimacy are made up of the fo llowing elements:

76 iovmar~/.o
 Commitment
Empathy
.-
...... Passion
c
-
 Th is was what we needed to generate
ideas and insights. We were determined
that Lovemarks we re go ing ro be more than
an idea that could transform brands and
marketing. They had to be a new point of
view. A way (0 change how com panies see
themselves and how they feel about con-
sumers. And, as importantly, [0 change
how co nsumers feel about business.
Lovemarks would become
nothing less than the future
beyond brands.
We created a test. We decided a brand
might be a Lovema rk if it matched up to
these sta tements:
Lovemarks co nnect companies,
their people and their brands
Love marks inspire Loyalty
Beyo nd Reason
Lovemarks are owned by the
people who love th em
Th is was exciting. If Lovemarks could step
up to this level, they wo uld become the
ultimate premium-profit generators. Darwin
wou ld have got it ri ght off. Fish to lizard.
Monkey to man. Brand to Lovemark. An
evo lutionary sta irway to heaven.
We also bega n to play wit h suggestions as
to what bra nds might already fit into our
Love mark framework. After all, this was
an idea that had emerged from what a select
band of stellar performers were already
doing brilliantly.
78 2 o VE m ar~>1
"If something gets to be a billion-
dollar brand, there's more going on
than just a rational attachment. My
feeling is that all the billion-dollar
brands occupy a very special place in
the heart among some consumers.
That would make them Lovemarks."
[J im Stt:!1,!!d, Clob.11 Markcting O lTic..:r, l'roctl'r & Cam hie]
A few jumped out. Not just major global
brands, but brands with a stron g emotional
connection with co nsum ers. Brands with a
passionate gro up of people who loved them.
Brands inspiring Loyalty Beyo nd Reaso n.
Harley- Davidso n was one. We had all heard
about how they had risen from th e dead ,
creating devoted customers and deli ve ring
outstanding finan cial pe rfo rmance. Excited,
we ran through our Lovemarks characte ristics.
Harley's score was off th e charts- Myste ry,
Sensuality, and Intimacy to burn.
The iPod ? Fantastic. Coca-Cola? Another
hit. Virgin Atlantic? Just ask Ben, my
eldest son!
We th en gOt a list of tOP global brands and
thought about which ones seemed to us to
be Lovemarks. We as ked people a round
Saatchi & Saatchi what they thought, and
instantly we found ourselves ca ught up in
intense conversatIons.
From these discussions we gathered together
the Illost popular sugges tions to see how
Love marks stacked up as a practical idea.
Even now, looking back, most of the Pampers that worked exceptionally
brands we included o n that ea rl y list still well for her child, the mother will
look pretty good. In terms of our key
have a very strong reaction! If you
elements- Mystery, Sensuali ty, and Intimacy-
our top 25 gave us a lot to think abour.
take away a CoverGirilip shade that
Some made it in aJl three areas, so me didn't. looks just great with her coloring
from a teenager, she will be angry.
Amazon , Apple, The Body Shop, CNN, If you take away Tide with bleach,
Coca-Co la, Disney, Dyson , eBay, Google, if you take away Ariel from loyal
H arley- Davidson, Italy, LEGO, Levi's, users, they will be angry. So these
McDonald 's, Manchester United, Nelso n
are measures of an emotional connec-
Mandela, Nike, Ni ntendo, Nokia, Pampers,
Red Cross, Swatch , Toyota, Vespa, Virgin .
tion and an attachment to t he brand
that goes beyond reason."
One thing that our Lovemark list did [Jim S(cngcl, Glob,11 i\larkning Officer, Proc[cr & Cam bid
confirm: Lovemarks are personal. And they
can be anything- a person, a country, a cat,
The next task was to look carefully at
an organ ization. Lovemarks are the charis-
mati c brands that people love and fiercely
protect. For keeps. You know them instantly. Mystery,
"Great brands have always been Sensuality,
Lovemarks. What Lovemarks have
done is give a structure in which & Intimacy,
to think about that. But I think as
and develop our ideas.
long as there have been brands
with emotional attachments and
connections and loyalty, there have We were in for a few surprises.
been Lovemarks.

"One way to think about what a

Lovemark might be is to consider
how a consumer would feel if you
took the brand away. What would
the person's reaction be? In our own
business I know if you take away the

Beautiful Obsess ion 79

Five things
to do tomorrow
 -

ALL AVE
TO D D
 "I'll never understand you
as long as I live!"
Of everything peopl e say in a long-term loving relationship,
that's th e killer. Th e on e that sums it up.

Great relationships thrive on learning, anti c ipation , and surprise.

When you know everything there is to know, there is nothing
left to discover. No more wonder, no more o ppo rtunities .

No mo re relationships.

How
many relationships
come adrift because
the spark goes out? And
how often do experts and
counselors prescribe more
Mystery and surprise to
re-ignite what has
gone flat?

/
82 iovemarbA
After giving a sermon 011 the Creation,
a nzinister was surprised to hear an
elderly parishioller tell him that she
believed that the world rested 011 the
back of a turtle. 1iJling to let her
dowlI lightly, he asked what she
thought held the turtle up. Rather
puzzled, she replied "Allother turtle,
of course. " The millister pushed
harder. "Okay theil, so what holds
that turtle up?" "Allother turtle,"
she said. "Alld dOIl't get your hopes
up, young man. It's turtles, all the
way down. "
W hen we were work ing through the
essentials of a Lovemark, Mys tery was
always at th e rop of the list. This may
seem counterintuitive. Busin ess peop le
often feel that the more numbers they
ca n throw at a brand , the more credibi lity
sticks. This ma y get them to tag along
with the march of scientifi c progress, but
always at the ex pense of M yste ry.
Fortunately, Mys tery is a parad ox . The
more yo u strip away, the more Mysteries
yo u find. Ask neurologists, cosmo logists,
biologists, and all the othe r "-ists." They
will all tell yo u th e same process goes o n
to infini ty-j ust like the turtles.
As a child, I found highly detailed explanations
numbin g. And all of us at one time or
another have fel t the sobering pseudo-reality
of nu mbers dump on what seemed to be an
exciting idea .
Remember the disappointment when yo u
finally persuaded a friend to show yo u how
a magic tr ick was done? On e m inute YO LI
believed yo u had seen the imposs ible. The
next, you were i rritated to find our how
eas ily you had been fooled. What a bum
trade. Magic for trickery.
MOSl [JUSlne~ses c.rE.J
obsessed w th dow'lp ay ny
Mystery. They '1re determl'l8d
to frame thE' world so I! fits
their ow., sy.:>te'll.:> dnd
processes.
All J I-lave ro Do Is Drea m 83
 No wonder they find it tough to communicate with anyo ne, including th eir ow n people. They
pump out specificatio ns, deta ils, and diagrams. D efin e this benefi t, del ineate that target. Write
plans a nd strategies backed up with statistics. Gives me a headache just thinkin g about it. And
it's no t going to wo rk. Ir is nor go ing to work in rh e a irline business, the food business. th e
clea nin g business, or a ny other busin ess. H ow can it? Every major industry playe r now has
exactl y rhe sa me data , rhe sa me resea rch suppliers. the sa me techniques. the same processes,
a nd, in ma ny cases, the same people, who've just changed companies but stayed in the industry.
As Pete Seeger w rOte in his son g: "T he re's a green Oll e a nd a pink one and a blu e o ne and a
yel low one, a nd th ey're all made OU[ of ti cky- tacky and they all look j ust the sa me."

Ac 10'lq as ::)"'0;:) e have 3 ,plYdtlons a'lO ~Ioa s a'ld C!redms,

they w II dlw:1y0 JdV8 tv-y ,tpry Who('ver heard of llYO,18
r r!:l\l rn

Th e great thin g abo U[ M ys tery is that it is beyo nd rati onal ity, beyo nd calculation.

But Myste ry is under pressure evcryvv he re. From th e bureaucrats, the inc re mental ists, rh e
traditionalists, th e we've- never-had- it-so -good brigade, the don't- rock-the- boat crew, and of
course, rhe cul t of rhe Village G reen Preservation Society! And it is erod ing befo re o ur eyes.
Tak ing acti o n o n Mys tery sou nds pa rad oxica l, but that is exactl y what we mu st do. C reatin g
M ys tery is a n an.

l 1 \ ) til r 1 c.: 1 ( 01 hl.f ( ,101 )).1 "h h It II

II I h )01 ill ot ( L \, (. ,
I tn, 1'1 III.: PlIhllH.I\O f"f.,1011 II
" 11 \ I ,1 \ l~ {)IU
If ... It 0 'I HlI (t thlJ:'~' f " " Ill l d

1 h hr' , Ip~ll H.. d c h, III \\. l 11 II~ Olll ,1 hI.. r .. 1r111\ tI ukl' . ItlP,
n r \ tI IIlp I l I , I II~' 'H[ Ih In til 'h.l!.. HulL 'I f ,I I ( loll kd IlIlc
h I II lIll 1\ () 1< r \P( "I..1'"L I t h., J,. Oll ( hi 1<.; l H: Ih lilt' rc 1 I., t [
I ( t 1 l1Hl 1I11 Ir "" ' If hL h. I il 1.1" .II I~ I hl \\ h hL \\orld

II Il Ir pu (ll'."l( I~ 1 t 11.: stlt.. I (. I II ... ,1 lIt.. IUI.:,llkl ,,1

.1 II ,l I ) { \ III hL t HI ~O 4. II, Plll~ III \() I hn I.. lilt 1:'\ 1\ 10 I It

~o II I ,\ \ , h ( "II I) 111111 ,0 \\ Ir'd \111 II.: h.I'i ,I \\,1\ Ill.. II I (If III

hl: l pl:l ll ... 111\1.. th \\orld. 10 III hUlllXplofl OdH. (1I1l f lid I' ,

I I { It I I, I ( IP~ l " \' c rid \1L H.. ( l:l hL 11,\, )'l: It( \\ In L 11 III

I 1,1 " 1 1 If d . . I )111 111 \ , d OOt III I ,

1'1 "

84 ~ovEmark,..
 LI U 111 mod r (,. II I bd L It I ... tht.; Hl (I\e.; ,i(k of
1... ([ (1 ~(Ill\~ Ii.. 111 [ h~t lUll nL.:!) t.;1 ,'" .....

tit 11i.. I ng <inH p 0l I ,J-..c.:rc.: Ih ) tn 11(1

h } rid I 01 mClllir btul nlurtl llli. h lrllltilt

B t 1111'iL )lH,; of hos hi

If you believe in Mystery, clap your hands.

Peter Pan got it right. When Tinkerbell was clocking our because no one believed in her any-
mo re, he asked the children of the world to revive her by clapping . Loudly. It worked. That is
what Mystery needs, a surge of faith in its power.

T he power of Mystery. You know it when yo u feel it. Marilyn Monroe had Mystery.
Still does. Russell C rowe has got it-as a dangerous skinhead in Romper Stomper to
MaxiI1lus to a recl usive mathematical genius.

The cloak of Mystery forces us to find our own meanings, our own sense of
what is important in our lives. And it often does it through a revelation,
a thunderbolt. What the French call a coup de fludre. Everything
changes. This is what made The Lord of the Rings, C hanel No.5,
and Red Bull into Lovemarks for their devo tees.

Mystery opens up emotion. Mystery

adds to the complexity of relation-
ships and experiences. It lies In
the stories, metaphors, and
iconic characters that give
a relationship its texture.
Mystery is a key part
of creating Loyalty
Beyond Reason.
 A visionary at Visionaire
Cecil ia Dean unde rsta nds the el usive charm of Mystery. With her pa rtne rs Steph en Gan and
James Kaliardos, she co-founded in 199 1 the extraordin ary publ icatio n Visiontlire. Issuing out
of New Yo rk three or fo ur tim es a yea r, Visionaire is a testament to th e powe r of Mys tery.

It has an excl usive rep matio n. Complete edito rial integrity. A hi p add ress in SoHo. Wo rld-
bea ting image- makers. An unl ikel y marriage of fashion and co ntempora ry art. All insp ired by
a new theme for each issue: Aipbooks, Lo uis Vuirron satch els, injection -mo lded plasti c cases,
vi ntage novels. Each issue re inve nts the co ncep t of Visioflnire and plays w ith the infi nite
possibil iti es of fo rm and co ntent.

I see copies of Visionaire o n the tables of Saatchi & Saa tchi creatives throughout the world.
Why' Beca use it gives them a heady mix of soph isticatio n and Mys te ry, inspiring ideas wrapped
into a surp risi ng and sensual objecr.

86 iovemarkh
 ~ 1.' t1iinkmysterY" i; "really, ..eally imp'!:~!flf.t~~e invite very
few people into the back offices of V~One of the biggest
'do~nfalls,ofHollywood is that celebrities no longer have any'
mystery. i-It~~g<1il1 your dirry laundry in every tabloid is not what I
call deeply mysterious. Unfortunately most of these celebrities a
just like you and me. Who wants always to be reminded of that?

"Stephen Said, 'Uets /inC! mousand of romance novels ' l\iid diat
reatly started driving the issue. There was this idea that ch book
was going to be different and that the~ all had to be hardcover
novels, hopefully with a Love story. Practically every novel has LOve
in it anyway, so that was not too hard. And then on top of all
these C!ifferent novels, we were gening highly personal work from
these great photographers, so it started coming together like that.
 Mystery's high five
G reat stories ; combining the past , present, and future; tapping into dreams; great myths
and icons; and instilling inspiration .

1. Tell your stories

Stories feed Lovemarks . They are how we explain the world to ourselves and give value to the
things we love. We all know how a great story at the right moment can change our minds or
release that viral "Oh-now-l-gcr-it. "

The Maori people of New Zealand talk about surtounding their great treasures with "in teresting
talk. " This, th ey believe, increases the marla (standing) of the object. I believe this too. I have
seen "interesting talk" wo rk its mag ic time after time.

Just before Buck Shelford , an insp irational leader and captain of New Zealand 's All Blacks
rugby team, led his playe rs OntO the field to defend the nation's pride, his final words drew on
his own Maori heritage. Kia Kaha. Be Strong. For every All Black, no opposition is as
intimidating as their own legacy.

The world of information is a tough place to stimulate any change of emotion or action.
Lovemarks use sco ries to show why information matters.

That word "content" depresses me. No point of view. No energy. A generic label for generic
stuff. Shovel-ware. It's for swo rn-in members of the commodification mafia.

Stories have huge value in business because rhey look in the righr direction. At people. You
cannor tell a sto ry without characte rs and emotion and sensory detail. Even the dumbest
road-crossing-chicken jokes have it. And they capture us faster than the most elaborately
produced annual report.

Q; \'(thy did the chicke n cross the road? A: To prove (0 the possum it could aelUall), be do ne!

88 ~ovemarkA
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but terrific stories
are right up there with them.
So it is no surprise tha t 30-second telev isio n co mme rcials ca n create powerful emot io nal
co nnections like nothing else. They ate the most compelling sellin g tool ever inve nted.

Peopl e who say that telev isio n ads are a thing o f the past just do n't get it. First. they tho ught
that 500 cha nnels would kill o ff TV ads. But no, media buye rs juSt picked the channels peo ple
watc hed. Sa m e sto ry wi th T iVo and an y o the r filtering devices anyone wa nts to put up.

W hat peo ple hate a re bo rin g 3D-second co mmercials. Great 3D-seco nd co mmercials, they love.
T hat's why there a re who le TV shows that play nothing but comm ercials. And why do peo ple
love them ? Because they tell stories . And peo ple love being told a story.

Annette Simmons is an ex pert in storytelling. She touches the central point precisely: "When
you tell a story that touches me, you give me the gift o f human attention- the kind that connects
me to yo u , that to uches my hea rt and m akes me feel more ali ve."

Ad ve rtis ing is part of pop culture, like music, T V, movies, celebrity goss ip. The stuff o f the
context o f our lives . We talk about great ads in ba rs, on buses, at wo rk, w ith our famili es,
aro und the watercooler. We ra rel y debate statistics there.

A great story can never be told too often.

JUSt look at the ones that e ndu re to become myths and legends. W hy' Beca use the re is always
someone new ready to liste n for the first time.

Lexus has always valued sto ries . They m ay no t use them in ad ve rtisin g, but they permeate the
Lexus cultu re, a nd es peciall y the dealerships. And o ften it is the dealers who turn out to be the
heroes of grea t sto ries.

My favo rite Lexus sto ry? Imagi ne you're in yo ur Lexus dri vin g to th e hospital w ith yo ur
p regna nt wi fe. You know yo u are not goin g to make it and just th e n your local Lex us d ealer-
ship co mes into view. Th at is exactl y w hat happe ned to M ark a nd his wife. They pull ed in
a nd with the help o f the Lex us people delive red the baby. But th e suppOrt didn't Sto p th ere .
They loa ned him a nother ca r, cleaned up his, and ge nerall y played proud relati ves . Wh at
cou ld Ma rk a nd h is w ife d o in re turn ' They na med their da ugh te r [sabella Alex us.

All I H ave to Do Is Dream 89

 The James Bo nd franchise. launched in 1962 wit h Dr. No. has also got a lot to tell us about
lo ng-term success in the multi-billion dollar enterta inment industry. The question has gor to
be: W hy is this Englishman who is consrantl y pirted aga inst glo bal crime cza rs still with us'
Many others have tried to topple him. but even the Terminator was no match for the spiffy
British spy.

The reason is simple. The legendary movie

magnate Samuel Goldwyn nailed it:

James Bo nd movies tell a simple sto ry. tel l it

well . and tell it every tim e. Love marks
adapt to new generations of co nsum ers
while being ve ry clear about their story.

Then th ere is th e Spanish com pany.

Camper. They start wit h the sto ry of
Majorca. the island in Spain where ~~:::=:::::-
Ca mper was born in 1976. but they also reach
'-

backwards to abso rb the craft and skill of generatio ns of shoemakers

___________
long before Ca mper itself was established . By artac hing themselves in this way to rrad irio n. the
co mpany very consciously created an overall Ca mper style and philosop hy of life. and a sto ry
of o rigin and trad it ion.

Parado xica lly. this solid found atio n in the past has pushed them forward to make so me of
the hippest shoes around. Shoes where so me styles ha ve a different-sized right foot and left
foot. Shoes that may have messages an d poems inscribed into their soles. Shoes with stories
on the label s.

Lovemarks know how to mine and treasure their sto ries. They know that stories arc told by
people. by individuals. You can't wo rk th em up o n a whiteboard in a meeting room and sti ll
expecr them to co nnec(.

Where do the real stories come from ? From people. From the people who love what you do.
and from the peopl e who may nor love yo u but care enough to res pond.

G reat brands have always been surrounded by great sto ries. Brand s aspiring to be Lovemarks
Illllst deve lop inruiri ve listening ski ll s and ways ro harvest stories of dl eir co nsumer ex periences.

90 iovemarbl.o
2 . Use your past , present, and future

Lovemarks a re like the best fam ili es~tI"ley co mbin e learning from the pas t with the dynami cs
of the present to create great futures. Acknowledging how the past. present, and future are
entwin ed was o ne of th e guiding prin ciples of Walt Disney as he built the Disney Corporation
out of a short cartoo n about a mouse.

"To all that come to this happy

place: Welcome. Disneyland is
you r land. Here age relives fond
memories of the past, and here
youth may savor tbe challenge
and promise of the future.
Disneyland is dedicated to the
ideals, the dreams, and the
hard focts that have created
America... with hope that it
wilL be a source of joy a1ld
inspi1'fltioll to the world. "
1\ kllHlri.tl l<l \\.lit ])i'Il\.T .11 till' g,Hl'~ of
I )j,lll'\-!.Ul..! ill \I\,lhl-im. Cdilumi,,]

W hen yo u experience so methin g you feel might be a Lovemark, ch eck out how it ac knowledges
the past as it heads [0 rhe furure. No connections-no Lovcmark.

I'm not talking about cheap nostalgia, but the unshakeable

conviction that the past shapes the present.

Watching businesses shed their history like so much unwanted slUn makes me sad . What a waste.

All I Have [0 Do Is Dream 91

 Why do great gene rals stud y battles from
ea rlie r tim es? Not to work out troop
d eployment, tha t's for sure. They are
looking for evidence of how peop le react
[Q extreme situat ion s. How they react

emotion all y. A nd how t hey ca n use

th ese insights.

It is said that there are 364 days to practice ...

and one St. Patrick's Day. This is the Irish
spirit tha t has inspired Cuillness to become
a wo rld-fa mous Lovemark. Fueled by the
renaissance of Irish culture since the 1980s,
the G uinness brand has wasted no time in
staking its claim to the Irish past , present,
and future everywhere. Es peciall y in Jim
O ' Mahony and Stan O ' Keefe's pub,
Warners, in Cathedral Square in
C hristchurc h, New Zealand.

Th e G uinness Sto rehouse visitor center in

Dublin transfo rmed the old St. James' Gate
Brewery into the "Home, H eart, and Soul
of G uinness Beer. " Set to become a majo r
tourist attraction , the Srorehouse dee ply
connects the Guinness brand with Irish
natio nal history.
T he ge nius of the Gu inness brand is that it
doesn't on ly connect with people in places
Then, when you add a
to w hi ch the Irish have emigrated. Guin ness
powerfully emotional beer was nrst exported to Africa in 1827,
link to the 3,000 or so and from this fo undation an extraordinary
trad ition has grown up. The G uinness bra nd
Irish pubs around the in Africa speaks of the future as well as the
world selling the Irish pas t. T he luck of the Irish indeed.
dream, you have what
Some co mpanies make the most of their
comes close to a heri tage and still can draw it brilliantly into
religious movement. th e present. Take th e German automobi le

92 ~ovEmarkA
Audi. T he class ic logo embodies th e fa ct that
irs past, present, and future are in extri cably
entw in ed. T he fOllr sil ve r rin gs represent th e
four companies (Wa nderer, D KW, H o rch ,
and Aud i) th at ca m e rogether in 1932 ro
fo rm the Auro Union th at became Audi.
How th en could they res ist becoming th e
official car of th e Lord of the Rings trilogy'
Lovemarks know that th eir emotio nal legacy
can in spi re pass io n For current proj ects a nd
inspire Loyalty Beyo nd Reason. Look at
C heerios, a g reat Alll cri can Love mark. O ve r
the yea rs, our client Ge neral M ills has under-
stood that, ro milli o ns of Ameri ca n fa milies,
C heeri os is mo rc th an JUSt a breakfas t cerea l.
For instance, it can be a targe t. SOlll e little
boys are taught ro aim with [he help of a
C heeri o rin g in the bo tto m of th e potty'
Th e creation of a Lovem ark is cumulati ve.
[f YOLI don't understand what you mea n ro
the gra ndparents, it's rough to und erstand
what the nex t ge neration needs. T his is why
a Lovemark never freezes in pl ace. If yo u
can't res pond , there is no way yo u ca n be
a Lovem ark.
If you want to see the past,
present, and future working
brilliantly together, look to sport.
W hen I was working o n the book Peak
Performance with m y colleag ues Cli ve G ilson ,
M ike Pratt, and Ed Wey mes from Wai ka ro
Ma nage m ent School, we found that successful
teams al ways lionize th eir past. T he N ew
Zealand All Blacks are my own favorite team ,
m y pe rsonal Love mark. Th ey a re o ne o f
the most successful team s in th e hisrory of
sport. T he All Blacks have a saying that
slims it up: " Preserving your body never
enters your m ind. Preserving your history
never leaves it. "
3. Tap into dreams
Dream s create ac tion and actio n inspires
dreams. N ow that's what [ call a virtuous
cycle' It all com es down ro this. If we know
what consume rs dream , it can only be
because we are trusted and loved.
Brands wasted years fixating
on information, boring
people rigid with stuff they
didn't want to know.
Lovemarks know that th e people who love
th em are pass ion ate, em o tional, a nd ofte n
irratio nal human beings . W hat th ey are not
are sta tistics o r bullet points in the findin gs
of som e nerd y focus g roup.
It's all about listenin g. N ot just keepin g
your mouth closed between each o f yo ur
brilliant statem e nts, but reall y li stenin g.
Tapping inro drea ms is a powe rful way of
showing peo ple th at we understand th eir
d es ires and can transform th em into delig ht.
The relationship berween brands and con -
sumers has bee n irrevoca bly changed. T h e
change is a big on e. And so are the rewards.
All I Have to Do Is Dream 93
 Maurice Levy, C hairman of Publicis G roupe, sums it up:
"The idea of moving from a brand to a Lovemark means, for me, changing the
relationship between the consumer and the brand. This change is from a rational
decision to buy a brand to an irrational, passionate decision to be loyal to that
brand. And you will find that, as the brand becomes a Lovemark, it will be for-
given for its mistakes. Lack of innovation, perhaps not always the best timing or
the best price. In a Lovemark the bond between the brand and the consumer is
very strong. It has moved from a rational 'I'm buying this because it has me
getting this or that' to 'I'm buying this because I really love it.' It is adding to
something that we call in France les gratifications psychologiques. It's giving you
something that we callies supplements d 'dme-supplementing the soul. Now you
can build loyalty with the consumer, which goes far beyond what you can get by
being a brand, or a mega-brand. It is a step which is fantastic to take."

And then there are the dreams that inspire businesses. The founding vision of Microsoft was
a great o ne:

A computer on every desk and in every home .

Of course, around the late 1990s, their dream had been pretty well realized, so they began
looking around for something fresh and new. The proles replaced the visionary. T hey decided on :

Empower people through great software-any

time, any place, and on any device.
Gee, that's catchy! Back to the drawing board, guys.
But how about this for an emotional and
realizable dream'

"I believe this nation should commit

itself to achieving the goal, before this
decade is out, of landing a man on
the Moon and returning him safely
to the Earth."
[Presiden t Joh n E Ke nnedy. , pcct'h to U.S. Congres~, i\by 21. 1961]

Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 , Jul y 20, 1969:

Mission accomplished.

94 20vEmark,.,
One of the least understood business secrets of our time has to be Uncle Walt's:

"If you can dream it, you can do it."

The class ic drea m-merchants are Harley-Davidson. They revived their fortunes on the brilliant
insight that the middl e-aged still want to rock and roll.

They dream that one day they too will "put the map In the
trash and ride."
No matter that you are riding to the rul es of the road on Interstate highways, the Harley
drea m is as real as the roar. Freedom and the spirit of adventure rul e.

Anita Roddi ck understood the power of dreams. It was her dreams that powered th e pass ions
of Th e Body Shop. From one tin y Outler in Brighton , England in 1976, The Body Shop has
grown ro more than 1,900 srores in almost 50 countries.

Anita Roddick's personal philosophy started a business empire fi xed on corporate social
respo nsibility. The Body Shop taps into the dreams of th eir consumers for a better world .
The dream of mys terious and exotic ingredients-jojoba oil, bergamor, and cal endula. And the
Roddick dreams survived even after sh e stepped down as CEO. As one of The Body Shop ads
so as tutely stared:

All J Have to Do Is Dream 95

 4. Nurture your myths and icons
Nothing cuts through everyd ay clutter better than m yths and icon s. Why? Because they
are memorabl e and memory is the we llspring of the h ea rt. M any grea t Lovema rks a re also
g reat Icon s.

The Sydney Opera House

Desi gned by the grea t Dane, jmn Utzon, its swooping sa ils defi ne
Austral ian confidence and Sydn ey's emotional co nnection with rhe
ocean. Th e inspi ra tion came out of di viding a small wooden sphere
like an orange. Th e original model is in the collection of the
Museum of Modern Art (an o ther icon) in New York.

Nike's Swoosh
A big tick for one of the most stunning branding campaigns of the
20th century. N ike's Swoosh Design trade mark was designed by
Ca ro lyn Davidson in res ponse to Philip Kni ght's brief that it suggest
"movem ent. " Sure moved a lot of sports gear and changed the face
of logo des ign. Across th e Internet , ro gue webs ites plot th e
"Swoos hifi cation" of the world.

In times of crisis and danger the cross and c rescent ico ns of rhe
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movem ent seize attentio n
and emotion. Th ey are symbol s of real sa nc tuary and rea l aid.
Founded in 1863, the Movement has made its ico ns li ve in th e
simplest possible way.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent

keep the promise they have made to alleviate
human suffering wherever it may be found .
The cross and the crescent give shape to
that inspiring goal.
96 iovemarkJ..
Hello Kitty
Born out of the Lovemarks idea that "a small gift can bring a big
smile to a child ," the famous Japanese cat with no mouth is justly
loved by chi ldren- and teens-across the world .

Nelson Mandela
A man who has become a metaphor for doing what's right, and
holding to you r principles.

Starbucks
The medallion logo that signals the smell of fresh coffee around the
world. How cool of this Seattle-based business to name themselves
after a mythic character from the classic novel Moby Dick.

Smiley face
I often use this iconic image. Fro m short-hand squ iggles on the
bottom of notes to the su nn y yellow badge, the sm il ey face is a
simp le ray of sunshine.

All I Have to Do Is Dream 97

 C reating iconi c characters fo r M&M's was Like Lovemarks, icons too
a grea t idea. It propelled them past the
found ers Mr. Mars and Mr. Murrie to icon
must respond to the hopes,
heaven. And when the colors Red and Yellow fears, and needs of new
appoi nted themselves Spokescandies for th e generations.
new millenn ium, the Love quotient went
through the roof.
The powe r of m any icons co mes from
the touch of the person w ho c reated
them . 1 ha ve hu ge admiration for
M&M's work as icons not only
professional d esigners, but sometimes
because of their compelling th e professional process can blum
graphic character, but also passio n. A great ico n is direct. It is a
response (0 a need rather than a step in
because of their feisty attitude corpo rate d evelopm en t.
and style. Their humor and
My pick for a fu ture global Lovemark'
irreverence. The candies with Toyota's ma rvellous ca r for the 2 1st
the endearing self-centeredness. cent ury, the Prius.
Big kids.
Love mark relat ionships are demanding ones.
It's not enough to get it, and then forget it.
Ico ns need Love (00. Fam iliarity can eas ily
breed indifference. Or worse.

98 iOYEmarb,
 rinp.
the flame, and the medals as wdI as
brands can be Lovanarb. the sensua1 excitement of the opening events
out with some of the greatest and competitions, the Intimacy of personal
. . world when I was achievement, and the passion of thousands of
researching the book athletes competing-the Olympics is a textbook
P~ak Pnformanct with Lovemark. Any business that aspires to become
my colleagues. a Lovemark should have at least one day-long
workshop a year developing insights from this
Our question mighty sporting event.
was, "How do
elite organizations Our research into team s that people are
sustain Peak passio nate about- the Australian cricket team ,
Performance?" We Fe Bayern Munich, the New York Yankees-
might also have revealed the sam e inspirational spiri t that
asked, ''And why typ ifies great Lovemarks.
are these organizations
so often Lovemarks?" As we wtote in Peak Performance: "They
experience pass io n, elation , and heartache,
Do yo u want to see Love in and they secure meaning and purpose from
ac tio n? Go to a local game and their commjonenr to their chosen team and
watch the faces of the fans when sports code. "

All I Have [0 Do Is Dream 99

 "The reign of the poetical has s~ ."

100 IOVEmar~
 ~ \f'.
I

~\ \~ )~~~t .
,
Five things
to do tomorrow
When it co mes to the senses, there is one day I will neve r fo rget. M y first visit to th e Middle
East in 1972 . Beirut. The dazzling light a nd in credible textures, the chaos of traffi c and peo pl e,
the brilli ant colo rs a nd the dark, ripe smells of a street ma rket culture. Yo u could tas te th e a ir.

After a coupl e of days there I was exhausted by the strange richness o f it all. As someo ne who
cha mpioned c ha nge, I still found myself ove rwhelm ed. Like so m a ny b efore me, I was
experiencing c ulture shock. The cure? Ta ke time out. Let your senses recove r. Calm dow n.
Ass imilate. And then get back into it' Later, when I found out that, in English , the word fo r
th e "senses" comes fro m the Latin sentire, "to fee!," it made perfect sense!

The senses are the fast track to human emotions,

Direct, provoca ti ve, im mediate. To ugh to fool. Even to ugher to override. T he senses speak
to the mind in the la nguage of emotio ns, not words. Emotions alert us to how impo rtant th e
findings of o ur senses are, not o nl y (0 our well-being, but indeed ( 0 our ve ry survival.

All o f our knowledge co mes to us thtough the senses, but they are far more than sophisti cated
gathe rers o f inform atio n. The senses interpret a nd prioritize. W he n we feel emotion all y
connected , we say, "That makes sense."

Lovemarks a re created by emo tional connections w ith consum ers in ways that go beyond
rational arguments and benefi ts . We need to learn the language o f th e senses to make this
happen. But this is to ugher than simply doin g more-adding fragrance, taste, texture. Pumping
up the volume.

In the sensual world , faster, brighter, louder hit the wall real qui ck. People turn off a nd yo u
lose them . Love ma rks need Sensuality, but they need it with a hum an touch.

Why do sensualists get such a bad rap?

We should be co mbing the world fo r them.

The H uman 'Touch 105

 The race to embrace
the senses
O ver the last 20 years, I have watched science and technology
accelerate their mas tery of the senses . High-tech instruments
designed to measure minute effects. Hundreds of publications,
patents, a nd trademarks.

W hat is dri ving this frenzy of acti vity? The understanding

o f how impo rtant the senses are to human decision -
makin g an d to persuasio n. T he misunderstanding of how
this relationship wo rks. But the appro ac hes to date have
been [00 narrow, ro o analytical, too rati onal , and (00

damn me tri c.

Lovemarks are the missing link .

There have been huge in ves tments into sensual innovation
over the last few decades . The Colonel's secret recipe, the
shape of the Coca-Cola bottl e, the scent of a thousand
perfum es, ho me sound-systems to die for, fabrics that mimic
every possible natural surface. If you can sense it, they are
getting cl ose to being able to make it.

The Economist tells us that th e Ilavor and fra gran ce

in d ustri es have global sales acco untin g fo r more th an
a third of the $35-billion-a-year food ingredi ents market.
A nd thi s is just the start. The pro mi se of biotechnology
is virtually untapped.

Jr's a huge market, but still seriously lacking in two areas .

Im aginatio n and ideas. W hen I look at what is happenin g
in th e Aavor, food , and fragrance industries aro und the
wo rld , l find them trapped in a race down the road to
commodificatio n. They are obsessed by all the sruff that
sho uld be treated as tabl estakes : co nsistency, ease of
productio n, efficiency. They push deeply into ingredients,
shapes, and surfaces, but always to control their power, no t
unleash them.

106 iovemarkA.
These indllstries now need to connect with what people feel and want,
not simply with what can be delivered. The only breakthroughs will
on ly come with and/and. Taste and textllre. Sight and sou nd. Taste and
touch . Smell and taste.

Our senses work together, ard whe'l they

are stimulated at the same time, the results
are unforgettable Ask anyone wro has ~npd
the dreaded ASian frUit, durian. Loot<.s Ike
an aggressive mango. Smells like a sew' .

For those who can get past the smell , the taste is supposed to be out of
this wo rld. But who ca n get close enough to prove it'

And it is where the senses wo rk together that you find that indefi nable
s ixth sense we ca ll intuition. Impossible to measure, it gets di scounted
from every business equa tion. Bur when yo ur focus is connectin g w ith
consumers, intuition matters.

Th e Human TOLl ch 107

 Making sense of the senses
Sight, heating, smell, touch, taste. We're all gifted with a wide
array of senses. Conventionally, we have categorized them into
the Big Fi ve.

But don't forget our other vital senses, co nstantl y mo nitoring

our body: Are we warm or cold ? Upright. .. or nor? Getting
enough oxygen' Putting one foot in front of the other? Are
we walking'

The human senses are extraordinari ly refin ed. Apparently

we notice if synchroni zation of the senses is off by more
than 50 mi croseco nds!

It seems strange that as our li ves and experi ences have become
more complex, we have tended to dow nplay our senses rather
than pay more attention to their guidance. Yet it is sti ll our
senses that kick us into action. The smell of smoke putS us on
full alert. Fight or fli ght? And the senses can also calm and
soothe us. Stroking the smooth skin of a baby. Breathing in a
salt-flavo red breeze.

The range of our senses is extraordinary. Thank evolutio n

once again. The world co nstantl y cha nges . Who won the
evo lution game? Hands up. Answer: the ones who respo nded
fastest to the widest range of stimulation and information .
And they won hands down.

The senses alert us, enflame us, warn

us as well as fill our hearts with joy.
They have protected and enriched us
throughout our evolutionary story.
Without Sensuality our existence wou ld become unbearably
bland and ultimately, impossible.

108 ~o V mar~h
, "
Crayol~, it tur~t o,\t;' are sensualists after my And CraJ>ola has somecimes .lidw~d too, j
0 ,.:') \ heart. T~eir passion is to combine color, low to the spirit o~ tbe time. Like ~hen
smell, ')lid the feel of die crayons on the page they replaced the memorable "Blesh'~
into an 'unforgettable ~ensual experience. with the bland- ~ Peath." Or )'dien they
Their ~u' cess h is bee ' so great that the decided t6 '; name Indian Red, and went
Smidisonianlnstituti\'ln ;rrWashington"rf.c. , /. t~ consumers for suggestiJ ns. Great idea,
told their story:' .' ' . but sadly they ch6se "Chestnut" ahead
,I . , ' ,I /' , , /- ~ 't h '4 I th .
/ /,.!' ~( I' ,. 0 e two top runners-up, e tntrtgumg
The' sme of Crayola'~rayons #'es manyaf "" ':aaseball Mitt Brown" ~d the fantastic
us on a:itQqstop t6p back to childhood. Who ."The Crjly.,"n Formerly Knowii' As
(apart from y~e 'U)llversitY rese~che!s) ' , Jndi~.Red."
knows that,the sme~l,df crayons rank at ~. ~ -: .
d umber 18 J mong the 20 most re~~gnizab!~ , .14 2003, e~la was ad on the retirement
smells in the U ired States- with coffee and' r traily li~kin the public to "save jloshade."

peanut bur'ter coming in at n;st ""d second? " 9i eAV~~ oryJ/ie block, one to be ,saved.
, "' " .4 " /'! nal onsumer J0 d'1 on
InsptratIo
Over thel~t 100 {ears, m.ore than 60'9. ' . 'r y.iwilldare.com exptaine4: ".
shades of.<::raY,9la crayon~ have been pr (luced.,. '"
Time for. focus: '14 Ju.n'e J 990, the owners 'of "The five colors up for ousting a~e Burn t
Crayola, Binp' Yr & Smith, decided w .retire ' "" '5ienna/ Bli~d Blue, Mt}lberry, Teal Blue,
sOl1)e oftli.e.older colorsful repla! .,.them and Magic)l.int. Yes, Magic Mint-what in
with brighter, slfar~e'i'one . 'fhis was 'a ~ ~ helI color is. Magic.Mint? And really,
sensible, .rational dec'ision res~ondib.g to the blizzards aren't blue, so that should auto-
changing environme our kids live ilf. TV ,.,mati cally disqualifY Blizzard Blue from
shows, clothing, toys-vibrant color showcases staying. What will happen (0 scenes of
every one.~ , autumn days if Burnt Sienna is ousted?
I ,I " t" What about hors; s? Brown-haired people?
"Not so fast, " said a band' of,"crayo)a ns. . Bridges, log 'cabins, amber waves of grain?
Calling themselves RUMPS (tlie ~w Umber ' None of'these will be possible without
and Maize Preservation SO),iety, after two , Burnt Sienna, Raw will not do.
trashed tints) , they picketed Crayola HQ. Brown is too
RUMPS was joined by another angry group: it. We need B~rnt
CRAYON (Committee to Re-establish All I beg of you- help
Your Old Norms). Log on to Crav()la"col
Burnt Sienna.
Knowing Loyalty Beyond Reason when they
saw it, Crayola quickly backed down and Thank you, Jodi.
re-released the old colors in a special (feel free to pass this on)"
co mmemo rati ve colleC[io n!
 The senses of the world
Our senses remind us who we are-whar feels safe and fam iliar. The textu re of both homi ny
grits and Molokhiyya, the Arab soup, a re an offense to many palettes. The Japanese fi nd the
extravagant arm gestures of Europeans alarming. Sp ices that leave serio us burns o n some lips
bring on ly a mi ld sweat to a Mumbai curry aficio nado. A quick sea rch of Google shows yo u
that the Inuit apparently have distinct wo rds for many different types of snow that would all
look the same to me.

110 iovEmarb
 Richard Branson has got to be one of the great sensualists of o ur time.

The only big place I buy music from is Virgin. (The best "s mall" place is Hea r, in
Seattle-try it.) With their in-store headset stations, Virgin was the first to let me listen
to the music I wanted to hear, not th e music so me punk happell ed to be playing.

Virgin Atlantic is a triumph of the senses. From the music room ill the Upper-Class lo unge to
the totally cool recl ining seats in the cabi n. I have seen grown adults spend 20 minutes playing
around with rhe sears, raising and lowering the plush red recliners. And then there are the
massages, the facials, the bar.

And as for ill-Aight shoppin g, Virgin goes past rh e spirits, cigs, and perfume formula with
a ve ry savvy collectio n of stuff And how do they gro up them ' Rig ht, by the senses.

On a clear day you can see fo rever.

Sight is a wonder. Our eyes absorb an incred ibl e amount of info rmation , and they do it fast.
Little wo nder thar process ing all this informatio n takes up so mething like two-thirds of o ur
cereb ral co rrex.

The fact is that humans think in images, no r wo rds. Try sayi ng "T IGER" to a fr iend and
ask her what she saw in her mind 's eye. It won't be the letters
T-I-G-E-R, [ can tell yo u that.

No, she will have seen an image of

orange and b lack stripes. T hat is why all
memory CO ll rses use images
and visual sto ries to help
people remember stu ff.
Putumayo World Music also has a distin cti ve
visual style. The bold g raphi cs on all o f their
C D covers are created by N icola H eindl. In
her work, the traditio nal and the contemporary
meet, just as they do in Purumayo's music.
Da n Storper explains:

"1 bought a greeting card that Nicola

had designed when 1 was in England
12 years ago. By coincidence, a friend
of hers, Susan Brynner, was the
display director for our retail stores,
and she noticed the card on my
bulletin board. She mentioned that
Nicola was coming over from London
and asked if I'd like to meet her. 1 was
very interested, particularly because
I'd already decided to start a CD
series and thought her style would
work well. Nicola agreed to create
the first covers, and we've developed
a long-term exclusive agreement for
commercial products since then. We
are currently planning a series of
products utilizing her artwork,
including culturally-themed note cards,
travel journals, calendars, and books."

T he H uma n Touch I 13
 u .
ntverse?',

In 2002, a couple of astronomers from Johns Hopkins University announced a mass ive turn-
arou nd. The universe, they announced, was nOt pale turquoise, as they had previously stated .
The universe was beige. Karl Glazebrook and Ivan Baldry had been tripped up by a bug in
their software, and Karl confessed all. "This is embarrassing but this is science. We are nOt like
politicians. If we make mistakes we admit them. That's how science works. "

They may be scientists, but these guys know the power of a good name. They figured "beige"
was not going to do it and turned to their colleagues.

The top ten suggestions from other Johns Hopkins astronomers were:

Cappuccino Cosmico, Cosmic Cream, Astronomer Green,

Astronomical Almond, Skyvory, Univeige, Cosmic Latt8, Big-Bang
Buff/Blush/Beige, Cosmic Khaki, Primordial Clam Chowder.
Ground control
Color is a billion-dollar business, and Pantone is out front
controlling it. I get to see a lot of designers, and they all share one rool.
The Pan tone color range. Although Pantone has now moved over to on-line
color matching, th e unmistakable bulky swatches are still to be found in shelves, on
desks, and next to screens all over the world.

Pan tone writes the new language of co lor. Thousands of colors, sorted, graded, and named.
Thousands of colo rs matched around the globe.

I understand co nsistency and clari ty is crucial for manufacturers, but the level of control
bothers me. r guess as the range gets more and more minutely differentiated, it beco mes
un wieldy an d we are kind of back to where we started.

Pan to ne, like th e folks at th e United States- based Color Marketing Group, are also into th e
color predi ction business.

W hen I addressed a Co lor Marketing Group co nference, I learn ed that one of the putposes of
the Confe rence was to predict the future hot colo rs.

The extended co ncept-to-des ign-to-manufacturing cycle for many manufacturers demands that
color choices may have to be made up to three years ahead of marketing.

Who wants to be the sucker who launches the orange car In

a world where blue stripes rule?

W hat I liked abo ut their process was its weight on gut feeling and intuition. Much of the hard
wo rk was done by groups of people gett ing together and shating experiences.

The Human Touch 115

IIG iOYEmarkA.
Sounds good to me
Maybe it all started wit h C hampag ne, but there is something abo ut drinks and sound that
makes you r mou th water. A water fountain splashing, the coffeemaker bubbling.

Fabio Ferna ndes and his F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi team in Brazil sold a bee r for a client on a
sim ple sound- the "tssss" of a cap co ming off a bottle. Beer drinkers simply mo uthed "tssss" to
be served a chilled Brahma in any bar.

Of cou rse C hampagne producers have known about this connection for centuri es.

The pop of a Champagne cork is one of the most evocative

sounds in the Western world.
Yes, we all know it's not supposed to pop, but who can give up that extravagance and the anticipation'

I love music. No big surprise th ere. I make p resentation s all around the world , and to get the
ideas Aowing I use a song title or lyri c as my inspiration .

M usic has become the so undtrack of o ur lives. We attach songs to special moments and are
Aooded wit h memories when the right tune comes waftin g by. And it's not just the music that
plays this powerfu l role. Th e lyrics too give us phrases that can set our course in life, rally
arm ies, bind lovers eve n closer together.

M usic is important to us because it can set moods and trigger powerful emotions. We have
always know n this anecdotally, but we also know that anecdote is like a red Aag to science. And
so, in 1995, Jaak Panksepp, an intrep id neuroscientist from Bowling G reen State Uni ve rsity in
Oh io, set our to put th e anecdotes to the test. H e asked several hundred yo ung men and
women why music was important to them.

Th e Human Touch 1 17
 Emotion turned out not only to be an answer, it was
pretty much the answer.

Around 70 percent of both sexes said that music was important to them beca use " it elicits
emotions and feeling. " The next choice. a very distant seco nd, was music's ability [0
"alleviate boredom. "

For Lovemarks, the well-worn phrases-the voice of the product, the voice of the consumer,
the voice of our time-are to be taken literally. Hearing and speaking are two of the most
powerful forces in creating deep emotional connections with anyo ne. And yo u need them both.
To speak without listening is to badger and hector. To listen and not speak is to lose yo ur
personality. and rhe conversation peters out.

Brands are already into so und- and I'm not just talkin g full-production TV commercials. Retail
environments, phone messages, brand signatures, radio, and the Intern et. At Toyota they are
even interested in the silences!

"With the Prius we talk about quietness. Now noise can be measured
by figures, but there is also a quietness that you feel with your body.
for instance, with regard to the acceleration, the Prius is
,cry different from other ca". You can time the
speed of acceleration with a stopwatch, but
the actual speed and the body's perception
of it are very different. Of course, we do
measure these things, and we set some
target figures. But just because we get
the target figure we are after, it doesn't
mean it's okay. Figures are figures. We
need to be able tope! the quietness or teel
good about the acceleration as we actually
experience it in the car. I think these things are very important."
\1 III II , I. " 'I, or ( "II" I 111

l i S iOYEmark",
My New York apartment is a sensual haven.
In New Zealand, my family and J live in
a beautiful piece of native bush, with
tropical palms and 150-year-old kauri trees.
So our house there conneCtS directly to
the landscape.
In New York- much as I love the place-the
idea was to djsconnect. Here, I live in the
hurly-burly, working with
7,000 other souls worldwide
in a whirlwind of emotional
tension. I wanted to go back
to a home that would be
secure and warming, calming
and relaxing- to an article of
faith. I wanted to open the
door into something
uncomplicated. I wanted the
feeling of being embraced.
Architect Sam Trimble
responded to my brief with
empathy and intelligence:
"I went to geology texts and an
encyclopedia to find metaphors for
how to define the space physically
and conceptually. In my research,
1 learned about tectonic caves-
natural caverns that look ordered and
structured-and I decided to create a
space that seemed hollowed out,
as though carved from solid rock. "
Sam sourced a Portuguese limestone to
transform the apartment into a cave. Its
surface is variegated, hewn by its ancient
geological history of shells
and liquid Rows. When I
walk about in my bare feet,
it is quiet and tactile. It
caresses my soles!
Other natural materials were
used throughout. The stone
of the walls and Roors is
relieved by the softness of
wood, and both are
illuminated by plays of light
and shadow.
Sam created such a beautiful,
sensuous space that I didn't
even need art on the walls.
I just walk in, and the space, its colors and
surfaces, wrap and quiet me. The tranquillity
liberates me. I'm refreshed here. Though I'm
far away ftom New Zealand, I feel at home.
The Human Touch 11 9
 Picking up the scent
The huma n senses o f smell and taste a re
intertwined so tighdy it is hard to experience
on e without the oth er. Bonded together
th ey speak more directly than the resr to
o ur emotio ns, Qur memories and our
dreams. Smell dominates taste. Whil e
humans have fo ur genes for vision , th ere
are over 1,000 allocated (0 smell.
With a round 4 00 ,000 recogni zable odors
in the world , we have access (0 an incredible
storehouse of potenti al conn ections.
They say that smell is almost
exclusively stored in the
long-term memory. Why else
was Marcel Proust's most
famous memory-jog the
taste of a small cake, not its
shape or name?
1 remembe r a friend telling me a great story
about the power of smell. She'd been trying
(0 sell her house with no luck for a coupl e of
months. When she changed agents, the n ew
one suggested baking cookies in the oven jusr
before people came (0 look over the house.
The effect was imm ediate. The firsr peopl e
(0 visit sign ed up.
Th e associati o n of rhe warm , cozy scent
o f cookies in [he ove n turned the hOllse into
a hom e.
120 RovemarkA
"r f you were to say, ' Name a brand
that has managed to get big fast,
make quality products, treat its
people very well and respectfully,
and understand the differences in
economies and tastes in other parts
of the world, while continuing to
grow,' one brand that comes to my
mind is Starbucks. Part of what's
interesting about Starbucks is the
extent to which they define what
they're producing not as a cup of
coffee, but rather a wonderful
experience, a break, a chance for
some community and relationship-
bui lding. Their stores create this
third space for people in the middle
of the rush and crush of everyday life.
They're not selling coffee, and they
know it. They're selling something
much more emotional. I was joking
to somebody that in the old days
you'd take your coffee to the office.
Now with Wi-Fi at Starbucks, you
take your office to the coffee. That's
an 31nazing success."
Whether Starbucks plays mostl y on taste or smell is up for debate. This extraordinary business
has built a ve ritable empire on the experience of a hard brown bean. By making sure that the
aroma of coffee infused their cafes, Srarbucks created a distinctive place (hat their consumers
loved to be in. And everyo ne else has noticed.

The retail world is being transformed as the potential of the

senses is realized.

We are enterin g the sampl ers' paradise. The favorite hang-o ut of the sensualist. Soaps, baked
goods, and paints are allowed to smell exactly as they are. Suddenly it is okay for a fi sh market
to smell like ... a fis h market.

As far as taste goes, it is now hard to believe that the much-loved Japanese snack, sushi , was
o nce thought of in the West as cold, wet fish wrapped in seaweed. The Lovemark lesso n' Don't
knock tastes beca use yo u don't like th em th e first time round. Red Bull doesn't appeal to me,
but millions of people love it.

They don't call F 1 fans 'petrol-heads' for nothing. What a sensual extravaganza Formula One
racing has beco me! High-octane fumes, the vibration of engines, the acrid smell of burning
rubber. Overpowering. rut one percent of that energy into any other business and yo u've got a
sensation on yo ur hands. No wo nder sensation and Sensuality are members of the same fam il y.

Everyone of us has a personal odor that's as distinctive as a fingerprint. Why then ha ve

businesses been so shy about using this most sensual of the senses?

Why do so few corporations have their own scent?

My thought is that smell is so direct, so personal, and so specific, that people back off messillg
with it. This is why yo u break open the game if yo u get it ri ght.

The H uman Tou ch 121

 My heart in my mouth
In the past decade we have learned more about the five bas ic taste qualities-sour, sweet, sal ry,
bitter, and the recenrly described uma mi*-than we did in the previous 2,000 years.

We are at the dawning of a taste revolution .

The exp lo ration of taste (a nd sm ell as the larger part of it) is now a huge part of Resea rch
and Development. The hitch is that, o f a ll the senses, taste remains the most d ifficult to
meas ure. It is dee ply subjective. It's tough to work out the eleme nts of a Aavor wh ere the
quantities are so minute.

Science's solution? Taste scientists roam the globe searching for new tastes and novel ingred ients.
They hullt th em , locate them , trap them , and then they take th eir treasures home to a nalyze
and recreate them in the laboratory.

And yet th e bigges t challenge remains. How can yo u predi ct what people will like? Try going
"out" from human emotion rath er than " in" from chemi stry. Taste a nd smell are huge
opportunities in the creation of Lovemarks. Both are pretty well limi ted to the food and
fragrance industries today.

To think to yo lltself:

"What is the taste of that car?" or

"How does this DVD player smell?" seem s silly.

Time to get over that res ponse. Expand in g th e senses into organizations, in to product
develo pme nt, into co nsume r relationships can be a fantastic inspirati o n and a pote ntial
ga me- breaker.

'Th e wo rd umami is derived from IImai, [he Japanese word for "delicious." More elusive than th e Big Four, it is often described as
"mea ty" or "brOlhy."

122 ~oyemar~h
My favorite exa mpl e is Apple's wonderful campaign for the iMac. They took taste out of the
mouth and into the hea rt with their iMac advertisements. They made their computers in shades
of strawberry, grape, and blueberry. And the message? YUM!

Pure Lovemark thinking. Apple customers are fa mously Loyal Beyond Reaso n. They really do
think th eir computers are good enough to eat.

At Saatchi & Saatchi , we are using Lovemarks to focus on Sensuality. Take a ca mpaign we did
for Procter & Gam ble and their anti-dandruff shampoo Head & Shoulders. In bus shelters,
we fea tured an image of a yo ung woman with (h e wind in he r hair. Peopl e were invited [Q

press a burran [Q act ivate a puff of c itric-scented mist.

The memory of this scent and its association with a fresh, free
spirit is what endures .

The Hum an TOlLch 123

 /
That magic touch /

Fact: The skin is the largest o rgan

in the body. Fact: The human skin
has a special network of nerves.
Fact: Our fingertips , tongue, and
lips have the mOSt nerve endings .

So where do we go
from there?
With our fingertips we can instantaneously
identifY smoorh, rough , hard , soft, wet, dry,
hot, and cold through tighrly packed nerve
endings. Put that sensitivity together with
muscles and joints that tell us how much
force we are applyi ng or is pressed against us,
and we can get intense sensatio ns from just
abo ut anything we co me in co ntact with.
No wonder that when things are going well
we talk about !feting good.
There are some places that do touch so wel l
they become inspirations for the rest of us.
Italy has got to be top of the list. Arrive at
an Italian ai rport and yo u know yo u're deep
in the land of the em brace. There have
been serious academic studies of whether
Italians touch more than everyone else. T he
co nclusion ' They do. Italians were never
ta ught "don't to uch! " and their superbl y
tactile design heritage sp rings straight from
these sensitive hands .
That's the way it goes with touch. Even when
everyone is wrong, eve ryo ne is also right.
Co nsider th e Indian parable abo ut th e six
blind men and the elephant.
The first blind man reached out and
touched the side of the huge animal.
"The elephant, " he said, "is nothing
but a wall. " The second man felt the
elephant's trunk. "The elephant, " he
concluded, "is most likely related to
the snake family. " The third blind
man, chancing on the tusk, declared
the elephant to be sharp and deadly
like a spear. As he grabbed hold of the
elephant's tail, the fourth blind man
was convinced the elephant was like
a piece of rope. The fifth man, feeling
the ear, declared the elephant to be
like a fon. As he put his arms around
the elephant's massive legs, the last
blind man scoffed at the others. "It is
obvious," he said. "The elephant is
exactly like a tree. "

124 ~ovemarkA
Why are most of the tex tures in cars so similar? Shut your eyes. Are the re any d istinctive clues
to the brand ? Occasionally there might be a how-boring-is-that leather/wood mix or (in the
cheaper models) a don't-worry-about-me-I'm-just-the-driver vinyl/ plasti c combo.

" The feel of a car often comes down to the small things, like the feel when you actually
touch the material, leather, or wood. This is a new kind of thinking, thinking of how things
feel to the consumer. To make my decisions, I must always ride in the car. There are many
things that you cannot find from data that you discover when you ride in a car. There is
nothing, no machine, that can replace the human body. It is the best sensor. For example,
when you turn the steering wheel , sometimes you can just feel a sound. So faint you can't
really measure it, but the feel of it is rhere. Also , things like the glove box, the console box,
or the ClIp holder. When you open and close them they create their own sounds. And there
are often faint sounds that can really irritate the person who is driving a car. The aim is to
create a stillness that you can't actually measure by ligures in d,e normal sense, and this is
done by feeling and touch ."
[Mas:1O Inolle, Chief Fngineer. Product Pl:tnning Division, TO)'OIa Mowr Corpor.ltionJ

W here does the auto industry put its major in vest ment' lnto reduc ing touch, with power
steering, super-suspension , state-of-the-art tires. No wo nder we e nd up feeling like the boy
in the bubbl e! Out of touch. Literall y.

We need touch back. A new challenge for the might of mass produ ction matched by the
in ve ntion of techno logies that use tOllch.

I have watched with fascination as kids have responded enthusiastica lly to tactile experiences in
game controllers. Take the Xbox controller. Eight buttons, two triggers, three toggling switches . ..
a nd untapped possib ilities.

No wonder rhe under-25 set in Japan cal ls itse1f'The Thumb Generation." Mobile text-messaging
marks a divide between generations that is as clear-cut as the Aares/ no Aares debate.

There is serious sense behind the idea of tollchpoints with consumers. Every business is sta rrin g
to rea lize this. From the supermarket shelf and the co upon boo k to the TV spot, the ma ile r,
and all po ints in betwee n, touch ing people matters.

In Ollr d etermination to make life easier we have removed valuable so urces of sensation from
many products. Beating clothes against a stone has nothing much to recommend it, but I'm
not so sure dropping them into a machine a nd pushing a button is the complete answer either.
Somewhe re in the middle there is an importa nt place for our precious senses.

The Human TOllch 125

Five things
to do tomorrow
 What can turn an experience that is given to thousands
and thousands of people into a mea ningful one for
you' Intimacy.

The big question for me has always

been, how do you get intimate with
consumers without being invasive
or insincere?

My question was answered on a Qantas flight to New

Zealand. I was tired and distracted as I got on board.
All [ wanted was to get to my seat, put away my bag,
and sit down. When a flight attendant srepped in
front of me, I admit I was only halfway pleased ro see
him. He smiled polirely, and asked, "Can I get yo u a
C hardonnay, sir? .. Or a beer, mate?" That's how you
do Intimacy.

As we developed Lovemarks at Saa tchi & Saatchi ,

Mysrery and Sensualiry were our immediate focus.
They showed us big, new, and exciring ways thar
would help people reconnect wirh brands in a deeper
and more emotionally satisfying way.

But as we moved in deeper we began to reali ze that

something was missing. A stilJ, quiet voice. A vo ice
rhat talked nor abour big effects or sensarions, but
about rhe minuriae of everyday life.

Personal. Sensitive. Continuous.

What we were missing was Intimacy.

128 ~ovEmar~,...
Sure we need thrills, spills, and big gestures in our relationships,
but we also need closeness, trust, and (you've got it) Intimacy.
Because Intimacy [Ouches directl y on our personal aspirations and inspirations, it is much morc
contentious than Mystery and Sensuality. It pushes up close to what sorr of relationships we want
to havei the kinds of fami lies we need, what we share, what we don't, who sets rhe boundaries.

Intimacy poses questions like: How close can I get to you and sti ll feel comfortable? How much
do I want yo u to know about me? How much do I want to know about you?

Peo pl e of different cultures and at different times have treated Intimacy ve ry differentl y. We
know for insta nce that the fr iendl y handshake that stans so man y greetings had its beginnings
in the wa ry exposure of hands without knives or other weapons-another age's version of rh e
airport fr isk'

The th ree-cheek kiss of the French, the hongi nose-press of New Zealand Maori , the New Age
hug, the high-five of the streer. They all show ve ry different faces ofTntimacy.

Close up
A cru cial problem for brands in their battle against commodification is their growing apart
from consumers. Distant, undifferentiated, unremarkabl e.

Focused on growth and clamoring for attention , brands don't have a lot of time for nuance and
sensitivity. I'll amend that- no time at al l.

McDonald's a nd N ike and the rest of the U.S.-created, global front-runn ers a re struggling to
retain the emotional ties that ha ve made th em legends and billion-dollar busin esses.

The big question: Have the brands themselves changed' Or is it th e oth er way a round ' Has
what peo ple want from brands changed'

My take on th e brand /co nsumer relationship digs deep into the patte rns of human behavior.
Look back at the 1950s and 60s and the place the automobile had in the heans of the American
public. It was in so close that to have a family photograph wi thout the family wagon as backdrop
made no sense at all. Fast-forward to the 2 1st centu ry.

Close 10 You 129

 When was the last time you
lined up in front of the family
car and took a picture?
Peo pl e need Intimacy in their lives. BlIt
businesses have let many already well-defined
opportun iti es slip away.
Ma ny of tbe big brands becam e standoffish
over the 1990s. Removing themselves from the
peo ple who gave rhem their life-consumers-
they fixed o n anothe r aud ience: shareholders.
What a shareholder demands
of a brand is very, very different
from what's demanded by
someone who loves it.
130 2ovEmarb~
Share holders ve ry seldom love the brands
they have invested in. And the last thin g they
want is an intimate relationship. They fi gure
tbis could warp their judgement. They want
measurability, increasing returns (always) ,
and no surprises {ever}. Imagine a relation-
ship with someone like that!
No wonder so many brands lost rhe emoriona!
thread that had led them to their extraordinary
SllCCesS and [limed them instead into mctric-
munchers of the lowest kind. Warch for the
sign : Heads, not hearts, at work he re.
They forget all about the intimate dimension
of relationships. T hey loved Customer
Relationship Management. They honed their
ski lls assessing the benefits from sponsorships,
entertainment partnerships, and al l th e other
"ships." But if you attempted to get up close ...
they dashed to the other side of the board-
room table. T hey ignored the power of Inti macy.
They neglected to look at the intimate
responses that illuminate rhe great Lovemarks.
So many Love marks ha ve pet names it could
almost be a prerequisite.
Gimme a Bud.
Who owns that Jag?
We're going to Harvey Nicks ...
o r Bloomies,
depending on where yo u live.
I'll have a Coke.
Federal Express got it. They unde rstood this
kind of Intimacy was a gift- and shortened
thei r name.
FedEx it to me ... .
Transact a Love affair? I don't think so.
Intimacy was crushed over the 20th century. Everyone was determin ed to reduce complex
exchanges of buying and selling into fast and efficient tran sactions. Littl e wonder that the
peopl e visiting the mall figured something was miss ing from their lives. Where once the
moment of choi ce was wrapped in an intimate relationship with the seller, it has often
beco me a ste ril e experience in an aisle that stretches forever.

"As a rule of thumb, if the guy who asks you to pick

a card, any card, is wearing a top hat, he's not giving
you a real choice."

Close to You 131

 Shoppers res pond by ge rting the hell out as fast as they can. On an average supermarket visit,
they are now spe nding only 32 minutes doing their major weekly shopping.

Now there's nothing wrong with streamlining or with efficiency. Everyone wants [Q save rime
and dollars whether they are a shopper, a manufacturer, a truck driver.

But why throw your heart out the window with the numbers?
Anyo ne who has been to the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo knows whar I am talking about.
Tuna auctions where millions of dollars of frozen fish are sold without a computer or
calculator in sight.

I am not suggesti ng that business go back to handshakes and scraps of paper, but there is
a lo t to learn from the intimate network of trust that the trad itional marketplace thrives on.

As the mass market geared up, businesses lost their way. They became d etached from
pe rso nal re lationships.

Everyo ne w ith a telephone has had a total stranger (aka telemarketer) asking how they are and
did they have a nice day. As if they cared. Bank tellers and supermarket checkout staff treat us
as long- lost friends. Our first names-form erl y the province of fri ends and family-have become
common c urrency. E-mail spam is simpl y part of this n end ... on steroids.

And what is the result> It feels all wrong. Trouble is that all this,

"Hi! I'm Harry, I'll be your best friend for this evening"
is based on process and careful targeti ng and not on intimate knowledge. They presume toO
much. And human bei ngs ca n spOt that sO rt of falseness fa st. Real fast.

But connect with peo ple's emotions a nd- d es pite all their conce rn s about privacy-they will tell
you almost anything. A Jupiter research project once found that 82 percent of all respondents
would give perso nal information to a new shopping site so they could e nter a $ \00 sweepstake!

The nick is nor to exploit this thirst for personal co nnections, bur to slake it with integrity.

132 ~oVmar~h
Two-way street
While Intimacy is fundamental to sustaining emotional connections, it is more elusive than
Mystery and Sensuality. Why? Because Intimacy has got to be a two-way process. Listening
as well as talking.

Listening is something that most brands are not great at. They evolved alongside the mass
media, and that is where most of them have stayed. Talking, talking, talking.

The fragmemation of media demands a fresh approach. And this is where Lovemarks co me in.
Not to abandon the mass market, but to transform it with multiple emotional connections.

Intimacy requires an understanding of what matters to people

at a very deep level. And that understanding means that you
have to be prepared to reveal yourself as well. Reveal your
true feelings.
Not standard behavior for most corporations!

But this is where we need ro venture.

Lovemarks are owned by the people who love them.

Not by the companies and people who design , produce, market, and distribute them. To act in
the knowledge that consumers own Lovemarks calls for radical change. And one of the most
radical is opening lip to Intimacy. It is only through Intimacy that the barriers of reserve will
dissolve and brands can become Lovemarks .

Close fO You 133

 Some brands seem to be intimate almost without trying. Oprah Winfrey is a spellbinding
example. Her mix of no-nonsense advice and personal insight is a formula th ar has wo rked
fo r a number of ra lk show hosts .

But then, just when everyone thought the Idea had rung
all its changes, Oprah added a new dimension Intimacy.
Oprah understands the power of Intimacy as well as anyo ne I have ever seen on relevis ion.
She also undersrands how rhis Intimacy can rransform lives .

T he camera loves Oprah Winfrey, but in stead of loving ir back like orher ralk show hosts,
she looks righr rhrough ir and connecrs directly wirh her audience. Thar's Oprah's secrer.
Transformation , not just communication.

The challenge of one

Intimacy will meet a tough new chall enge in th e coming decades : rhe single- perso n house-
hold. And tradition al ways of dealing with people as members of co herent grou ps is just not
go ing ro play.

Humans cannot li ve without intimate relationships, and yet we see m to be constructin g a

wo rld where Intimacy is harder and harder ro ach ieve. And we are goi ng crazy doing it.

On CNN I saw a recent poll in which American singles said that what they most missed from
not being in a relationsh ip was compan ionship. And then I read that a whole bunch of people
in America felt that watching " Friends" on TV was part of their social life. Give me a break.

134 i ovemarkA
 Intimacy has three very different faces:
Empathy, so that we can understand and respond to other people's emotions
Commitment, which proves that we are in the relationship for the long haul
Passion, that bright spark that keeps the relationship alive
Empathy
There is only o ne way to unde rstand other
people's emotions, or to really understand
anything for that matter. By listening.
In my experience, empath y is most often
created out of language and the sil ences
that surround ir. When do yo u hear the
most aston ishing insights? When yo u create
an emotionally powerful space for th em to
settle into, by liste ning.
Empathy is created out of
the tension between the
sound of the voice and an
intended silence.
As we quickl y find out when we enrer
intimate relationships, what is said is often
nOt so important. It is the inflections, the
pauses, the combination of sounds and
body lang uage. This c reates a co mpl ex
mix of sig ns and signals that builds an
empathetic rel ation ship.
Marketers find this ve ry hard to accept.
Their disciplines are founded o n rational
analys is and co nclusions, not idle chat
and unfinished sentences . Tn their goal
136 iovemarkh
to push as much information as poss ible,
marketers fail cons istently to make real
connections. Intimacy is an understanding
of what we are sha rin g in this moment, not
just what is being communicated.
Quick Aings beco me li felong Love affairs
through empathy. Without empathy yo u
can't do emotion , yo u ca n't do Intimacy-
and you can forget all about truthful and
transforming consumer insights.
I have always claimed Toyota's Camry is
a Lovemark. And it is no t just because the
Camry has been the bestselling ca r in
America so many times, year in and year
our. It is because the Camry has extraordinary
empath y with so man y consumers.
The Camry is a qui et car that keeps to itsel f.
It balances brilliantly on the cutting ed ge of
normal. It doesn't go for the big splash, but
it does everything required o f it-a nd more.
Sounds like a good friend or a famil y
member. The ones who make yo u feel better
just by being there. No dram as, no fuss, just
solid support and und erstandin g. They don't
forget yo ur birthday, they don't nag, and
they always remember yo u love red roses.
Love comes in many shapes. One of the strongest is the enduring
Love built on intimate understanding . Camry owners know this.
They have fa llen in Love with a ca t that understands they don't want ro attract attention . A ca r
that kn ows Love can be a private experience. T hat it doesn't have ro ho ld hands and kiss in th e
Street. So let's not forget this Love that binds. Camry hasn't.

Another kind of engine, Coogle, has taken its own route ro empat hy, and been well rewarded
for it. Coogle says it deals ro mo re than 150 millio n searches a day. W hile engines like Ya hoo!
turned inro a system of porrals, Google ke pt it simple. Very simple. So simple that the temporary
add itio n of a C hristmas tree felt like a m ajo r statement. You wa nt empat hy? How abo ut yo ur
co nsumers loving what YO li do so much they in vent a new expression based on yo ur brand
name-"ro Google"!

A moving experience
Rethink the mobile pho ne. Yes, I know all the sru ff abo ut interrupting concerts, distracted
drivers purring lives in danger, lo ud talkers annoying everyone else in a restaurant, but mo bile
phones ca n teach us a ve ry different lesson abo ut what peopl e value as wel l.

Let's go back ro the beginning.

The telephone has a strange hisrory. The initial co ncept was as a broadcast machine. O ne
person could talk ro man y others far away via telephone lines . And perhaps playa little music.
Well , that didn't work' It is in our blood ro talk back.

The telephone then found its true calling as an instrument of perso nal communication . As
someone born in England , I have always been amused by the role the class system there played
in ho lding up the di ffusion of this cool new techno logy.

Close to Yo u 137
 Ir seems rh ar man y peopl e poinr-blank
refused to use th e tel ephone because rh ey
mighr have ro speak with someone ro whom
rhey had had no formal inrroduction' Can't ger
less intimate rhan rhar.
The telephone survived rh e srupidiry of
snobbery and opened up a whole new wo rld
of Intimacy. People could keep in rouch. They
could swap confidences in a way they would
never think of in face-to-face e ncou nters .
They could make rheir lives faster and easier.
In rhe 1990s rhe mobile phone rook the
rransformat ion of everyday life [Q another
level alwgcrher-consranr communication.
As the yuppie label faded rapidl y, the mobile
phone beca me an instrument of Tnrimacy.
Th e builder of relationships.
If you want to be empathetic,
you would have to admit there
is a hell of a lot to listen to .
I n an average day an adult can lise as m any
as 4 0 ,000 wo rds. Thar's about five hours of
co nrinuoLls speech. If you multiply this by
a n average age of 75, that's over a billion
words in a lifetime.
And w hat will all these words be about'
Im portant issLles of th e day' Very, very few
o f them. Most of ou r ta lk could be term ed
trivial. It's about the process of tal king rathe r
th an the content. We ta lk about fam il y
and fri ends, th e weather, loca l news, and
(es pecially) the d ay's go in gs-o n. Gossip is
the lifeblood of Intimacy.
138 2ovmar~~
People now auromaticall y phon e home to
announce rhey are in the ca r and on rh e way
home. Everyon e is consta ntl y ca llin g every-
one else ro ex plain where th ey are, what is
happening, what might happen. A poinr-
by-point track ing throughout our li ves with
ollr loved ones .
Intimate talking has beco me a 24/7 acrivity.
Forget grammar and argument. We're talking
haphaza rd, in co mplete, and emotional. This
is not about co mmunicat in g information as
we have known it. Thi s is a co nstant sensin g
of whe re YO ll are, where I am, and how we
are both feel ing.
Commitment
To m e co mmitm e nt is one of rhe most
important and most d ema nding of the
Love mark arrributes. Re me mbe r that g reat
definition of the difference between bein g
committed and being involved ' In a plate
of bacon and eggs, the pig is co mmitted,
th e chi cken is jusr involved .
Long-term commitment-crucial
to a Lovemark relationship.
Wo rking with P&G, I was introduced to
Cape Town academics Jan Hofmeyr a nd
Butch Rice's Commitment-Led Marketing.
We all agree thar loyalty is not enough.
As Hafmeyr and Rice point out, loyalty
ca n just be co nsume rs act in g on autopilot,
continuing to bu y th e sam e brand because
they can't be bothered to make another choice.
Too tired to leave
But commitment ca n transfo rm loyalty from an unthinking acceptance to a rea l sta re imbued
with rea l emotion- Loyalty Beyo nd Reason.

This co mbination of loyalty and com minnenr is rhe powerful force we need ro harn ess for
Lovemarks. Getting to that crucial place where people ate beyo nd th e information stage and
point-by-po int com parisons. They have made th eir cho ice. They have committed to it before
friends and fam ily. It is part of them. And they are not going to change now.

Fan clubs are a sure sign yo u are in the Lovemarks zo ne. T hey're also a great way to test the
intens ity of feeling. Start with LEGO and LUG NET, the fan-created Internati onal LEGO
Users Group Network. Not owned by LEGO , but ca ptu red by the LEGO experience.

From Adventurers to Robotics, Pirates to Football. They swa p, sell , debate, argue, learn.

Fa ndom has gone up a notch with the onset of the Internet. We ca n now view thousa nds of
movies starring the LEGO fa mily. C heck o ut www.geocities.co.jp/l-lollywood/9060/cinemae.html
fo r an unfo rgettable version of The Matrix o r www.planetofthegeeks.com/workbench/legol
legomovies.hnnl for something less sophisti cated .

Close ro YOll 139

 As for commi tment of a differe nt Aavor, take Lucky C harms, the breakfast cereal with
marshmall ows. A clear Lovemark to millio ns of little kids througho ut the United States.
But Lucky C harms are also the Number O ne breakfast cerea l consumed on college ca mpuses!

Now that's serious commitment, when you get college kids

eating the same cereal they loved as youngsters. And doing
it in public. The cute message for this group of cereal lovers?
"I got lucky at breakfast!"

Committed people are prepared to wait .. .and wait.

for a reservatio n at the Le Cap rice fo r Aston Martin's VI2 Vanquish.

restaura nt in London .

to have yo ur Japanese sword polished

fo r an underground tour of the Mt. Isa in Japan.
mine in Australia.
Around 3 r
in Singapo re fo r Kelly and Birkin bags
fo r a Pad ro n Mi llennium cigar. by Hermes.

fo r a bouncing baby girl or boy. fo r a Rolex Dayto na watch.

fo r a H arley- Davidson Softail Deuce. to become o ne of the towns hosting

a Tour de France start or finish.

to joi n the Reebok Sports Club/NY, 18

the wo rld's most advanced fitn ess facili ty. fo r season tickets to the New Yo rk G iants.

r ?D I' r
to receive treatments with t he highl y fo r a I 50-year-old wall-mo unted G PO
therapeutic Moor M ud in Austria, (General Post Office) box. With keys.
renowned for its healing properties.

140 iovemarbh
Loya lty Beyond Reason is what persuaded th e App le tribe to keep buying the brand when Apple
was p roducin g b land, beige boxes no different than an y other o n the market. For peo pl e who
had jo ined Apple because it was cool, buyi ng one of these compute rs was a big ask. Many of
[hem s[Uck with it-all rhe rime wo ndering why.

Steve Jobs made his triumphal return to App le in 1994. Back on track, the company we nt to
the leading edge and stayed the re. And all those co mmitted consumers fe lt vi ndicated. More
loya l than eve r. What susta in ed th e Mac love rs over the tough beige period>

I call it "Love in the bank."

W ith Loyalty Beyond Reason, Apple could make mistakes and still be forgiven. Th is is the rewa rd
for a Lovemark. Only Love wi ll get consumers through the bad times when common sense tells
them they should change. Because Apple users loved the product, they were committed to it as
an idea of the mselves. They were Apple people. Loved members of t he Apple fami ly.

For M icrosoft, looking down from the top of its mu lti -billion -doll ar mountain , the Apple
story may seem inconsequential. Big mistake. T he lesso n for Mi crosoft is not the threa t of
Apple buildin g a bigger co mpan y based on Love a nd comm itment, but Microsoft's own chan ces
of retainin g one that's not. Bigger giants than M icrosoft have decayed. W hen so mething bette r
and more lovable ca me alo ng, nobody was committed enough to hang around.

C lose to You 141

 Passion
Th ere is o ne more thin g th at I believe Lovem a rks need that aligns
with Intimacy. empathy, a nd commitm e nt. It is the intensity and
rush that accompanies o nl y the stron ges t emotions. Pu t toge the r
wit h Love it ca n transform the most insign ifi ca nt product inro a
must-ha ve. It has t he power to give a n intensity to a relation ship
th at wi ll carry it through good times a nd bad. Passion.

With passion, the most difficult of objectives

can be achieved.
Wit ho ut passion , the best-laid p lans can wit he r and die. Analyzi ng
it is a waste of time. Having it is a blessing and a gift.

W hen N ike signed up Mi chael Jordan , even they never suspected

how pass io nately co nsumers wo uld co ntinue to feel about this man.

Clare Ha mill , Vice Preside nt, N ike Goddess, says:

"The Brand Jordan phenomenon that's a part of the

Nike brand continues to show an inexplicable Love
for that man. With Michael Jordan, it's personal. You
call him Michael, you have a name relationship with
him. Somehow sports teams and some key athletes
can really create that kind of emotional connection.
They're like your family. You live and die if they do. "

142 iOYEma rb.

Pass ion can deepen if i[ can be handed on fro m
person to person. The Zi ppo ligh[er has been an
inspirat ion ro American servicemen throughout th e
wo rld. Why is [his? Apart from [he fan [hat the
lighter wo rks every time, I think it has ro do with
the way Z ippo has encouraged the use of its lighter
as a mini billboard . Havin g yo ur Zippo engraved
with a personal slogan has beco me a rite of passage
for millions of sold iers and sailors.

It all started in the Second Wo rld Wa r when U.S .

soldiers, far from home, regarded their Z ippos as prized possessions, o ften personalizing them with
unique Trench Art. Ernie Pyle, the famous WWII war correspondent, wrote in August 1944:

"If I were to tell you how much these Zippos are coveted at the front, and the
gratitude and delight with which the boys receive them, you would probably accuse
me of exaggeration. I truly believe that the Zippo lighter is the most coveted
thing in the army."

So why bother?
Letting consumers participate in the brand is very powerful. With Lovemarks, as with personal
relationships, yo u often ga in power by givi ng it away.

The obvious question is, of course, why should a busin ess care wheth er its products are
Lovemarks or not ' After all , things are going pretry well for companies like Microsoft. Wh y
sho uld a fa th er be generous to his kids? W hy should we ca re abour o ur next-doo r neighbors?
Because thar's how we create a wo rld we love to li ve in . It's a150 how we create long-lasting
relationships- and Loyalty Beyo nd Reason. Without Love, 1 guarantee even the greatest businesses
will topple. They wo n't even see it comi ng because no one will care enough to tell th em. It has
hap pened befo re and will happen again . Even if yo u are [he biggest, the best, or the brightest ,
why wou ldn't yo u also crave to be the mOSt loved' Why wouldn't yo u want to help make the
world a better place?

Close to You 143

Five things
to do tomorrow
 The Love/ Respect Axis
5aatchi & 5aatchi's C hairman Bob 5eelert is
a Slllarr man and a grea t soundin g board for
ideas that are struggli ng to realize them selves.
We we re wa iting at Auckland Ai rport late
o ne evenin g o n o ur way to Los Angel es and
I started o n my Love rap. Bob had heard
most of it before, b ut this ti m e I pulled o ut
a nap kin a nd drew a horizontal line showing
Love at o ne end and Res pect at the o th er.
I showed Bob how it m ig ht wo rk. H ow
everyt h ing was tell ing us that brands h ad run
out of ju ice. How th ey had to evolve into
somethin g more. And how I wo uld place th is
new kind of brand near the Love e nd of th e
lin e. Lots of Respect, but movin g towards
hi g h Love on the righ t. Products wo u ld stay
at the far left , low Res pect, low Love. Th e
standa rd brands wou ld probably be so m e-
whe re in th e middle.
The goal would be at the
head of the line. High on
Love !
Bob loo ked at it fo r a couple of m inures.
"Th ere's another way [Q show this to more
effect, " he to ld m e. Taking th e pen he drew
a second lin e. thi s o ne crossing ove r my
Love/ Res pect line midway. My lin e was
transform ed in an insta nt inro an axis.
And Bob was so ri ght. T he ax is forma t
immed iately showed Love as a goal above
a nd beyo nd Res pect.
146 tovEmar~'"
Now we could clearly show the o ngoing
importance of Respect and the urge ncy of
moving inro a relat ionsh ip based on Love.
Love of des ign, Love of serv ice, Love of
custome rs, Love of life.
W ithout Res pect there is no fo und at io n
fo r a ny lo ng-te rm relat io nship. W ith o ut th e
sharp delineation of rhe axis fo rmat, it was
toO easy for our ideas about Love to float off
into feel ings with no practical edge. Okay if
we wanted (0 be psychotherapists abo ut it,
bur so m ehow that was not w here we were
headed' Bob brought Love to ea rth.
Respect is the key
to the success of many
of our biggest clients.
Such success should
not be devalued;
it's just no longer enough.
Compan ies like big-time 5aa tchi & 5aatchi
clients Toyota and Procter & Gamble have
in vested billions and won aston ishing
Res pect for theit products a nd brands. And
they have do ne it throu g h susta ined feats of
foc us and self-disciplin e. W hatever we call ed
the new ge neration of brands, it was go ing to
need Res pect- and a lot of it. Respect, it
was clea r, had to be tab lesta kes. No Res pect,
no admission.
 Looking for Love
'/ L As we started to shape Lovemarks at Saatchi

/
t1W ~1'~Vf
I
& Saatchi we saw how the Love/ Res pect Axis
could help us work our where they fitted.
 How low
can you go?
It was obvious that the lowe r left- hand
area-low Res pect, low Love-would hold
co mmodities. The products peo ple need but
d o n't desire, or even like a lot. Sa nd , iron,
salt, gravel, that so rt of stuff. Some o f them
make it out of the shade and wo rk their way
lip. Bas marj rice is o ne example. So is
Ca rrara marble. Co uld brands fa ll from
grace back inro this co mmodificatio n hole?
Telcos will tell yo u the answer to that one.
You bet th ey can.
Afte r o ne of my presentations, a yo un g
mark eter cam e up [Q me w ith an
impo rtan t question .
"You say emotion is the key to building
relationships," she said. ''I'm in the
brick industry. How do you make
bricks emotional?" "You don't," [ told
her. "Buc," [ added, "what you do do
is talk about what the bricks stand for:
homes, families sitting around the
fireplace feeling safe and warm.
Achievements. Buildings built by
bricklayers whose inspirational dream
was nothing less than to touch the sky."
148 iovemar~A
The botto m ri gh t- hand area had to be the
home of fad s, fas hio n, and infatuatio ns.
Loved for 15 minutes and then tossed
as ide to make way fo r the next cool item in
the queue. From hula hoops to kipper ries'
to "Survivo r." I n far uario ns grow fro m ou r
fan tasies abo ut w ho we are and where we
belo ng. They thri ve o n ho pe, nOt under-
standing. Fun , froth y, and ri ght fo r the
mome nt. And just that momenr. Yo u ca n
make a lot o f mo ney out of a fad , but your
timin g must be impeccable. Wh o wa nts a
bunch of Beanie Bab ies now?
So me ra re in fa tuatio ns ca n tra nsfo rm
into Love. Look at the So ny PlayS tatio n.
Initiated as a gaming system w ith N inrendo
in 199 1, Sony qu ickl y went ir alo ne a nd
released rhe first PlaySta rio n in Japan in
1994 . It srormed pas r the established
comperirio n o ffe red by Sega a nd N intendo
a nd too k anothe r leap forwa rd w irh rhe
release of the PiayS ratio n2 in 200 1. No
one is call ing it a fad any more.
Don', remember those cXlra-widc kipper ties? T hat's because
[hey were only a fad. Here today, forgoncn toJnorrow.
 / 1\

+"
()
/-o'N
RESPECT Ql Stuck in the middle with you
/-'W
0...
C/)
+ L OVE:..
Q)
Above the low Respect lin e on the left
= COMMODITIES 0:::
are most brands. This is where the effortS
and in vest ment of the last 50 years have
/[\
gotten th em. But many risk fa ll ing into
the sand trap below, tough competition ,
tight margins, and lack of individuality
turning the m into "blands. " Others have
H I ~H -;>
I- DV,
built up high levels of Respect based o n
+ '-OW
sOllnd management and co ntinuo us
RE.fPf.("T improvement. But what they have earn ed
= FADS in Respect has littl e emotio n. Se nsibl e
and well meas ured, it's hard to tell o ne
from another.

III~H )
~~1PELr

~
I-D W
/"Ov,.
The high life- Love marks
= BRANDS
In the top right, the sun always shines:
high Respect, high Love. W hy wo uldn't
you want to be there? You know by
instinct who belo ngs in this quadrant.
Virgin is there. United would like to be.
The iM ac? Yes. The ThinkPad ' Don't
)(\ III~H think so. It's ho me for Disneyland but
~~ 1PELr
not for Seve n Flags.
~ HI~H
I-DV'

= lOVEMARK2 Make yo ur ow n list.

Love

Across [he Border 149

 The Love/Respect Axis is at its best in conversation: co nversarions about products and
brands and what they need in order to become Lovemarks, conversations about successes,
conversations to spark insights.

Jill Novak, a Saatchi & Saatchi Senior Vice President in New York, and Eric Lent, Kodak's
Direcror of Youth Marketing, gor together over the Love/Respect Axis ro trace how Kodak got
ro grips with the youth market in the Un ited States.

By the mid-1990s a new force was about to start snapping

pictures: Generation Y. Kids born between 1979 and 1994.
Cen Y had the biggest discretionary spending power of any teen demographic in history.
And they loved photography, particularly girls from 12 to 17.

The trouble was that Kodak was experiencing some keen competition from Fuji, and Cen Y 's
comfort wi th technology made the situation even more critical. Eric sums up the issue:

"Technology had never entered a generation's cultural vernacular in such an

intense way. The category was heading away from traditional photography
to digital photography, making these young consumers even more important.
They were the ones to drive the adoption of new products and services. We
absolutely had to alter their perceptions of us and create a relationship that
could last a lifetime."

For a company that had, in Eric's words, "a 1OO-year history of talking to moms," it was time
for radical change.
JiU: Eri c, this conve rsation wi ll be about Saatchi
& Saatchi taking a journey in the land of youth
with Kodak. Jr's a journey we began almost four
years ago. It all started with th e business objective
of makin g Kodak the brand choi ce for th e gener-
ation that is critical to Kodak's fueure, Gen Y, and
specifically teen girls.
Eric: The Love/Respect Axjs maps out what was
happening competitively in rhe U.S. market in
1999. We had Polaro id with their i-Zo ne instant
photo stickers. This was a novelry techno logy and
very appealing to teens. Jr was the fad of the day,
with high Love but no long-term Respect. Our
other co mpetitor, Fuji, was primari ly into price
competition. So they belong in the low Respect,
low Love quadrant. Bur even there they were still
seri ous competitOrs. Being a Japa nese company
a nd not subj ect to the quarterly pressures we face,
th ey were ab le to take a lo ng-term, 3D-year-plus
view of the marker. O n top of that, Fuji had a

150 lovmarkA
"i". i ,4' >AG. a>. i . 'Q
.",."".
I I I li'r' ' I ' "i 'i ' .. . ' '.".''', .i ,il'i'

, , I ,.

I _I ' ~ _ ~...--
'0 ' ..'" _.....
. ' ___ l ~ ,'",'_c:::-,
--- ---- ..--
I ,I ' , ' . . . . I , ,
--- "'-~'
, ~-
t ,~
- ....--..---....:::.---- -------

multi-billion-dollar war chest they could tap in to We also learned that everybody
to ensure their price co mpetitive ness.
wants to be around a kid with
W hich brings us to Kodak. You can see that for
one-ri me- use ca meras, which is the product line
a camera.
we are looking at, I have pur us in th e top left
When you have the camera in yo ur hand,
quadrant. And yo u ca n see that we were getting
yo u're in co ntrol. It helps yo u overco me some
much stronger Love from adults than teens.
social inhibitions. We were onto so me d eep,
Jill: That's Kodak in 1999. How wou ld th e
deep teen truths.
Love/Respect Axis look today for yo u with the
Jill: Can we look at how Mystery, Sensuality,
Gen Y teen market?
and Intimacy helped shift Kodak to becoming
Eric: ['d say we are a developi ng Lovemark. N or at
a Teen Lovemark?
the sweet Sp Ot yet, but well on (he way. Fuj i went
Eric: Let's talk first about Intimacy. Once you
into the marker but stayed with price. and so hasn't
get below th e ha rd surface, most teenagers are
rea lly moved on the Axis. Polaroid neve r got out
fragile individuals trying to figu re our who rhey
of the fad qu adra nt.
are and where they fit in . Our adve rtising created
Jill: Cou ld you outline how we worked together to
a sense of optimism and hopefulness in their
capture th e teen market?
quest fo r self-identity.
Eric: As a brand for teens you have to be fun and you
As for Mystery, just about all our TV SpotS
have to be cool. In 1999 we were doing quite well, but
show a situation that immediately intrigues kids
when you looked at th e larger category, you quickly
about what's go ing on.
realized that everybody else was also into fun and cool.
So we analyzed both the brand and the consumers
closely. We found out th at relative to the category We show stories versus telling
we had a heritage with some golden nuggets. them and selling them. Let them
figure things out for themselves.
Kodak 's equities are emotion ,
optimism , quality, and trust. Jill: A great example was the goth spot.
Eric: Sure. The spot Saatchi & Saatchi developed
All very important to teens.
for us showed a goth teen takin g pictures and
making a collage for a school photo project. And
So we tra nslated them for teens to drive off of:
as she makes this collage she also co nnects wuh
con nectio n, hopefulness, auth enticity, and honesty.
a goth guy in her class who is another .outsider.
We also found th at we were already part of the
When she displays her collage, the entire class
teen cul turaJ vern acular. You'll have heard it:
recoils in disbelief Bur one boy leans forward.
"Excuse me, ca n I have my Kodak moment back?"
It's the other goth, and they smile at each other.
Now that's a stro ng, ri ch, deep co nnection.
Jill : Where do we need to focus If Kodak IS
We knew toO that teens go through so m e very
to continue to push no rth to the top f1ghr-
dramati c changes. Trying on different value systems, hand corner of the Lovemark quadran t?
different sets of fr iends, different sets of clothes. E ric: I think it's Intimacy. What se ts us
Trying to figure Out who they are, where they fit apart from everybod y else is we ca n relate to
in, and what ro le th ey have. th e tee n wo rld.

Across [h e Border 151

.. , ' , . ""."'"" . '" ' ' . OVO. iI " i . 'OO~' ,~. i . '0. . .
, , I I. I I iI ''i''. '' 'I ". . . . . I I I I

.
,,
~"'~
.1 " 1 .1,
~, '"""", , '
' . 1
~ . . __;' ____4_ ......... , . ~__ _

---- ----::.....---::- - ... ~ ---~
----- -
We discovered what we call passion Eric: Playing to the theme of Intimacy as well.
points-everything from music , Teen girls worked on designing their dream
accessory for a one-rime-use camera. Designs
fashion, sports, and celebrities,
and color choices were pur up on AHoy. com, and
to entertainment and technology, teens voted on the final product line. Then we
brought to market exactly what they recommended.
And we identified music as a teen's most Thar was a product created for tee ns by teens.
important passion point. Jill: So Kodak's in a great place right now with
We worked with a record company out in teens, but we need to keep up the momentum.
L.A. and found an up-and-coming boy band What can we do to ensure that Kodak does n't
called Youngstown. We didn't want an established become a fud like Polaroid?
group because teens want to be pan of the Eric: We need to have an absolutely relentless
discovery and make a band. focus on what's top-of-mind with teens today,
Jill: Mystery, right? because we know their habits change.
Eric: Right. So we trained Youngstown to be
brand stewards, and put them on a [Qur of 22
markets throughout the U.S. in partnership with
And we have to remain a beacon
Volunteers of America. We were in malls because to teen girls across the nation,
this is where everything in America happens. letting them know that it's really
We did a lot of pre-event awareness-building okay to be themselves,
activities-advertising, radio, Channel I in
schools, a partnership with Sam Goody where Then, on top of that, we need products and
they sold a special Youngstown pack with a services that anticipate teens' un met needs and
one-rime-use camera. a CD specific to the event, tap into their desires. To sum that up with two
a Youngscown keychain. words, we need to continue to be authentic
Usually, events like this get maybe a couple of and relevant.
hundred people, but our band was drawing up But the rewards for moving in the direction of
to 3,000 teens per event. As the show opened a Lovemark are high. With, relatively speaking,
there was a big Kodak splat logo, which we had limited funds we've achieved significant successes.
designed for younger consumers, on the back of The nrSt share increase in our company's history
the stage. for the one-time-use camera segment. The
Number One, Two, and Three hi gheSt-sco ring
The boys came out with their one- ads in the company's 100-plus year histOry. As well
time-use cameras, snapping pictures as improvements in brand preference and category
usage. In fact, teen girls are now usin g one-time-
of the audience. Then they 'd throw use cameras 53 percent more frequendy than at
the cameras out to them. It was just our starting point in 1999!
this massive photography love-fest.
Jill : We also developed those cool little carry (
cases with the Kodak logo. Kodak Wraps.

152 iovemarkAo
Chapter 12

I CAN SEE
CLEARLY NOW

/
 Malcolm Gladwell again :

"I am interested in what it means to take the unconscious seriously

in marketing and other realms. Much of psychology at the moment
is consumed with taking the unconscious seriously after a gap of
50 years. But it is a return in a much more sophisticated way than
previously, exploring the role the unconscious plays in decision
making, in impression formation, preference formation.

"Once you take the unconscious seriously you undermine

virtually all quantitative market research and its focus. This
is very good news for the creative part of the advertising
world, and bad news for the number-crunchers.

"I nside the heart of every marketer beats a control fanatic. They want
a quantifiable process, and they would like to introduce a level of
transparency to things that are necessarily oblique.

" In my new book, I am interested by this question: When you ask

someone how they feel , how seriously can you take their answer?
And the answer to that is, not very seriously. And yet the temptation
to take their answer at face value is nearly overwhelming in all domains,
not just marketing. "

Lovemarks need research, but a d ifferelH kind of research. I know that I am rarely asked my
opin ion as a consumer. I presume my transact io ns a re data-t racked and batch-analyzed by
computer, but I never get asked for my stories. We need research that puts consumers at the
cente r rather than at the base of a ve ry large pyram id. And I'm not ta lk ing about JUSt turning
the PowerPoint upsid e-down l

156 iovmar~~
I'm looking for resea rch rhar counts the beats of your heart rather than the fingers of yo ur hand.
Research that connects with the inner life of the consumer. Not as statistical constructs. Not as
they were. Not as yo u wo uld like them to be, but as they truly are: living, feeling beings full of
fears and desires, hopes and dreams . Kris Kristofferson got it: "A walkin' contradiction/Partly
truth and partly fiction."

Fresh and true insights are the way into the inner life of the consumer. Peter Cooper of the
London research company QualiQuant International offered us this one:

"The way people personalize computers or other ordinary, everyday objects

around the home is a very significant way in which people make sense out of
the world. One of the earliest studies I was involved in was for Electrolux, the
appliance manufacturer. I was always struck by a remark from one particular
housewife lip in Manchester, England. She described her spin dryer like this,
'My spin dryer to me is called Fred, and I have a relationship with Fred which
is often better than the one I have with my husband.'"

As Lovemarks take onboard the best attributes of brands, so the new research will be created
out of rh e best techniques of current research.

The failure of research to truly engage with consumers is not just a problem for resea rchers.
It's a problelTI most people in any business share.

I discovered this first-hand when I was working in the Middle East for Procter & Gamble .
Like other co mpanies at the time, P&G 's resea rch was done by th e numbers. Sometimes it
seemed to m e that we did little other than to verifY what we already knew. We were tied to
benchmarks and followed norms. I found it tough to see the value of all this, so I spent as
much time as I could our of the office, three weeks out of four.

I Can Sec Clearly Now 157

 My passion was store checks and home vis its. After goi ng
through all the numbers, I'd head into Dubai and visi t
a hundred little shops in the Soukh and get myself invited
into consumers' ho mes. I talked w ith retailers, consumers,
people juSt walk ing by. Irrespective of what the share
nu mbers said , I got my ins ights from these con nectio ns.

When th e store vis its ind icated the trends, I knew

whether I had the right distribution model, the right
prici ng model , and the right packaging lineup. My
conversatio ns with store owners and what I saw with
my own eyes wId me if O llf fundamenta ls were 0 11 track.

O nce I'd done the store checks, I'd go into homes and
watch rhe wome n at wo rk. I'd sir down with a wo man
and watch h er life and the lives of her kids. I'd get an
understa nding of how much tim e she spent with her
hu sba nd, how he dressed, what he d ressed in , where he
wen t, and what peo ple's reactio ns wcrc. I lea rned what
m atte red to them as a fam ily.

As I gOt to know some of these wo men, they'd let me

look into th eir laundry baskets, allow me to check out
their cupboards. Some of these people were ve ry poor.
Some didn't even have underclothes . The lesso n was
obvious. W hile we had been ve ry co ncern ed in o ur
adverrisi ng with helpi ng ou r co nsumers wash nne fab rics,
guess what' Most of them d idn't have anyl

I learned that unless you get to know

people and stand beSide them as
they work, you will find out only what
they believe you want to know.

158 iovemarbl..
I found this to be true tim e and time again. W hen I was
wo rking for Pepsi, I found o ne of my local cafes wo uld
buy pri vate- label cola and po ur it into their o ne Pepsi
bottle. W hen a customer turned up they wou ld always
be served a " Pepsi." You could interrogate the num bers
ti ll you're blue in the face and never get close to that
in sight into how people trul y va lued the brand.

To undertake Lovema rks resea rch whereve r yo u are

means develop ing close relationships with consume rs.
J n the M iddle East this co uld mean markets and cafes.
In the Un ited States we co uld be talkin g sports ga mes
and schoolya rds.

W ithout a doubt many consum ers are hi ghl y info rmed

a nd deeply suspicious of marketing. W hat they do
respo nd to, however, is pass io n. No one can resist
enthusiasm. If you are sea rching fo r insight because yo u
love yo ur product, the resu lts can be extraordinary.

At Saatchi & Saatchi we gro up o ur resea rch into rh ree

approaches. I believe these ap proaches can transform the
way businesses co nn ect w ith co nsumers:

1. Climb a mountain

2. Go to the jungle

3. Think like a fish

I Can Sec Clea rl y Now 159

2. Go to the jungle
Xploring is based on a very simple principle.
If you want to understand
how a lion hunts, don't go
to the zoo, go to the jungle.
Xploring came out of our attempts ro
understand China. 1.3 billion people. 3.7
million square miles. and 40 new babies
every minute! At Saatchi & Saatchi. we
believe that Nothing is Impossible.
We began by encouraging our clients ro invest
in better. more insightful research. We invested
our own money and time in focus groups and
discussions. fact-finding and analysis. Essentially.
we gathered a lot of information.
Most businesses gather information
consumers ~ goi~nt".~:Q.J
respondents in a vlewing
snack$. ~ let ~.tbrough
Enter Xploring. It is probably the oldest
research technique ever used. But despite
its effecti veness, most compan ies seem to
have forgotten abo ut it.
Ironically. Xploring is far easier ro conduct.
more affordable. and far more insightful
and inspiring than traditional research .
Simply put, the Xplorer
puts on a pair of comfortable
shoes, grabs a backpack,
and heads off.
There are no one-way viewi ng mirrors .
No projective techniques. Just interaction.
observation. and lots of conversation.
~ve been ired counties homes.
hung out with kids in video arcades.
 ,

.
.
~ ~
'.
'. . I ; . , '

,
~(\. ~
In those travels we have met 22-year-old
millionaires, and gas station anendants
with dreams [0 own their own business.
We have met children
whose ambition is to
learn English, not so
they can study abroad,
but so they can make
China stronger in the
world market.
C hildren with ambitions [0 keep Ch ina
clean. O ld men who believe roday's
Chi na is a woman's world . And yo ung
srudents who believe the furure of the
world 's economy is firmly in the hands
of C hina.
To be successful in C hina, we have [0 srop
being lured blindly by the sheer scale of
the market (and it is amazing) and take
the time ro understand its people-and
most importantly, what motivates them.
As A.G. Lafley of P&G says, "Answers
aren't just found in numbers. You have [0
get out and look. "
By doing just that, we came away from
our firsr Xploring trip
I don't Wieve: JI
any
II The women of China have achieved a
high measure of financial equaliry. Now
they are struggling for recognition and
higher starus.
III Like people everywhere, what the
Chinese say is not necessarily how they feel ,
but the fear of loss of face adds a new layer
of complexiry.
1/11 The Chinese are in Love with romance.
It is not the past that the Chinese [Oday
respond ro.
-tttf- They are motivated by their passion
to make C hina great in the future.
-tttf- IThere are no VCRs. There are many
DVDs. C hina is not slowed by decades of
technological baggage, and leaps straight to
the best new offerings.
-tttf- II Consumers in China don't fear
technology. They crave it.
-tttf-illThe Chinese do nOt want to
become Western. What they do want is
to gain respect for being C hinese. Western
icons and imagery interest them. Respect
for what is C hinese connects with them.
It is nor difficult to see how emotional
can be inspired by any of these
the bt!!ury of Xploring is that
conducted on a sU~,err!lar~.
P&G have taken the "go to the jungle" idea and
developed it as an approach they expect from
everyone in the company. Jim Stengel, P&G's
Global Marketing Officer, puts it like this:
"What P&G tries to do is to be very closely
and personally in touch with our consumers.
This means being out there with them and
participating in the ways they live their lives.
And that's not just calling them or sending
them an Internet survey. It's about being in
their homes, shopping with them, watching
them as they use our products, talking to
them about their lives. For senior people,
junior people, everybody at P&G , our culture
means being a part of our Consumer's life. "
Jim reveals a host of insights discoveted at the
consumer's side. Insights that have not only
shaped how P&G talks with consumers, but
also how they have developed new products.
Here's one example of how effective this kind
of research can be:
"I Unite States we sell a lot of Tide in
outlets where they sell very large sizes of
products at a discount. In the end we came to
the point where we were making the detergent
botrles so big and heavy that our consumers
were having trouble lifting them! But, because
we saw the problem in action in the supermar-
kets and at home, we knew we needed to act.
Our solution was to put a spout on the bottom
of the bottle, like a beer tap. This meant that
was doing the washing could push a
button and hold a cup underneath the
get the amount
"You don't get an idea like that by sitting
in a room. It happened when we were
watching consumers struggling to pour
out of very big bottles of detergent in
their own laundries at home."
The reverse situation came out of the same
sort of observation in the Middle East.
There, P&G people noticed that women
often could not afford a box of Ariel for
their washing. So they began selling Ariel in
small sachets. Now households could spread
the cost of washing and still avoid going
down to the river with a bar of hard soap.
Masao Inoue, the Chief Engineer of
Toyota's fuel-efficient vehicle, the Prius,
ventured out to do his own Xploring. He
was wo rking on a new model for the very
different Ametican matket.
"Baseball is very popular in Los Angeles,
so I went and watched a game there. I
parked my Prius in the parking lot and
then watched the game. When I walked
back to the parking lot I found my car
was surrounded by larger cars and pick-up
trucks. The Prius looked very, very small
against them. I just felt it very strongly. It
is something that you have to experience,
to feel. So my thought was that the Pri us
as it was might be too small for the
United States market. By being there and
seeing the different sizes I learned some-
thing you can't real ly learn from r."Olno
the size and m"asl"reme:n~
3. if ink like a fish
.
Clare and lier people at the Nike Goddess
stores talked with consumers about time
Five things
to do tomorrow
Chapter 13

I'LL FOLLOW THE SUN

 Lovemarks are owned by th e people who love them. That's simple enough. But just as the
consumer's point of view (rather than simply that of the brand) comes into focus, something
else becom es very cl ea r. Some people take their Love of a brand very seriously indeed.

These are the peopl e who would be shocked by the very idea of the "passive consumer," so
loved by marketing manuals and anti-brand acti vists . Th ey are the ones who promote and
advocate for their brand. The ones who organize for rein statement, who suggest improve ments
and refin em ents, who create websites and spread the word. They are also the people who act as
moral guardians for the brands they love. They make sure th at wrongs are righted and hold the
brand fas t to its stated prin ciples .

I call them Inspirational Consumers.

"When you think about viral marketing and the

people who turn others on to your service and
recommend it highly, they are your Inspirational
Consumers. These are consumers who themselves
market the things they are passionate about. So,
they might say, 'Oh, haven't you flown JetBlue?'
and they all but sell you the tickets and put you on
the plane! For the company, they become the buzz
marketing arm. In the early days of Yahoo! we had
a lot of that. Now you can see it too with Google.
People are just passionate about Google, and they
can't help themselves from telling their friends about
it. For Yahoo! our Inspirational Consumers are the
ones that, without getting any marketing dollars
from us, tell people about our services."

170 ~ovmar~.1
 In 1985, it was
I n s pirational
Co n s um e r s
who told the
C o ca-C ol a
Co mpany In
no uncerrain
terms that New
C oke was not
gOing to repl ace
tradi tional Coca-Cola.
And th at was that.
Too bad about the $4 mil-
lion inves tm e nt in market
resea rch and over 200 ,000
blind taste tests. It may in prin ci-
ple (or even in fact) have tas ted
better, bu t these Coke love rs d idn't
care. A del uge of phone calls and
letters demanded the return of t he
origin al C oca-Cola.

A group of In spirational
Consumers formed the
Society fo r the Preservation
of the Real Thing . There
was panic buying. In San
Antonio , Texas , a local
man drove to the town's
bottler and bought $1 ,000
worth of "real" Coca-Cola.

And C oke got the message. It

took less than three mo nths fo r
this huge company to respond
ro rhe consumer tid e of o utrage,
and return to the original ingredi-
ents. C oke acknowledged that it is
th e consumer w ho owns a Love mark ,
not the company.

I 'll Follow l heSun 17 1

 The New C oke debacle has become legendary,
bur 1 am interested in those consumers who
caused the turmoil and turnaround. Coke's
website pays tribute to them today by posting
New Coke memories. T his one is my favo rite:
" My family and I have been active Coke
drinkers for my entire life. I recall a time
when Coca-Co la decided to change the
formula; there was havoc amongst the
members of my household. I believe there
was a date when the new Coke would be
sold and the old Coke would be removed
from the shelves. My father, who is a
tremendous Coke consumer, panicked ,
rushed to the store, and bought several
cases of what is now Coke classic. These
Co kes only lasted two weeks. I was a child
when this happened , and I recall my
father grounding me for drinking his 'old
Coke,' which he held as priceless. Thank
God for the return of Coke classic or my
family may still be in mayhem. "
As Roger Enrico, former CEO of arch-rival
Pepsi-Co la, said in his well-known book
The Other Guy Blinked, "By the end of their
nightmare, [Coca-Cola] fi gured out who
they really are. C aretakers." H e might have
added ... "of a Lovemark. "
Those blind tests were blind alright. They
forgot to ask the key question:
"How would you feel if we
changed Coca-Cola to this
new formula?"
172 2ovemarkJ..
That's the question that wo uld have allowed
their Insp irational Consumers [Q warn rh em
of the consequences. And make it ve ry clear
to them that the line, "The best just got
better" was never go ing to fly.
Inspirational Consumers understa nd that
the Love o f a brand goes two ways. When a
co nsum er loves yo u enough to take actio n,
any action, it is t ime to take notice.
Immediately.
Be hon est. How man y suggestio n cards
have yo u left in a box waiting until yo u
had the time to loo k at them? How many
times have yo u side-stepped an irate cus-
tomer beca use you didn't need the stress'
And isn't it a li ttle weird that yo u never get
a sin gle e-ma il from a co nsum er? Ever. Yes,
business protects itself wel l, and consum ers
know it. But in these co nsumers li e the
seeds of inspiration.
So start thinking of these
people who love what you do
as Inspirational Consumers.
Help them get behind your
brand and watch it accelerate
into a Lovemark.
Inspiratio nal Co nsum ers bu ild fan sites,
Inspirational Consumers act as the catal yst
for word-of- mouth campai gns, Inspirational
C onsumers can make great produ cts better,
Inspirational Co nsumers have ideas that
matter, ideas that can transform yo ur
brand- if yo u will let them.
In m y ex perie nce, Inspiratio nal C onsumers
not only love a bra nd , they also love peo ple.
That's what gives them their emotional
dri ve- what g ives th em the ir sheer stamina.
They are the first voice in
the game of tag we call
"word-of-mouth. "
....
.....
.'
:-:
....
0::
W hat was th e most famo lls telev isio n
co mme rcial eve r produ ced in the histo ry
o f the world ?
Apple. 1984 . Ri ght? O nl y ra n o nce a t the
Superbow l. W he n peo pl e first saw it th at
Sunday nig ht, I do n't beli eve an ybody go t
it. W hat was she doin g w ith that hamm er'
And then .. . wo rd -of- mo uth .
The best thin g yo u can do is e nterta in and
stinllliate thro ugh a grear piece of M ys terious,
Sensuous. a nd Intima te co mmuni cat io n .
The n peopl e sta rt talk ing a nd you have
th a t miracl e of powe r communi cation:
wo rd-o f- mou th.
Perso nall y, I fin d "word -of-mo uth" a silly
ex press ion. W he re else do wo rds come
fro m ? W hat's impo rtant is wh ose wo rd -o f-
mouth and wh y they're talkin g. Some guy
co mes up to you o n the sidewalk and raves
abo ut his mobile phone. We all d o the sa me
thing. Step to o ne side. Neve r slow dow n .
We can hear eve rything, bur we wa nt to
listen to somethin g that matters-fro m
someone we love a nd res pect. So Lovema rks
grow o n emo tio na l connectio ns rather tha n
just word-of- m o uth. As Malco lm G ladwe ll
put it:
"What I am looking for is
someone who is defined simply
by knowing more than I do .
If I wanted absolutely the best
source on computers, I would
find someone who worked in
the industry. But I don't. Most
of us look for someone who
has a marginal advantage over
us in information. I tend to
opt for trust over expertise,
and I ask my brother."
Let's look at some o f these Inspiratio nal
Consumers at wo rk.
I'll Follow dl(' Sun 173
 Inspirational break
Insp irational Consumers can also help Lovemarks transform products. "Break" is a square
chocolate bar with a loyal following in Greece. It had one problem. The blocks were so thick
people struggled to break or bite off a piece.

The retailets soo n picked up the message from the con-

sumers and let Break know. Consumers wa nted a slim -
mer bar that they could snap. The Break people heard
these comp laints and acted. The blocks we re made
thinner and less expensive.

Lovemarks hear messages of Love from Inspirational

Consumers when everyone else hea rs compla ints.

Inspirational busybody
In Spain, one Inspirational Consumer participated in the marke ting of corporate g iant Genera l
Mills. A fanatic lover of Old EI Paso Mex ican food knew that if he was to see his loved cuisine
made more readily available, he was go ing to have to come to Genera l Mills' aid . The road to
Sll ccess, as he saw it, was paying more atten tion to th e loca l situation. Why call it "Thick 'n
Chunky" sauce if rh e product was "like our Spanish traditional Pisto sauce, but cooked in
a Mexican way?"

The Old EI Paso products were perceived as

too spicy, roo difficult to cook, and reserved
by the Spaniards for special occasions. But our
In spirational Co nsum e r was convinced that
Mex ican food co uld be co nsum ed daily like
Spanish paella.

Putting his thoughts down on paper he sent a

list of suggestions to General M ills. He po inted out th e s im ila riti es be twee n Mexican and
Spanish cuisine and even offered to write a cookbook that wou ld convince th e Spaniards that
Old EI Paso was easy to ptepare.

Th e result of this inspirational interve ntion? General Mills marketing managers wrote a
textbook happy ending. They made the suggested changes. New labels, new product names
and , yes, yo u guessed it, a cookbook written by Old EI Paso fanatics is to be published.

174 iovemarkA.
 Inspirational grandmothers

-. In spirational Consumers want their Lovemarks to be

available, nOt just for themselves, bur for everyo ne. T hat
is their power. W hen a grandmother in Turkey found
that the red cap milk she used was hard ro get at the
local sto re, she took anion. This Insp irationa l Co nsUlner
looked after her granddaughter, and red cap milk was the
only product she felt was good enough for her precious
charge. Unfortunatel y, she and her husband lived on the
outsk irts of Istanbul, where red cap milk was hard ro get.
She ta lked ro her local srore, rang the sales rep resentative
of Slitas, and kept ringing until red cap mi lk was
ava ilab le locally.

T his was fantas tic stuff, but th en she went that important step furth er. Concerned tha t her
local sto re wo uld sto p stocking the milk if sales were low, she bega n a personal campaign. She
deco rated the srore, recruited a gro up of volunteers to distribu te leaAets, and spread the news.

I beli eve the re are Inspirational Consumers like this all over the wo rld just waiting for the call.

Inspirational rustlers
Some Inspirational Consumers are so in Love with their brand
they li terally can't keep their hands off them. Th is was what
Becker's beer discovered in C hile when they introduced a
powerful new character, a black sheep with the Becker's attitude.

It was an instant classic. Everybody fell in Love wit h the

Becker's sheep. It became an icon. So much so that ou r people
started rece iving ca lls fro m reta ilers sayi ng that their point-
of-sale black sheep cutouts we te being stolen faste r than they
co uld replace them'

O kay, I don't want to encourage people to strip sto res, bur

that is th e so rt of attitude that ca n be harnessed for good.
In spirationa l Co nsum ers want to be close to th e bran ds
th ey love. We need to get out th ere with them and feed
off their energy.

I'll Follow the Sun 175

 Inspirational snaps
Any brand that wa nts to beco me a Lovemark
gets no hig her mark of recognition than the
hours of time Inspirat ional C onsume rs put
into fan clubs. Of the many Love marks
that ha ve spro uted such loose but pass ion -
ate assoc iati ons, non e was more surpri s ing
to m e than th e Russian-made LOMO
ca mera. Old-fashioned it may be. Strange
design' Certa inly. Loved ' You better
beli eve it. On the web there are 25 country,
80 personal, and seven commun ity sites for the LOMO , including th e iconi c society
www.lomography.com. LOMO fans eve n persuaded the St. Petersburg fa cto ry to restart
production of the fabled LC-A. T hey visited the factory and pressured th e then-Mayor of
St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin. No one stands in th e way of a Lovemark.

Inspiration rereleased
Consumers who were Loyal Beyond Reason persuaded Techni cs to bring back th e fabled Technic
1200 d ecks. It turned our that OJ s so loved this giant of the turntable world that they wou ldn't
play with anything else. Now th e Technics brand approaches Lovemark sta tus for th e club
sce ne. C heck o ut the T-shirts, bags, and slip mats bearing the unmista kable line drawin gs of
th e Technics decks and other equipmenr.

So roo w ith Kung Fu ice cream

in Denmark.

A local radio OJ co nvinced over 6,000

Inspirational Co nsumers to co ntact
loca l com pany Van den Bergh to
rein state liquori ce-Aa vored Kung Fu
ice cream. FOllr yea rs breI'. in 2002,
Van den Bergh launched a website
w here consumers could vO te for th e ir
favo rite ice cream. The inevitable
resu lt' Kun g Fu , wit h 51,000 votes.

176 ioVmar~h
Inspirational countdown
Perhaps even more fanati cal than the LOMO lovers is
the man who is probably th e ultimate Inspiratio nal
Consumer: Jim Jetters of Douglasville, Georgia. In
1999, Jim's Toyo ta Starlet was getting read y to
clock one million miles! Love his car? Sure did.
The Starlet still had th e o riginal transmiss io n
and engin e and. with regular maintenance,
had been all but trouble-free. Jim wa nted
everyo ne to know it too.

His passio n for his Toyo ta ea rned him a spot o n

th e " Late Show with David Letterman" and th e audience
got to see the zeros click over for themselves .

And remem ber, Jim also owns a couple of C amrys, one with 240,000 miles on the clock and
the o ther 100,000. Jim is counting down already.

Stepping up
Inspirational Consumers are always passio nate, fo rever enthusiastic, so metimes fanati cal, and
fiercely loyal. Tapping intO their emo tional co nn ections can reveal the insights Lovemarks live
off. T hey do tend to see everything in black-a nd-white, but this is JUSt the Love shining through.

Seeking out Inspirational C onsumers and feeding their innovations bac k intO the design,
manufacturing, marketing, distribution , and sales processes is simple co mmon sense.

Busi ness finds it tough to give up the control relationship they have had with consumers.
This mea ns they have bee n very reluctant to unleash the power of the Inspirational Co nsumer.
We are now past unleashing. Those Inspiratio nal C onsumers have been empowered hugely by
th e Internet, and they are going to use their power in ways beyo nd anyth ing we can imagine.
Get ready.

By getting close to Inspiratio nal Con sumers, I believe an y business can transform itself and
step up to beco me a Lovemark .

I'll Follow th e Sun 177

 We have tapped the voices and opinions of Inspirational
Consumers through our website www.lovemarks.com .
Here 's a selection of what touches the passions and loyalties
of people around the globe.
REMO
The antithesis of blah, an on-line
AJ addin's cave, rh e esse nce of must
have and always, bur aiways ... full . Ie's a reminder
of a misspent youth , rhe excitement of providing
rhe perfect giFt, and knowing that the recipient
w ill nor be able ro resist REMOin g in return.
Love is a REMO stripey thing!
[Manager. Auslr,llia j
Palm Pilot
A tradesman ca me to my house to
give a quote- bur when he pu lled
out his Palm Pi lot to check his
schedule I knew I would give him the job....
When you come ac ross another Palm Pilot
devotee yo u have fo und a friend , someone on
your wavelength , so meo ne who und ersta nds.
[Consuh:ulI, Aust ralia]
iii
IKEA people are in Love.
IKEA is the place where fantasy
becomes reality an d where adu lts
become children. At I KENs shop you can jump
rhe chairs, sleep in rhe beds, improve yo ur
0 11
Swedi sh, inve nt yo ur house, find free pencils,
and leave your babies at the playlleld ... and it all
fits in your ca r!
[Student, Italy]
178 ~ovemarb.
Singapore Airlines
I love the way they let me sleep through
the (fa ntas tic) food service and then
when I wake up in the midd le of the nigh t, they
bring me a bowl of great noodles. Complete
bliss-a nd no fuss. I Consu lt ~uu . U.K.]
A-Channel
The impac t A-Channel has o n each
co mmuni ty it serves is pheno menal.
It's nor just a TV Station- it se rves as a public
forum , a charitable o rgani zatio n, and a frie nd to
every Ma niroban. A-Channel is LOVED
because Love is what it offers. They offer great
progra mmin g roo. There a re seve ral stations here
in Ca nada that care about their audience, bur
A-Channel is so sincere-it spreads its Love-vibe
rhroughout the region. People all over Manitoba
have "A"s on display 011 their homes, cars, kids,
and selves and they are all homemade' These
[Producer. Canada )
iPod
Wherever I go, as lo ng as my iPod is
right there with me, I rock. It's nor
just larirude. It's att itud e. It's go t rh e
look of Love. r Adw n i ~ i n g cxec lI ti\'C, U.S.A. I
Apple
After 14 years I'm still in Love. To
be honest, I don't know why I feel
this way. I've simpl y never wanted [Q give rh e
other olles a go. I don't even rcally know w hat
the differences are.. " Well , apart from looks' I've
been told both do almost the same things-o ne
way o r another. Bur wou ld (hey feel rhe same in
the da rk' Perhaps deep down I know it's the way
you learn to handle them, how readily they
respond to your needs, the way they do it. Or
maybe there's more to it? Ri cha rd Brie rs/Geo rge
Clooney. PC/A ppl e Mac. What sort of idiot
wo uld divorce their soul matc? Apple Mac- you
arc my Lovemark.
IDt:Signer, New Zealand ]
The Statue of
Liberty
In tim es ullce rrain , past and
prese nt, hu rnaniry in vests her with- or does she
already possess?- rhe srrengrh of a living icon,
rh e hope of a li ving spirir. I've stood within her
skin , climbed her winding stair, a nd surveyed
her domain frolll her crown. The nobi li ty of her
face, her steady gaze, and stro ng, straight stance
keep the f.1 ith like nothing else on this planer.
Words are not equal to the hope and f.1ith the
Statue of Liberty perpetuates.
[Crcarin direcror, U.S.A. I
o
Barbie
The famous fad of the 60s is now a
se rious Love mark thanks to the undying Love of
yo ung girls eve rywhere. Barbie taps into th eir
dreams and hopes. She takes them by the hand
partway into adulthood, but always in the safe
guise of play. (Ed iwr, New Zealand]
Aveda
Like a bevy of kind , attentive,
attractive sisters, m y Aveda hair
products sit waiting to do m y hair ri ght each
morning. Dressed in their sweet, subdued
colo rs, th e team springs into action to smooth
me, hold me, shine me up .... Patiently they
work to disciplin e m y un rul y mop 't il it gleams
and hangs JUSt right. They wrap me up in their
bright scents and send me out to f.:1ce th e world,
knowing deep down that I am loved.
[Educaror, U.S.A.]
Twinings
Twinings teas have a special place '\,'o\\NII'~'
""o,~ ,s
.
in my life. I'm JU St not a mornin g
person, but if, as I wake up to that unftiendl y
light, I focus on the image of my breakfast tray
w ith its fragra nt pot o fTwinin gs Russian
Caravan tea, 1 ca n make that brave move out
from under rhe covers, Just a cup clears my
head , ge ntl y, nor with a crude rush of caffein e,
just a se nsiti ve push into reali ty, Twinings teas
help me face the day ahead with courage.
[Mother, Auslralia l
Where the
Wild Things Are
The grea test children's book ever written.
Everyone ca n ide ntify wi th Max beca use there's
a littl e bit of him in all of us. At tim es we want
(0 escape fro m so mething or someo ne, yet we
know in ou r hearrs that the grass is gree ner
where we stand. This book is absolutely timeless
and tho ught-provoking. It will endure fo rever
and will be read and re-read by children and
their parents un t il the end of time,
(Entrepreneur. U .S .A.]
I'll Follow the Sun 179
 BBC
It was only a few years
ago tha t the BBC booked a one-way ticket to
th e U .S. on th e QE2 . It soon becam e a ray of
ligh t amongst th e thousa nds of bland tel evision
stations we a re bombarded wi th here in rh e
Scates. Since [hat rime, my own cultu ral
horizo ns have grown a nd matured along with irs
progra mmin g. Ever since crossing over to th e
"English chan nel," t he word comedy has taken
on a whole new meanin g, "home deco rating" has
rurned into something of a sporr, an d m y garden
(or whatever you call the rwo-by- two patch of
grass in front o f my house) has blossomed. M y
Anglophilia has finall y been satisfied.
[Legal assistant, U.S.A. ]
BMW motorcycles
BMW mororcycles are a world
(and a brand) apart. And so
much morc (han a brand. It is a lifestyle, a way
of living, a way of definin g myse lf and the world
a round me. When I am on m y R 1150 GS,
traveling through the w ild and wonde rfu l
co rn ers of Africa, (his inc redib le machi ne
becomes m y survival kit. And after hu nd reds of
thousands of kilo meters, the " kit" becomes
"comrade," and the bond becomes emotional.
To me, this brand means freedom. Or b rea king
free. Escaping. But th at is almost generic ro all
b ike b rands. The unique ness of the BMW is
that it is a motorcycle for the wi ld . Ir turn s me,
an ordinary man, imo an explorer, a p ionee r, a
Lone Ra nge r. It makes me more than I am.
[Author, South Africa]
180 iovemark ....
Dodge Viper
A friend of m y son lenr
h im h is Viper to go to a
wedding. M y so n took me for a d rive. I
have neve r experienced such a n ove rwh elmin g
transition- from passe nge r to copi lo t. This
veh icle embraces yo u as you sit down , it
makes you pan of it. If o ne we re to get a
ti cke t, it wouldn't be for go in g too fast, it
wou ld be for fl ying too low. This isn't a ny ca r,
(his is a T ime Machin e.
] Farmer, Canad:l ]
Absolut ,'I
it is sman , funn y, uendy. It always has
a d ifferem s[Qry for us-in viting us to
-
"'.
d iscover "what is the story (his (i me?" It
can be an yth ing it wanrs, transformin g an y
object, situation , or issue. I do n't eve n dri nk
vodka, but I love the Absolut b ra nd.
[Designer, Romania]
Technics
Classic tec hnology. T he 1200s
are rhe original direct-d ri ve
turntable. Precision hi -fi equipm ent made to
last. First produced in the ea rl y 7 0s, small
chan ges were made in th e late 70s (a d ifferent
moto r and a few new co mpo ne nts) and th e
MK J 1 was rel eased. This solid consuucrion ,
with the ab ility to tun e trackin g, we ight, p itch ,
etcetera saw irs popu larity in crease. The first
Disco a nd Bear DJ s looked for reli abil ity an d
fl exibili ty [Q scratch lloop/m ix music with other
m usi c and M Cs in clubs, and on th e stree ts.
The 1200 was th e an swe r. As a workho rse, the
audioph iles have to agree. T his is a fin e
marr iage- precision equipm ent mee rs th e
rocke rs up[Qwn.
[DJ. U.K.[
Fnac
A specialist seller of books, C Ds,
and videos. F!lac has around 60
shops all over France. Their main
co mpetitors are rhe big retailers like Carrefollf
that sell yo u everything cheaply-from a pound
of ca rrots to TV sets. Fnac, on rhe other hand,
has managed to c reate a special cl imate in their
Sto res and a pride in buying culrural products
from them rath er than from rh e big retaile rs.
Their assista ll ts know abom everything. So
much so, it becomes a challenge to question
them about a field they don't know! And in
every shop, yo u will find a space dedicated to
ex hibitions or artist intervi ews or a showcase of
some kind . This makes Fnac not just a place
where culture is sold- bur also a place whe re
culture happens.
[1-.1anager. France1
Original ~.
Tommy's Burger
Every rime I'Ill back at Beverl y and Ramparr, I
can't help feel ing like I'm 16 aga in. This was the
stop on the way home from Dodgers and Kings
games, co ncerts, shopp ing, or a nything else tha t
would bring me to L.A. for the day. I've seen
everything from wedding parties to gang fightS ,
Magic John son in his limo to a vagrant on
C hri stmas day who ate a burge r I gave him like
it was the only thi ng he'd had ro eat in d ays.
Tommy's has had an effect on me like my first
ki ss, or m y first ca r; it's so mething that stays
w ith YOLI no mat ter where YOll go. For me,
Tomm y's wi ll always be more than a burger; it's
part of my Ii fe. [Graphic designer. U.S.A.]
Birkenstock
A great stOry: 19th century
German cobbler Konrad
Birkenstock refi nes the shape of his
grandfather's clog molds and adds a Aexible arch
suppon. It wins th e su ppon of loca l doerors.
Eighty years later, Konrad's son Karl applies the
next-generation innovation and takes the clog
one step Funher- into a shoe. Voiffl-the
Birkenstock sa nd a l is born. I love th e classic
styling, and most of all 1 love the comfort.
H eidi Klurn can keep her "designer collec ti on"
denim and rhin esto nes!
[Builder. ' I'he Netherlands]
Mikimoto
I received my Mikimoro pearls as Q(",
a gift from my boyfriend of three
momhs baek in 1986. Immediately I knew he was
a keeper. What a romantic, luxuriolls gift For a
man to give a woman . Foreve r assoc iated in my
mind with images of t he bea utiFul Mrs.
Jacqueline Kenn edy Onassis and the Queens of
England. When J'm weari ng them rhey remind
me of my husband's Love fat me. I cherish
them. J married this m a n-and two child ren
later, we re ma in vc ry much in Love!
]Wif,' :md mOther. U.S.A. ]
Tiffany's
It's just a little aqua-blue box, but
yo u know that in side is so m ething
absolutely special. Cou ld you ever open a
Tiffany bo x w ithout a quiver of excitcment over
what it contains? No other brand says more
about how yo u Feel abou t someone (han this.
[Creative director. AUSII':lli:l [
I'll Follow lhc SUIl 181
 Tonga
The best kept secret in the
South Pacific, and probably th e
most welcoming place in rhe world. Deserted
paradise islan d s, virgin beaches, acrive volca nos,
coral lagoons, Jonah Lomu. Cu rrentl y apply ing
for status as an international marin e park
reserve. A famolls hisrory of independ ence and
the site of the mutin y on rhe Bounty. Sc uba
diving visib ility for 50 meters. The only place
in rhe wo rld that YO LI can watch humpback
w hales d a n ce wit hout ever having ro leave
the beach.
[M:nketcr. New ZCJ.b nd J
Snaidero
Snaidero was rhe first [0
understand that kitchens are
evolvin g from a place w he re you cook and
eventuall y ear, into a place where YO LI tran sfo rm
food into Love an d affection for yo urself a nd
yo ur fami ly and fr iend s. Famous des igners ha ve
worked for them. Their new ES kitchen is made
in slich a shape t hat it ca n be pur anywhere-
even in front of a w indow. It feels smooth and
fun ction al a nd it follows the c urves of your
body when you Aex yo urself in one of your
favori te sports-cooki ng!
ICEO , Ital y]
Coppertone
Jn the 60s rh e fragralH , exo ti c
smell of this lotion , the sun ,
and the ocean , libe rated our coasral backwate r.
C losin g yo ur eyes on a lonel y beach in a bikini,
you could dream a nd esca pe to America, where
it was all happening!
ICompany director. New Zea land l
182 2 oVEmClr~,1
Toyota
Here in Egypt I see loved Toyota
pick-up tru cks every day. Paint
jobs don't last well in thi s cl imate w ith sand
being such a big problem. It upsets locals that
own Toyota pick-ups to find t ha t the large
Toyota sign at the back of th e veh icle wears our.
The answe r, for many. is to painr the nam e
"Toyota" in bright colors over th e original sign.
That way YO ll ca n show you r Love for yo ur
pick-up trllck and the name Toyota at the sa m e
ti me. These brightl y painted signs on the back
of p ick-lip trucks are eve rywhe re to be see n in
this city of Cairo and all other parts of Egypt.
[Retailer. Egypd
FJ"
Campbell's
.=
My Lovemark is the ultimate comforr
food-Cam pbell's tomato sou p and Tomato
....... our)
grilled cheese on toast. On a gloomy
day, lou nging on th e couch drinking so up is
the ve ry bes t cure for th e blues. Cam pbell 's
so up is more than a brand. Okay, so it was
immortalized by Andy Warho l, but th at was
simpl y a recognition of irs permanelH place as
an ico n. H ere am I, in Swi t2:erla nd , a co ulHry
with so m e of the fin est foods in the world ...
fondues an d raclettes are brilliant and they're
comforr foods in their ow n ri gh t". But on th is
foggy w in te r day all [ desire is a big bowl of
Ca mpbell 's tomato so up and toasted cheese.
IAdmin istrator, Swi tzerland]
Google Coogle
Google is my best friend' Google is my bes t
fri end! Google is my best fri end! Google is my
best friend' Google is my best friend'
lCopywriter. Turkeyl
Concorde
A spectacular symbol of
technologica1 achievemen t and
by far the most beautiful aircraft in the sky.
T he sleek, delicate hull and that complex wing
shape. No other machine makes people stop and
gape as it passes. No orhcr machine retains it's
own singular identity-peop le don't eve r say
"There's a Co ncordc," JUSt (he one we lovc-
the Concorde.
[Enginee r, Francel
Doc Martens
Docs signified teen angst and
rebel lion for me and all the
other kids growi ng up in suburbia. W hen I
started wea ring them my parents didn't get it.
Fo r girls, Docs showed the wo rld that for the
first time "cool" meant morc [Q you th an
"prctry" and you we re developing your own
sense of style. True, all your fr iends wo re the
same shoes, so yo ur style was n't necessarily
original, but it was gcrring there. At least I
didn't dress like my parents!
[Stylist, U.S.A. I
Breyers
To sum up my feelings, I must
quore Ren (of "Ren & Stimpy"):
"Oh! My beloved icc cream!" All that Breyers
lacks is what makes it sooooo good. Eating
Brerers is akin (0 eating homemade-from the
way it melts. to the way irs edges "crisp" up in
root-bee r Aoars. As a premium ice cream it's
incomparable!
[Accountant, U.S.A.I
Ermenegildo Zegna
Just a dream. The perfect wear
for rhe perfeer man. JUSt for a
few men. W he n I d ie I'll want [Q wea r an
Ermcnegildo Zegna suit so I can be in heaven
wit h all the Ermenegildo Zegna angels.
[Salesman , Costa Rica ]
Bundaberg
ot all ginger beers are created
equal-but most are. For my loor
and loyalty, one towers above the rest. The
distinctive, yellow label is a century-old echo of
mystery. Set against the deep brown of the
bottle, it hin ts of a subtropical legacy of toi l and
dedication rowards perfecting rhe ultimate dri nk
nirvana. The burst of effervescence lIpon
opening is an aura l orgy. And the taste of a cold
o ne-Woah ! A dance o n the tonsils that slays
thirst and jllSt keeps going down. Words don't
do justice. W hich says it all really.
[journalist, Australia ]
Steinway ~
The piano chosen by over 90 ~
percent of concen pianists is one
of rhe great musical Lovcmarks. 5teinway pianos
are lovingly polished, tllned, and cared for
through generations. A 5rein way brings the past,
prescnt, and fuwre together with rhe myste rious
power of music.
(Car salesman. U.S.A. ]
['11 Follow rhc Sun 183
Five things
to do tomorrow
 At Saatchi & Saatchi, we've been putting
Lovemark ideas into practice. We want to
make as many Lovemarks for our clients as
we can. We know that any business that is
not creating Lovemarks is simply not creating
value. Here are case studies on Olay,
Brahma, Lexus, Cheerios, and Tide from
our ideas people from around the globe.
Each one of these stories dramatically
demonstrates the power of harnessing the
Lovemark characteristics: Olay using
Mystery to launch into a tight market;
Brahma wrapping up the beer market with
the power of storytelling; Lexus dealers
building empathy with customers; Cheerios
and Tide repositioning themselves as
consumer Icons.
@ you pay a lot of mo ney fo r is mo re likely to
o LAY.
A Mystery story
W hat do Y OLI do when you are so successful
that your loyal band of consumers don't want
you to change? When yo u know you are
limited by the category, but the ones who
love you most won't let you move?
This was O lay in 1999 . A great product ,
well-loved , and the leader in mass-market
sales o f mid-priced moisturizers.
But onc huge, new area rem ained for
Olay to break into: the prestige skin -care
market- th e wo rld o f supermodels, movie
stars, and beauty queens. A sector that
186 2ovemark",
accounted for nearl y 40 perce nt o f the
global skin-care m arket. And , criti ca lly,
a step up [Q premium p rices .
The stakes in this market
are high. With them come
the desire to stay young. Or,
even more profoundly, the
quest to fend off mortality.
Th e pres tige secto r had been do minated
for years by th e Bi g Beauty Industry
Playe rs. They played hard. T heir adve rtising-
arrogant, self-ass ured, confident- played on
consumers' hopes and drea ms. Surely, prestige
consumers whispered to themselves, rhe stuff
work. And the stuff you pay less for ' Got to
be a little less effecrive. Millio ns of women
througho ut the world had lisrened to this
"logic" for decades .
The prestige sector also had se rvice on
th eir side. D eparrn1enr stores are where
the expensive luxury brands reign. T hat's
where the beauty co nsultants ("dragon
ladi es" with ve rmilion lipsti ck and perfect
skin ) lie in wait, read y to grab a woman's
hand and persuad e her that the pro duct is
perfect for her.
Olay, o n the other hand , lived in rhe
"self-select" section o f the market- pharmacies,
drugstores, even supermarkets. There, with
no help in sight, a woman had to feel
something abo ut the product before she
got an yw here near the sto re.
T he power of 1 a nd 2 . . .
Olay entered this co mplex situ ation wit h
a lo ng and va lued hi story w ith wome n ...
a nd a trump card. A new a nti -agin g
c rea m wit h su pe rb performance. Plu s,
P&G kn ew they co uld make thi s superior
level of perfo rm a nce access ib le to more
women than ever before. T hey could , in
some cases, offe r th eir c rea m at up to $ 100
less than compa rab le products sold in
departm en t sto res .
At Saatchi & Saatchi, we
figured there had to be a
way to capture the best of
both worlds .
1. To up-sell the tradi tion al "self-select"
co nSllm er, a nd 2. ro e nti ce the prestige
consumer off her luxury- bra nd pedesta l ...
... equals 3: Enter a who le new beauty
opportunity, masstige! Prestige products
for rhe mass marker.
Respect before Love
The first job was to make sure that this
fantastic product was greeted with the
Respect it deserved .
To take O lay into the hea rt of the prestige
skin -care market, the credi bili ty of teal
opinion fanners was cri tical. T hese are rhe
bea uty ed itors, rhe mavens, and the media
types. T hose super-stylish, trendsetting
fashionistas from New York and London.
But how to get these high-Ayers to listen '
Our team knew that if we sa id, " H ere's
a mo isturi zer that is proven ro be more
effective tha n all those other brands ... and
it's ftom O lay," we'd get a "yeah, right"
kind of respon se-a nd that wo uld be that.
What was needed was a breakthrough
insight that wo uld not only make these
professional inAuencers notice the product,
but also fa ll in Love with it.
We looked to Lovemarks
and found just the thing :
Mystery.
T he a ura o f the u nknow n
The first task was to cOll vin ce the opinion -
lead ing ed itors to trial the new product,
but without the brand name. They agreed.
The resu lt was spectacula r.
Rolling Thunder 187
 "I call it amazing effects because it does
exactly what it says it will do. I am hooked. "
"Fan tastic. Where can Lget more?" "To my
amazement the area under my eyes isn't as
crinkly as it usually is," "I am really starting
to glow now. When I put it on my face it
fecl s like a part of my skin that I have been
missing. It is nice [Q be reunited with a
youthful glow again. I'm happy'"
Mystery raised interest
and expectations. Testers
really did fall in Love with
the product.
And although they were surprised when they
found out who was behind the Mystery.
they were not disappointed.
Our intuition was that the same enthusiastic
support could be created with consumers as
well. A series of trials and tests co nfirm ed
rhe hunch that Mystery was an inherent part
of the success of this Aedgling product.
Perceptions of the value of
the product-with and without
the association of the Olay
name-were very different.
Without the O lay nam e, so me women (Old
us th ey would be wi llin g to spend up to
$60 for th e produ ct. That was th ree times
more than the price Olay intended taki ng
to market!
188 ioVmar~h
With the Olay name attached, the acceptable
price point came way, way down.
Clearly, whi le associations with the O lay
name were very positive, it was nor a
brand that could ex ist alone outside of
mid-t ier pricing. For this new p rod uct ro
break into the prest ige market it needed
som ething more. And so th e laun ch of
Total Effects.
To the power of seven
In developing the concept of Total Effects,
Mystery was a guiding light. Take the lise
of myrhs and icons. The promise to "Fight
the 7 Signs of Aging" evoked all th e iconic
associations of th e number seven. As a visual
identifier, we created a graphic of the
numbe r seven that was used for th ree years
around the globe.
T he m o me nt of Intimacy- an d tru th
Equipped with th e expert testimony of the
beauty industry inAuencers, Total Effects was
ready to launch and to take on th e prestige
sector. The campa ig n started in the hea rt of
the beauty business: Vogue magazin e.
Real women who'd participated in the initial
trials were recruited and photog raph ed.
Th e spreads were beautiful- but, cruciall y,
beli evable. The Tota l Effects laun ch was a
ph enom enal success, proving the ab ility of
Olay to attract rh e elusive prest ige consumer.
Sales were 53 percent high er in so phisticated
prestige markets such as New York, Los
Angeles, and Chicago.
And the figu res kept on growing. long after the
initial marketi ng campaigns were over. Unlike
92 percent of new product introductions. Total
Effects' sales grew in (he second year, and even
more dramatically in the thi rd year.
Olay has always been respected and loved.
With the add iti o n of Mys tery and lntimacy.
it was also abl e to make a dramati c leap in
price po int with the launch of Total Effects.
g Facing up to the truth . Brahma understood it
rmm:JM~
Brazil-where the beer
comes from
Everyone in Brazil knows Brahma beer. After
all . they have had well over a century to get
acquai nted . Brahma was founded in 1888.
and has built its positio n to be the leading
brewer in the nation. Th e name says it all :
Brahma is "hee r. "
In 1990 . most Brazilians wo uld have said
Brahma was a Lovcmark.
Brahma was th e lead ing brand . with 35
perce nt market share. A ycar later, Brahma
decided nOt just to be out front . but to make
everyo ne k now about it. They adopted th e
line 'Th e N umber I. " Co nfid ent. assertive-
and foc used on th e beer and its leadership of
the market. Troubl e was. there was nothin g
in there about the peopl e who drank it.
Seven years later. Brahma had lea rned the
big Lovemarks lesson:
Love cannot be taken for granted.
T he lin e "The Nu mber 1" crea ted confusio n.
Was it th e first beer to be made in Brazil. the
best beer. th e leading beer' W ho knew and.
morc and more, who ca red? Brahma suffe red
a hefty 11 percent drop in market share.
had become toO traditional for the yo ung
people who consumed it-their largest market.
Fo r man y. it was no lo nger about having
a good time or self-indulgence.
Brahma's return to the embrace of yo unger
consumers is a tex tboo k Lovcmarks story.
To get back in to uch. Brahma and F/Nazca
Saa tchi & Saatchi reached for Sensuali ty and .
mo re specifica lly. for sound.
In rh e search for a moment of real emotional
con nec tion with th e Brahma drinking
experience. the sound of a ca n being opened
was perfect.
"Tsss" became the sound of
good times, the sound of
anticipation, and the sound of
Brahma. The power of sound
as an iconic element in a cam-
paign had immediate results.
Rolling Thunder 189
 "Tsss" beca m e part of the vernacular of
yo un g Braz ilian drinkers. Walk into a bar.
Make the so und. You get what yo u wanted
without saying a singl e word. You were
in stantl y part of a club of fans. "Tsss"
beca m e an ico n in its own right.
Bralllna had nailed sound , but did not ignore
the other senses. Specially decorated cans were
produced for popular Brazilian parties and
festivals. Touch was picked up on with thermo-
sensitive stickers that changed color as rhe beer
cooled. And Brahma was sold in champagne-
sized bottles in a stunning visual surprise.
Indi viduall y th ese senses- based actions were
sma rr, bur more importa nt was what they
achieved to ge ther. Brahma was dramaticall y
repositioned as ph ys ical, with excitement in
irs sOllnd and (Ouch , and as a n esse ntial pa rt
of rh e action. Now that was so methin g that
eve ry yo ung Brazilian could relate to on an
emotional level.
Having created a physical bond throu gh the
senses, F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi and
Brahma looked to utilizing more Lovemark
characteristics-great sto ries, mythic characters.
empath y, and pass ion.
As Benjamin Franklin once
famously remarked, "Beer is
living proof that God loves
us and wants us to be happy."
That was ce rtainl y th e spirit that spa rk ed
Brahma's runle ca mpa ign , one of the most
190 ~oVmar~h
successful marketing ideas to co nn ect
with Brazilians.
The turtle spoke to the
hearts of Brazilians . The
turtle was irreverent, colorful,
surprising .. . and he loved to
party. This was a character
that reflected every young
Brazilian's ideal image of the
national personality.
The original commercials featured the [Unle's
efforts to lind a Brahma beer on a hot,
dusty road. Th e tunic was an animated
character interacting with real people and
real situation s. This freed up the ca mpaign
to heighten the action on-screen, and w
make abs urd juxtapositions.
The nrst turrle spot was a big hit. People
couldn't get enoug h of the thirsty turtie
who hij acks a truckload of beer in his quest
to get a Brahma and to get up-close and
intimate with som e bea uti ful wo men at
the same time.
F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi and Brallma under-
stood that beer was part of the consumer's
emotional landscap e. That being the case,
they reasoned , the more Love mark elements
that could be drawn on in th e co mm ercial,
the more potential there would be for an
emotional response. Working through the
key Love mark qualiti es, the turtie and his
world are rich in Lovemark wuchpoints.
Mystery: The crearion of th e turtle's
personaliry was inspired. Thi s was how
Brazilian yo urh rhemselves wanted to be.
Irreve rent, inclin ed ro show off, decisive,
very successful ar achieving goa ls rhat are
darin g and tin ged wirh dan ge r.

The sto ries of the turtle's escapades we re

classicall y constructed. The runle has a
problem : he is hot and tired and trapped in
an unwelcomin g e nvironm e nt. H e sees an
opportuni ty and se izes it. He thus rea ps the
reward of a cold Brahma beer.

In 1868, the scholar Georges Polti under-

rook an ex tensive review of wo rld literature.
and concluded rhat th ere are o nl y 36
fundam ental stori es . Th e turtle's daring
narrati ve of problem-opponunity-action-
success must be one of th e world's favorites.
Ir taps in to rhe drea ms of every hum an
being: rhe sea rch for good fortune.

Th e turtl e rhen becam e a hugel y popular

character in hi s own ri ghL An icon for
Brazili an attitud e and humor. So intense
was rhe pass ion for rh e tu rrl e rhar hi s
creator, Fabio Fernandes, became concern ed
rhar rh e rurtl e mi ght beco me bi gger than
the brand.
Inti mac)': The runl e's perso nality res ponded
to w hat consum ers wanted most in a fri e nd.
The level cou ld be exaggerated, of course,
bur humor a nd irreverence were highl y
va lued by younger consumers. Th ey felt
rhe rurtle was on e of th e m.

Sensuality: The rurtle is highl y ph ysical. He
may have beco me a symbol of thirsr, bur hi s
jugglin g and balan cing of the beer cans
delighted eve ryone wirh irs crazy skill and
dexrerity. As fo r so und , the turtle's delighred
"ii iih" victory cry becam e part of rhe
Brazilian vernacular.
After rhree rurtl e SpOts, F/Nazca Saarchi
& Saatchi felr rhe series had done its work.
The cli ent had orher ideas. Enchanted by
rhe success of th e turtle and the emot ional
response it had creared wirh rhe peopl e
of Brazil , Brahma asked for on e more
runle spor.

Rollin g Thunder 191

 T his o ne would be special. The co mm ercial
would support the Brazilian soccer team, whi ch
was playing to qualifY for the 2002 FI FA World
C up in Korea and Japa n. At the time, no o ne
rated them as potential winners of the C up.
Th e new spot encouraged everyone in Brazil
to support the underdog Brazi lian eleven .
As Brazil's chances
improved, it was almost
inevitable that another turtle
spot was called for.
T he turtle had to keep goi ng with the tea m
itself. H e had gone from being a mascot to
a lucky charm.
Against th e odds, the Brazilian tea m wo n th e
World C up- and Bra hm a was with them all
the way. Many Brazili ans could not help but
give the turtle so me small credit for this
remarkable victory.
The effect of creating such a stro ng emotional
ti e with the co nsume r had dram at ic res u lts
for Brahma. Th e tunle ad, with its hum o r,
personality, and empathy, ach ieved an incredible
59 percent awareness during the Wo rld C up.
T his represented an ave rage increase of
7 percent over the fu ll cam paign. Brahma's
brand consideratio n also increased by 4 per-
cent; Brahma had achieved the highest recall
and prefere nce in all product categori es in
Brazil. During the World Cup, a udience recall
peaked at just under 50 percent- a massive
increase frolll rhe morc usual 5 to 15 percent.
192 iovemark ....
, EXIIS
A new luxury car for
America? You've got
to be kidding!
It is hard to believe now, but as recently
as the 1980s, the automotive giant,
Toyo ta , was litrle known in the United
States. Back then , the co mpan y was
known as a manu fact urer of well -priced ,
sInall cars. And cve n in th e 80s, "made in
Japan ," the great put-down of the 60s, still
lurked in corners of the trade.
In Japan, Toyota ru led, but the compa ny
needed ex pansion outside th e Pacifi c.
Th e Am eri ca n car market was huge.
Winning th e hearts of Ame ri can s was
crucial if Toyota was to mee t its growth
expecta tions, and Toyota fully intended
to d o JUSt that.
Did they do it? They certainly
did. During the past few
years, Toyota 's sales and
profits have climbed .
T hey have achieved th eir goal to beco me
the most profitabl e automotive company
in th e wo rld, a nd a rc now pursuin g a n even
higher goa l: to becom e the wo rld leader in
globa l 3uw mori ve sales .
A big parr of rh is success can be ri ed to rh e
crea tion of LeXlIS, a lu xury Toyora brand
specifi call y bui lr for Am eri ca ns. Th e intro-
du ctio n of LeXLls demo nstrates rh e critical
importa nce of local connections and insight
in develop in g powerful global brands. Ir also
hi ghli g h rs how relarion ships-th e beating
hea rt of a Lovema rk- can be th e foundarion
fo r long-te rm competiti ve advantage.
How Toyota turned the tide
of consumer opinion from
mistrust, through Respect,
to Love is a classic
Lovemarks story.
Leadin g wit h t he local
In rhe 7 0 s a n d 80s, Toyo ra had rise n to
rh e challenge of co n vin cin g a nat ion of
Americans, in Love w ith American cars, [Q
bu y and dri ve Japanese. Sa les of small cars
we re boomin g, and Toyota had begun to
di ve rsify th e lin eup. But th e introd ucti on of
LcxlIs- a lu xury caT and a luxury distr ibution
channel t har wou ld take o n th e big European
a nd Ameri ca n manufacturers-was, ( 0 say
th e leas t, a bold move. T he initial reaction '
Scorn a nd d isbeli ef.
Toyota knew th e Lexus was up to th e job
of dom inat ing the lu xu ry car marker. T hey
also kn ew th ey had some powe rful allies in
rh e task of co nvinc ing America ns to c han ge
th eir rrad irio nal views- ca r d ealers. Such was
th e Res pec r rhar Toyo ra had built up w irh
irs own ca r d eaiers, as well as that of th e
auromorive industry in ge neral , they we re
co nfident th at peo pl e wo ul d cl amor for rh e
cha nce to acqu ire a Lex us franchi se. And
th ey d id.
M ike Sulli va n , a di e- hard car sales profes-
siona l from Santa Monica, Californi a, had
wo rk ed with Vo lkswagen , H y und a i, a nd
Isuz u. In 1988, he heard abour Toyora's
pl ans to es tab lish a se parate Lex us chann el:
"There were literally
thousands of applicants.
Without seeing the product
or knowing much about it,
other than that it was Toyota's
upscale division, people were
throwing themselves at the
Lexus rep for the opportunity
to be awarded a franchise.
" We gOt in t h e lo n g line and starred negoti-
ating. We j umped in a nd spent, at rh e rim e,
a lor of mo ney for a ve ry excitin g 'm ay be.'
Ir was so rr of blind faith - in hindsight,
a labor of Love."
W ith so m an y d ealers kee n [Q co rn e o n-
boa rd , Toyota co uld affo rd to be selec ti ve.
Und ersta ndin g t he powe r of relat io nships,
rhey saw rh eir d ealers as business parrners
w hose ow n success was inregral ro rhar of
rh e co mpa ny itself. Toyota saw them as
people wit h w hom they intend ed to bui ld
a mutuall y be nefi cial, lo ng- ter m relation ship.
Rollin g Thund,:r 193
 So how did Toyo ta select their future
partners' "T his was before all the surveys,
and it was sort of g Ut instinct as ro who
wanted ro move forward and change the
industry w ith the m," says Sullivan. " We
simply embarked on a 'no ful es' serv ice
situation. Of course, th e Lex lis was an
unbelievable car. But more importantly,
Toyo ta didn't say no to us. Eve n if th ere
was a problem, they'd say, ' Well, fi x it for
the customer, and yo u and I'll work out th e
d etail s later.' They d idn't ti e our hands with
havin g to argue with rhe customer over what
was perceived (0 be wrong. If the ( US(Omer
was upset, we were supposed to fix it. And
we did ."
Dan Davidson has been with Toyota sin ce
he started washing their cars in 1968. Dan
was a noth er on e of the lucky few to be
welcomed into th e LeXl!s deal er fo ld.
"Toyota ke pt the number of d eal e rs to
a minimum , which allows liS to sell quire
a few ca rs per ourler, a nd for us ro be
pro fitable. With that profitability we're able
to give th e customers that littl e bit ex tra.
And we're ab le to keep reinvestin g in the
service side of Ollf business."
C usto mers own the brand
Toyota's corporate focus o n "QDR"-Quality,
Durability, Reliability-is legendary. These
elements of Res pect are now rablesrakes in
rh e J uromori ve industry.
If everyone is respected !
everyone is the same.
The task then is to step up
194 iovemarkA
beyond Respect and form
a relationship created out
of emotional connections.
This sort of bond requires
sensational service.
With a cO lllmitme nt ro serv ice, LeXlls
d ealers se t new sta ndards that oth er
d ealers struggle to match. Does it wo rk'
You only need to ask LeXlls owne rs.
Serv ice has beco me a ha llmark of th e
LeXl!s brand.
Mike Sulli va n endorses th e "littl e th ings"
that add up to a big difference. "Th e free
ca r washes . th e fresh ro lls, the Starbucks
coffee. the leather c hairs w ith the Internet
service ... there's no on e tangible thin g. It
beco mes the who le ex perience."
At Longo LeXlls, there are no customers,
only guests, states Tom Rudnai . "We rreat
every guest like a gu est in our ho me. We
have rel ationships that grow with eve ry vis it
to our facility and we are very respectful of
our guests' ti me. We wa nt to meet and
exceed ex pectations every time a guesr
comes to Lo ngo. "
Dan D avidso n, too , makes superio r se rvice
a focus of his bus in ess. "We offer free
pick-up an d deli ve ry whe n servicin g o r
purchasing, via Aatbed. And all minor
services are performed by rov ing technicians
at the custo mer's home o r office. allowing
the custo mer to make th e most of eve ry
moment in their busy day.
"Say so mebody buys a car fro m us, and
they dri ve it home, and a few days later a
scratch appears on the vehicle, or it gets
a crack in the windshield , or a Rat tire. T hen
th e Clisro mcr calls liS up, and there's one of
two thin gs we ca n do. We can say no . and
make the guest feel un co mfo rtable. Or we
ca n replace the windshield or the tire, and
it may COSt us a cou ple of hundred bucks.
And we clo that. We say, no problem-when
wo uld yo u like it' Do yo u need a loaner
ca r' We'll take ca re of that G uest. We have
an advocate for life."
Says Dan Davidso n, "Toyo ta's Lexus people
listen, they trul y listen. Other co mpanies
probably conduct the same sort of meetings.
But wha t do they do with the in formation '
Yo u might as well not have bothered with
rhe mee tin g, because rhe manufacturer is
just go ing ro go down the path they're
already going.

Listening Beyo nd Reaso n

LeXlIS dealers offer a conduit [0 th e consumer-
but as in all successful relationsh ips, the
co mmunica ti on is two-way. Dealers a re
regularl y consulted about improvements.
They're often ca lled on ro coordinate
custOm er foc lis g ro ups) w hi ch are morc like
fami ly gatherin gs, to gather va luable
product feedback.

But unlike some other

" Lexus is different. Every single ca r that
manufacturers, Toyota takes co mes our, we're as ked to contribute ou r
this feedback onboard. knowledge to its development. T hey want
ro know the things that are really important
This generates a feeling of ro the co nsumer. "
trust that perpetuates the
We've lea rned a great deal from participating
willingness of dealers and
in the Lexus srart-up. Like Saarch i & Saatchi ,
consumers to give back to Toyota believes that Nothing is Imposs ibl e.
the company-a virtuous And li ke us, they roo understand the power
of Loyalty Beyond Reason- the ve ry loya lty
cycle that keeps the relation- they created with Lexus owners.
ship alive and growing .

Rolling Thunder 195


Out of the bowl and
into the heart of the
family
Breakfast is big busin ess in the U.S. T hink
$8 billio n a yea r. And that's the ready-tO-
cat ccreal catego ry alo ne. How much do
Americans love their cereal? Beyo nd reaso n.
And, at the heart of this passionate mo rning-
time Love affair is General Mi lls' cheery
little 0 in its bright yel low box.
When breakfast cereals first ap peared o n
American tables in the 1940s, C hee rios
was th e re. At that ti me, cereal was a
co mmod ity product based o n grai n forms.
Co rn Flakes and Rice Krispies fro m
Ke ll ogg's. W heaties, Corn Puffs, and
C heerios from General Mills. Back the n,
these five origin atO rs shared a powerful 75
percent of th e cerea l market.
Today the cereal busi ness is packed with
ove r 250 brands, and market share has
declined accord in gly. But in spite of thi s
dramati c shi ft, C hee ri os re main s a
N umber One, a Lovemark th at has li ved
th rough the histO ry of ce real itself. This is
a brand thar has built such powerful
emotional co nnect io ns w ith consume rs
that any Ameri can from six to 60 wo uld
196 Rovemar~/"
recogni ze its d istin ctive shape and most
likely recall having eaten C hee rios ce real
at so me time in his or her li fe.
CO ll1modit) to hrand
H ow d id C heerios do it? How d id the
cereal manage to t hrive in this fie rcely
co mperiti ve category? To begin with ,
Genera l Mills realized ea rl y o n that food
purchases are rarely ever about what's in
the box, the package, o r the can.
The deciding factor is about
what the consumer needs
in his or her life.
Back when cerea l was still a commodity,
co nsumers eating breakfast wa nted little
informatio n beyond what type of gra in
they were con suming . W hea t, ri ce, o r oars
wa s abo ut as far as things we nt. Later,
peop le needed to know just what d iffe ren-
tiated one g ra in from ano th er. and
breakfast eaters began to choose from a
wider ra nge of cr ite ria: taste, texture,
colo r, size, and shape. So me exceptiona ll y
effective adve rtising byli nes were bo rn at
the breakfast table. T he great "Co rn
C runch" and "S nap! C rack le! Pop! "
Ge neral Mills was one step ahead. They
tOok their messages furth er- our of th e
bowl, and in to th e lives of the ir core
consumers. Focusing strongly o n "higher"
values of health and nu trit io n, C heerios
was established as both releva nt and salient
fo r ad ults. Pediatricians reco mmended
C heerios as the ideal first solid food fo r
babies. Studi es showed that children who
ate a hea lth y brea kfast did better in school.
And oar bran was shown (0 redu ce
cholesterol and promote a health y hea rt.
G rea t nev{s for rh e dominant oat cerea l
on rh e marke r.
o is f()[ Optillml11
The rat ional. hea lth-ben efit message
worked to establish Chee ri os firm ly in
rh e minds of co nsume rs as "The One and
Onl y" who le-gra in ce rea l that was best for
the fam il y. So far. so good. This powe rful .
produ c t-based pro pos ition sustained
Cheerios throu gh two generations, position-
ing it as th e N umber Th ree brand in th e
ca tegory. w ith an average 3.3 s hare.
But in th e late 1990s. Gene ral Mills. along
wit h rhe other big cereal ma nufacture rs,
becam e ala rm ed . 1998/99 had marked th e
third stra ig ht year of sa les d eclin e for brea k-
fast cereals-th e lo nges t d ecline in the histo ry
of th e busi ness.
To make matters worse, new
cereal competitors continued
to proliferate, dangerously
eroding the big players' share.
And to shore up losses, many
of the key cereal manufactur-
ers moved away from long-
term, brand-building initiatives,
pouring marketing dollars into
tactical sales promotions and
price incentives.
Advisin g General Mills. Saatchi & Saa rc hi
convinced the company that emotion . not
information , was the key to long-term
success. The way forward was ro transfo rm
Chee ri os from a breakfast cereal into a
member of the fam il y. The campaign wo uld
focus on rhe person most closely associated
with the emotional moments of breakfast
time- Mother. From extensive research, and
yea rs of speaking to her with rational messages.
Saatchi & Saatchi and General Mi lls already
kn ew what was goi ng on in her head. The
next step was (0 capture her heart.
I~rand to [mem.r!"
A new campaig n was created to build on
the Res pec t Cheerios had gai ned. adding
a cr ucial new in g redienr. Love.
Rational product cla ims were ca refully
exam ined and translated into how a mot her
mi ght res pond to them emo tionall y. T his
understanding form ed th e basis for a seri es
of T V Spots and print wo rk showin g
Chee rios in intimate fami ly siruations .
Rollin g Thunder! 97
 In the se ri es, C heerios was prese nted as
emotional support ro a mother's innate
sense of nurturing, as well as pe rvasive in
her children's growing up. Chee rios srood
in as both the opportunity ro connect with in
the fam ily, and the child's need ro fly. And
the ad ult-focused , hea lthy-heart message
became th e brand 's recognition that all
parents wanr ro be there for the ir loved o nes
as they grow up.
Bigger than breakfast
T he results of the campaign were dramatic.
Sales grew an ave rage of 4. 1 percent in volume,
representin g a yea r-an-year in crease of about
$75 million. And share leapt ro an average
of 4.4 perce nt, taking C hee rios from N umber
Three ro Num ber On e in breakfast cerea ls.
By positi o ning Cheerios as a member of the
famil y, Saatchi & Saatch i and General Mi ll s
were able ro captllre the emotiona l power
behind the brand's powerful heritage. Th e
result was rhe transformation of co mmon
oats to an enduring ex pression of a moth e r's
Love for her family.
198 Rovmar~1.I
Time and Tide
Ge neratio ns of Americans grew up with the
smell and feel of clothes was hed in Tide.
The box with th e bull 's-eye was emotio nally
co nnected to the memori es of fa milies
thro ughout America. The crispness of
a fa ther's shirr. The smell of fresh, Tide-
cleaned linen desperately missed in the cold
bed of a college dorm. Sheets flapping on
the family lin e. Tide was the scent of a
fa mily that ca red.
These were the fam ily-o riented values that
had carried the Tide brand for decades. Si nce
1946, when Procter & Ga mble introduced
the world's first synthetic laundry detergent,
Tide has led its category far ahead of its
nearest co mpetitor.
But by the late 90s, Mom was more likely
to be up to her elbows in paperwo rk than
suds, and nosta lgia was no longer powerful
enough ro g ro w the brand. I n a new era of
instant gratification , sales sragnated. Tid e
was startin g to be perce ived by consum ers
as a mass- marke r prod uct, out-of-touch
with the realiti es o f everyday lives.
P&G knew that Tide could still wo rk sensual
wo nders in the laundry. They also knew
that was hing clothes remain ed a ritual act
of caretaking, an activity that helps keep
fa milies fun ctional and in harmo ny.
Four issues stood o ut. How to:
increase the releva nce of th e brand
re-establish the close relationship th at
Tide had forged with the famil y
make Tid e a Lovemark for the
co ntem po rary generation and beyond
demonstrate that Tide understood
the ve ry diverse needs and values
of consumers
C learly, Tide cou ld no lo nger ta lk to
these wo men in the way it once did-she
d idn't stand still lo ng eno ugh! T he brand
would have to catch he r on the run- out
in rhe wo rld. no r in the home, whe re its
adve rti sing messages had tradition all y
reached her.

T he challenge was to get intimate with

a whole new group of co nsum ers.

The first thing that P&G and

Saatchi & Saatchi did was
to take a long, hard look at
the lives of what P&G
affectionately calls" Moms."
It beca me a pparent that, whil e fami ly was
no less impona nt to them than it had been
for their own mo thers and grandmothers,
the way they cared for th eir fa mi lies had
changed. And it had changed radically.

Moms on the move

Tod ay's wo men li ve their daily li ves o n a
punishing schedu le. They delive r th eir
chi ldren to and from school. Their days
are often packed wi th events and eX(facur-
ricular actt vittes. Then there is the planning
and participating in famil y events on the
weekends and runn ing the househo ld.
Added to this marathon is th e fact that the The message wou ld have to be clear and
majority of mothers work full- or part-time. qui ck. A message that showed how the
Th ey live in their cars. Th ey're constantl y brand empathized with her hecti c and
o n the move. d emanding lifestyle.

Rolling Th under 199

 Po in t of Dirt The ca mpa ig n was a rare and successful
All mot hers a re familiar wi th the place m ent fus io n o f med iu m a nd message. An in tr igu-
of point of sale ca nd ies, g um , a nd small ing bl end of info rm atio n a nd Intimacy.
rays at the checko ut w ithin tantali zin g The rewa rd ' Sa les s howed an imm ed iate
reach of sm all eyes and ha nds. The easy lea p, a nd con tinued to grow yea r-on-year,
pu rc hases yo u just can't resist in a Illome nt in so me m a rkers up ro 25 pe rcen t.
of weak ness.
No w th at's a dra ma tic rurn around fo r a
To ta lk with Tide's co nsumers, we d eveloped brand that was funnin g O ll t of energy.
rh e " Poi n t o f D in " ca mpa ig n . T hi s, we By liste nin g to rh e co nsumer, we creared a
fig ured , wo uld rep rese nt all th e class ic ve ry special mo ment of Inrimacy- a mo ment
sit ua tio ns w he re spill age a nd stai nin g thar reveals emo t io nal und ersranding. A
occur. I n th e ca r. O n th e bus. At th e pizza mome nt th ar proved ro be rh e fou nda rio n
pa rl or. A m yri ad o f p laces . of return ing a bra nd- T ide-to its status as
a tr ue and endur ing Lovcmark.
The strategy was to have
Tide speak to mothers at the
Point of Dirt-and to reassure
her that in that instant, Tide
would be right alongside her
to clean up the mess .
T he adve rt ise m ents that Saatchi & Saa tchi
created we re lig ht- hea rted. Optimisti c.
A musing. Ads that b ro ug ht smi les to the
faces of m o th ers and everyon e else who
ident ified th eir own personal sticky situa-
tio ns w ith the sto ries o n th e billboa rds.

As one consu me r to ld us: "Everybody's been

the re. It's so app rop ri ate. "

AJ10rhcr: " I thin k it's mo rc perso nal when

they speak [Q YO ll at that mo m ent. It's almost
as if they kn ew what YO LI wcre do ing. "

200 iovemarbA
T he past informs, but it ca nn ot be changed. My concern is
th e future. How ca n business navigate self-i nterest towards
social interes t? How can we mobi li ze th e innovations born of
corporate Resea rch and Developme nt for the be nefit of
man y? How ca n busin ess crea te a tipping point that se ts a
course for human well-being'

Any business Illu st make sense eco nomica ll y, bur the re are now
new imperatives. It must also be enviro nmenta ll y and socially
sustainable over time. The planet, people, and profits. Al l for
one and one for all. We need to g uaran tee ro our children (hat
the foundatio ns arc in place for sustainable enterprises across
all dimensions.

Ca n business do this' [ believe it can. It sure has the credentials!

As I rell business students arou nd the wo rld , busin ess is the
engi ne of human progress. If yo u wa nt to cha nge the wo rld,
yo u're in the right place. W hy? Because the people who will
lead the innovation and crea te the opportunities that build and
transfo rm li ves wi ll be the ones w ho dream about, obsess over,
and plan the Row of goods, ideas, and ex peri ences.

And what is it that makes the heart of business beat? People.

T he desi re of people a ll over the world to choose products,
se rvices, and ex peri ences that satisfY the ir needs, fir th ei r
va lues. engage their e mo tions, and respond to th eir des ires.
To substitute funct iona l over-the-counte r transactio ns for the
wa rm th of ge nuine emotio nal co nnections. W he n they find
such co nnections, I ha ve seen co nsu mers nansform from fi ckle
brand-hoppers to fi ercely loyal advocates. As YOll know fro m
C hapter 13, I ca ll these people Inspirational Consumers-the
passionate guardians of a Lovemark .

T his is the new reali ty. A wo rld that not o nl y dema nds that
busin esses be up- front and n3nspa re nt, but also in sists that
consumers be trul y at the center. In such a world , producers
who embrace consumers and communities by bu ilding Respect
and insp iring Love ca n anticipate prem iu m rewards. Producers
who don't wi ll be sidelined and, over time, displaced.

What (he World Needs Now 203

 I often ask people whether they'd rather wo rk for a co mpany
that is liked, or one that is loved. One hundred percent go for
Love. W ith more of their time spent wo rking, people want
that work to mean more to them. T hey are searching for
identity and they are determ ined to make a contribution.

G reat companies respond to this demand by articulating a

higher purpose. T hey inspire their people with a call to action
that builds identi ty, focuses o n inclusiveness, excites pass io n,
and challenges possibi lity. And, no doubt, a tock-solid founda-
tion from which it is possible to make the world a better place.

Even the hard neural sciences are fi nding evidence through

brain scans that cooperating and feeling that we are doing the
right th ing can really make us foel great. In The New York Times,
Natalie Angier summed up Dr. Gregory S. Berns' find ings:

"The small, brave act of cooperating with another

person, of choosing trust over cynicism, generosity over
selfishness, makes the brain light up with quiet joy."

It seems we are wired to cooperate. And what greater project

do we have to cooperate on th an making the world better for
all of us?

Th is is the phi losophy I can see taking roOt at Toyota-a huge

and successful company determ ined to make fundam ental
change, and understanding that such change pivots on the
commitment of Toyota people. Wo rking with passion and
dedication, they are committed to a more prosperous society in
this new century.

Pos itive steps toward a better future are being taken by busi-
nesses everywhere. An example? Research and Development
that was once corralled at corporate HQ is increas ingly bein g
undertaken where it will be appli ed, where it can make a
difference. But let's go further.

204 lovemarlu
I believe that international companies
should aim 50 percent of their R&D
budget at those 1.3 billion people who
earn less than a dollar a day.
T his wo uld be a fantas ti c objecti ve fo r businesses with a real
co mmitment to inclusive ness.

Wi ll the shi ft towa rds business taking more respo nsibili ty fo r

the wo rld's wel l-being be easy? No. As w ith al l shi fts o f power,
there are to ugh iss ues to be assessed and resol ved. Professor
Sandra D awso n, Director of the Judge Institute of M anagement
at Cambridge Uni ve rsity in E ngland , highlighted what lies
beneath the su rface:

"There is a paradox in the sense that if you empower

or regenerate, or you enter into a partnership that
fundamentally affects the power balance, then it's like
a parent and a child . As a parent you enable an
independence, which means that a child won't
necessarily look at the world the way you do. So if
you want to get away from the colonial notion of
development, then that means you have to take really
high risks, because you are enabling things to happen
which may not then seem to be exactly what you
would have wanted. In other words, you can't
empower and secure regenerative actions and at the
same time exercise control."

W hat {he World Needs Now 205

 The desire to control is tough to relinquish, but that is what
we mllst do if we want to start on the journ ey towards
Lovemar ks. And let's face it, once yo u are in sp ired by th e id ea
of Lovemarks, it becomes impossible to settl e for an ytbing less.
Tracking Love returns a premium on every conceivab le level.
As philosopher Daniel Dennett said: "The secret of happiness
is to find so mething more important than yo u are, and then
dedicate yo ur life to it. "

Alan Webber, Founding Editor, Fast Company:

" One of the things we've always believed at Fast

Compauy is that there is a higher road for business to
take. That when you combine the notion that work
is personal and that outcomes and performance matter,
and you hook those two values up to the same energy
source, then you actually get the best of all possible
worlds, Vou get a workforce and a team of people who
are totally committed to what they're doing, You get
better results in their performance and in their sense
of what's possible."

At Saatchi & Saatchi , we are determined to expand our sense

of what is possible. We have already made our focu s "to create
and perpetuate Lovemarks through the power of our ideas. "
We wi ll use our ideas to connect, transform, and em power the
people in the 82 countries we operate in. We will demonstrate
that to be sustainabl e in the new century, ente rpri ses will need
to take on an emotional dimension. And we wil l grow stronger
because we know that those who engage with more than th eir
own profit margins wi ll gather momentum fast.

Those who limit their benchmarks to

rational and financial outcomes will go
nowhere slowly.

206 iOYEmar~,..
We have fo und this to be true in the area of social commitmenr.
Over rhe yea rs, Saarchi & Saarchi has raken o n pro bono wo rk
around the wo rld to hel p social causes. Ou r respo nse was
emo tio nal. C lients wo uld b ring us powerful stories o f gro ups
and orga nizatio ns pitched aga inst the most unimagi nable
social injusti ce. C hild abuse, road d eaths, sex ually transmitted
diseases, war, racism, drugs, to rture, lack of co nt racep tio n,
ce nso rship , enviro nm e ntal damage, and many, many more.
O ur respo nse was to create some of th e most co mpelling ideas
in the wo rld.

- - - - - - - - - -- ;"

REII
THIS

....
" \I~'
.,.
...YOU
Of SHIT.

PENIS WIllIOUT AroNOOM.

'~lrlllllll, "m'l mml.

Whar rhl' \X'orld Needs Now 207

 .. , .....

Did this make us lose focus on profit' No. Did it

dilute our relationships with major clients' Quite the
reverse. What it did do was to ttansform us into one
of the world 's leading social co mmunicatio n
companies . Do our peopl e get a buzz from that and
want to do more (0 set things right with the world?
You bet they do.

The more power you give away,

the more it comes back to you .

208 iovemarkn
But if business is to make the wo rld a better place we also need
ro step o lltside o ur own com fort zo ne, share resources, and take
a new pe rspecti ve.

It was this insigh t, championed by o ur Wo rld wide Creati ve

D irecto r, Bob Isherwood, that inspired the Saatchi & Saatchi
Inn ovatio n in Communica tion Awa rd s. Literall y, a cel ebration
of wo rld-changing ideas.

We are an ideas co mpany, but we know th at ideas by them-

selves change noth ing. It's when they go to wo rk a nd transform
the way people live tha t they matte r. D r. Arno Pen zias, fo rmer
Vice President and C hief Scientist at Bell L1bo ratories and
jo int win ner of the 19 78 Nobel Prize in Physics, li ves by
this disti nctio n.

" Invention is the product of a creative or curious

mind. Innovation is something that changes the life
of the customer. It changes the life of the customer
in some way, or th e world in which the customer
ex periences things. That's an innovation ."

T here is a paradox in all this, of course. O ften the simplest

innovatio ns have the po tential to change the wo rld most. This
was certai nl y true of D avid Irvine- Halliday's inve ntio n, which
won rhe T hi rd Saarchi & Saarchi Innovation in Co mmunication
Awa rd in 2003.

Dave's idea was born du rin g a trekkin g tr ip ill ro the mo untains

of Nepal. A photo ni cs engi neer from Ca lgary, Ca nad a, Dave
was str uck by the fact that the villagers in this rem o te, rural
land faced an overwhelming barrier to their health , well-being,
and develop ment-darkn ess.

They had no access to electric light-

a situation that confronts some 1.7 billion
of the world's people .

What (he World Needs Now 209

 Bob Isherwood takes up the story:
"Dave Irvine- Halliday's in vention was exactly
the kind we had been hoping for when we
created th e Innova tion in Communication
Award. What we were after was the application
of a simple, practical idea for the greater good .
Dave's in vention is certai nly a simple idea, bur
rhe impli ca tions for humanity are immense.
" It is based on the amazing power of wh ite
light em itting diodes. These tiny bulbs require
very little energy but they light up a remark-
able arca for their size. By clustering
a group of t hese tin y light sources
together, Dave took the technology
into another realm. He produced a
unit that could suppl y enough light
for a child to read by. What a li fe-
transforming idea.
"To me, id eas are the currency of the
future. That is the essence of how
businesses can make a difference.
I agree with Arno Penzias:
"'Creative people let their minds wander,
and they mix ideas freely. Innovation often
comes from unexpected juxtapositions, from
connecting subjects that aren't necessarily
related. Another way to generate ideas is to
treat a problem as though it were generic.
If you're experiencing a particular problem,
odds are that other people are experiencing
it too. Generate a solution, and you may have
an innovation. '
"Ideas peop le start their day, in the words of
our technical consultant David Levy, 'looking
for trouble:
2 10 iovemarb.
"A nd there is a lot of trouble to find. L1rge
numbers of the people of the world find them-
selves hard-up against barriers that prevent
them from doing simple things that most of
the first world takes for granted. I'm thinking
of basic acti vities like being able to read ,
gettin g quick, competent medical services,
or having access to electricity.
"O ur idea' If the lives of million s were
burdened by so much trouble, and at the
same time ideas people are out there
looking for trouble, why nOt put the
twO together? That's why we issued
the challenge for people to put for-
ward ideas that have the potential to
change the way we communicare.
"We we ren't thinking of anyone
kind of communication. It could be
anything- from between individuals
tobetween nations and planets! It
was, as we say in the ideas business.
a very open brief.
"My friend and Innovation Award judge,
Edward de Bono, sums it up best: ' It is better
to have enough ideas for so me of them to be
wrong, than to be always right by having no
ideas at aII... :
"The Innovatio n in Communication Award is
another step towards making the world a better
place. It's an examp le of how curiosity, passion,
and concern for the well-being of our planet
and its people can inspire miracles."
A selection of standout entries from past Saatchi & Saatchi
Innovation in Communication Awards
Kaspa-Dr. Leslie Kay, New Zealand
(W inner, 1998)
A sensory subst itute for the visually impai red. The
helm et-like device uses so nar signa ls to help blind
peopl e "see with so und, "
SelfAdjustable Spectacles-Professor Joshua
Silver, U.K . (Edward de Bono Medal , 1998)
An inex pensive eyeglass-len s system destin ed for rhe
develo ping world.
NeuroGraph- Dr. Richard Granger, U.S.A.
(Finalist, 2003)
Non~invasive aid for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's
and other neurological diseases.
Mind Switch- Professor Ashley Craig, Au stralia
(Finalist, 2003)
A radical devi ce (hat (Urns brai n waves into a
ph ys ical exte nsio n of rhe body, allowing the disa bled
(Q operate electro ni c equipmenr by remOle co ntro l.

Ouicktionary-Wizcom Technologies Ltd. , Israel Artificial Sight- Dr. William Dobelle, U.S.A.
(Finalist, 1998) (Finalist, 2003)
A handheld "pe n" des ig ned [0 sca n text and A pioneerin g rec hn o logy using vid eo proj ect ion and
rra llsbre it simultan eou sly. skull impl ant's, w hi ch has resulred in people wh o
have lost th eir sight be ing ab le ro "sec" af-rer yea rs of
Univers Revolved-Ji Lee, U.S.A roral blindn ess.
(Finalist, 1998)
A three-di m e nsiona l typeface that e ncourages
The Kinkajou Projector-Design that Matters
peo pl e to read "in rhe round ."
Team , MIT, U.S .A. (Finalist, 2003)
Peratech-Peratech Company, U.K. A mobil e library. cl ass room projecror, an d t e3cher~
training roo l in o ne-ro give remore co mmunities
(Winner, 2000)
unprecedenrcd a ccess {Q ed ucat ion.
A revo lutionary cl ass of clcc rrica lly cond uct ive
co mpos ites (QT Cs) in corporated inw a texti le.
The fa bri c, w ith rh e uniqu e abiliry (Q respon d Stand Up and Walk- Professor Pierre
w hum an rOllch, has been rested by NASA fo r Rabischon9, France (Finalist, 2003)
spacesuits, and has been used by Bunon in A syste m of b iomed ical implants that offers
"inrelli ge nr" snowboardin g jac kets. p3r3pl egics the real possi bility of wa lk ing again.

More abo ut th ese projects, and about the Award, at www.saatehi-saatchi .com/in novation

Judges
1998
Buzz Aldrin-Astron;ulI and moonwalkcr
L1uric Anderson-Artist and musician
James Burke-Scicncc writer
Edwa rd de Ilono-Inventor ofbteral thinking
W illi am G ibson-Science fiction writer
Tibor Kalman- lnAuential designer
u cilian Murd ocll-News publisher
Ricllard Saul \Vurman-I nform:u ion :u chi,,'ci
2000
Paul Davies-Mathematical physicist and
philosop[wr
Edwan:1 (Ie Bono-Inventor of Lucral thinking
Brian Eno-Multimedia anis!
Kevin Kelly- Founding editor, \'(fired
Pattie Maes-Associate professor, M IT
Mt:dia 1...1b
Kjell Nordslrom-C.o-amhor, FUliky RlfSiliffl
2003
Da\'id Byrne-Mllsici:1Il and ;lrtiSI
Edward de Bon o-lnvc!I[or oflatloral thinking
Danny Hillis- Parallcl computing pium:er
Dr. Kenji Kitatan i-Vicc pre~ide lll , Sony
Corporation
John Maeda-Artist and c),berguru
Dr. Story Musgra\'e-Astro~scicnt i M
Julie Taymor-Film and ,healer dirt'nor

What the World Needs Now 211

 To set out to make the world
a better place is inspirational.
No inspiration , no innovation. Inspiration is contagious. It
is accessible to all. And, I believe, will accelerate us towards
a better world.

Sa ndra Dawso n aga in:

"You can't do it all on inspiration, but without

different ideas you can't be good at business. So I
think inspiration is absolutely essential. The more
diverse your experience, the more you allow yourself
to think unusual things, the more different experiences
you have, the more you question and the more you
look at things from different angles. That's when the
ideas begin to Rowand where inspiration can be
very significant."

To set Ollt to make the world a better place is inspirarional.

That inspiration feeds back to create more great ideas and
actio ns. This very powerfu l cycle wi ll not only benefit the
people of the world, but everyone who parti cipates.
Businesses, indi viduals, co mmunities, organi z.,,'u ions.

2 12 iovemar~/:I
 Index
7 UP 17
42 Below vodka 5
Ahsolut Vodka 180
A-Channel TV station 178
Alessi 100
All Blacks rugby team 51, 88, 93, 114
Amazon.com 38, 79
Amul dairy products 4
Angier, Natalie
quotation from 204
anti-globalization movement 35
Apple computers 79, 123, 141, 17.3, 179
Architectural Digest magazine 119
Ariel (Procter & Gamble) 16,79, 165
Aston Martin 140
Attention Economy 33-36,62
Audi 92,93
Australian cricket team 99
auto industry 123, 192-95
Aveda hair products 179
Band-Aid 26
Barbie 179
Basmati rice 148
BBC
in U.S.A. 180
Beatles 4,50
heauty industry 13, 14, 116, 186, 188
Kevin Roherts in 13, 14
Becker beer I 75
Beeby, Bob (PepsiCo International) 16
Berns, Dr. Gregory S.
findings of 204
beverage industry 16, 18, 27
Birkenstock shoes I 81
Bischmann, Joanne (Harley-Davidson) 28
Bloomingdale's department store 130
BMW motorcyles 180
The Body Shop 79, 95
Bond, James, movies 90
Brahma beer I I 7
Lovemark case study 189-92
brands 24
evolution of, from trademarks 30
limitations of 32-36, 66, 67
Branson, Richard 35, III
Break chocolate bars 174
breakfast cereal industry 196-98
Breyers ice cream 183
Budweiser beer 130
Bundaberg Ginger Beer 183
Burberry pattern 112
business
role of, in the world 202
Campbell's soups 182
Camper shoes 90
Camry (Toyota) 136, 137, 177
216 QovEmarb
Le Caprice restaurant 140
car industry see auto industry
Carrara marble 148
case studies in Lovemarks 186-200
Chanel No. ') 85
Cheerios (General Mills) 93
Lovemark case study 196-98
China
Lion Nathan operations in 18
Saatchi & Saatchi research team in
162-64
transformation of 24
understandi ng 162-64
CNN79
Coca-Cola
bottle shape as trademark 27
as Lovemark 78, 79, 130
New Coke 171, 172
Pepsi, battle with 16, 17,31
color 114, 115
Pan tone color range 115
commitment, as element of Intimacy
138-41
Commitment-red Marketing 138
Concorde 18.3
consumers
emotion, key role of for consumers 42
Inspirational Consumers 168, 170-86
listening to, importance of 3, 75, 81,
156, 166-68, 195, 200
Lovemarks, consumer "ownership" of 3,
74, 78
loyalty, consumer 138
Loyalty Beyond Reason 66, 78, 81,
139-41
product development, involving
consumers in 166, 167, 195
Cooper, Peter (QualiQuant International)
Lovemarks, research into 160, 161
quotations from 157, 167
Coppertone 182
cosmetics industry see beauty industry
CoverGirilipstick (Procter & Gamble) 79
Crayola 109
Crowe, Russell 8')
Dawson, Sandra (University of
Cambridge)
quotations from 205, 212
de Bono, Edward
as judge of Innovation in
Communication Awards 210, 211
Dean, Cecilia (Visionaire magazine) 86
quotation from 87
Decker, Charles
and Winning with the P6-G 99 16
design, importance of 62, 64
Disney 79,91,149
Doc Martens 183
Dodge Viper 180
dreams, tapping into consumers' 93
eBay 79
edge, ideas from the 16, 17
Eisner, Michael (Disney) 55
Electrolux 157
emotion
in husiness and economics .38, 42, 72
consumers, making emotional
connections with 105
music and 117
primary emotions 44
reason compared with 42
secondary emotions 45
empathy, as element of Intimacy 136-38
Enrico, Roger 16
and The Other Guy Blinked 172
Ermenegildo Zegna lin
FSOMAR (World Association of Opinion
and Marketing Research Professionals)
155,160
Est"e l.auder I 16
Fado music 5
Fast Company magazine 66-72
Fe Bayern Munich soccer team 99
I'edcral Express 130
Fitzpatrick, Scan (All Blacks captain) 51
quotation from 'i 1
Fnac stores 181
I'uji 146
Gan, Stephen (Visionaire magazine) 86
General Mills 9.0, 196-98; see also
Cheerios
General Motors 192
Giants, New York 140
Gillette l'i
Cilson, Clive (co-author Peflk PerjiJrmance)
93
Gladwell, Malcolm
quotations from l'i'i, 1'56, ITl
and The 7lpping Point l'i'i
Goddess, Nike 166
Coogle 2'i, 79, 137, 170, 182
Guinness beer 92
Hamill, Clare (Nike Coddess)
Nike Coddess research 166
quotations frolll 142, 166
Harley-Davidson 2X, 78, 79, %, 140
Harvey Nichols department store J.)O
Havaianas 4
Head & Shoulders shampoo (Procter &
Gamble) 22, 12J
Hello Kitty 97
Hermes 140 Lovemark case study 192-95 Mystery
Hofil1cyr, Jan (co-author Commitment-red Lion Nathan Brahma beer campaign, as element in 189
Marketing) 138 Kevin Roberts as Chief Operating characteristic of Lovemarks 74-79,
Officer for 18 82-102
IBM listening to consumers, importance of 3, myths and icons, importance for
ThinkPad 7H 75,81,156,166-68,195-200 Lovemarks 96
trademark 27 LOMO cameras 176
icons and myths, importance of for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy 85,93 The New Yorker magazine 4
Lovemarks 9(, Love New Zealand
IKEA 178 business, Love's importance for 56, 57 Kevin Roberts in 18, 19
iMac 123, 149 hUlnan emotion, most fundamental Nike 79,96, 129, 166
innovation ()4 45-47,52, 53 Nike Goddess 166
Saatchi & Saatchi Innovation in Love Bug computer virus 56 Nintendo 79, 144
Communication Awards 209-11 Love/Respect Axis 146-52, 160, 161 Nokia 79
Inoue, MascIO (''''yota) sport, Love's importance for 51, 99 Novak, Jill (Saatchi & Saatchi) 150-52
quotations fi-om 118, 125, 165 Lovemarks
inspiration 212, 213 case studies 186-200 Olay skin-care products
Inspirational Players 12, 213 characteristics of 60-63, 74-79 Lovemark case study 186-89
Internet development of concept of 66-72 Old El Paso (General Mills) 174
role of in research 167 Inspirational Consumers and 170-S3 Olympic Games 99
Intimacy Intimacy, as characteristic of Lovemarks Original'](,mmy's Burger 181
Brahma heer campaign, as clement in 189 74-79, 128-44 The Other Guy Blinked 172
characteristic of Lovemarks 74-79, Love/Respect Axis 146-52, 160, 161 Owens Corning pink fiberglass 28
128-44 Mystery as characteristic of Lovemarks
Tide campaign, as clement in 198 74-79,82-102 Padron Millennium cigars 140
iPod 78, 178 research, Lovemarks approach to 154-68 Palm Pilot 178
Irvine-Halliday, David 209, 210 research into 160-62 Pampers (Procter & Gamble) 16, 79
Isherwood, Bob (Saatchi & Saatchi) 20, 209 Saatchi & Saatchi's role in development Pan~one color range 1 15
on the Innovation in Communication of74 passIOn
Awards 210 Sensuality, as characteristic of Lovemarks as element of Intimacy 142, 143
Ishizaka, Yoshio (''''yota) 74-79, 104-26 about your own product 75
quotation from 3 "Trustmarks" concept 68-70 past, acknowledging the 91
Islam, Yusuf see Stevens, Cat Lucky Charms cereal 140 Pawle, John (QualiQuant International) 161
Italy Peak Performance 93, 99
land of the emhrace 122 McDonald's 79, 129 Pearce, Ron 16
as Lovcmark 79 McElroy, Neil Penzias, Dr. Arno
development of brand management 30 quotation from 209, 210
Jaguar cars 1.,0 M&M's 98 Pepper, John 16
Jcll-O 26 MAC cosmetics 116 Pepsi, 32, 159
JetBlue Airways 170 Mach 3 Turbo razors (Gillette) 15 Canada, in 16, 17
Jordan, Michael 142, 166 Manchester United soccer team 79 Coke, battle with 16, 17, 31
Mandela, Nelson 79, 97 Middle East, in the 16, 31
kaizen (continuous improvement) 61 Maori people of New Zealand 88, 166 Kevin Roberts and 16, 31
Kaliardos, James (Visionaire magazine) 86 Mary Quant 12, 13 Peters, 10m 67
Klein, Naomi 35 MGM lion 26 PlayStation (Sony) 148
Kodak Microsoft 94, 141, 143 Polti, Georges
marketing to teen Generation Y 150-52 Middle East study of storytelling 191
Kuryatim, ",llIad 16 Gillette in 15 Postrel, Virginia 43
Kung I'u icc cream (Van den Bergh) 176 Pepsi in 14,31 Pottasch, Alan 16
Procter & Gamhle in 157, 158, 165 Pratt, Mike (co-author Peak Performance) 93
Lafley, A.G. (Procter & Camhle) Kevin Roberts in 15, 16, 31, 105, President Avenue Fruirworld 4
Foreword by 9 157-59 Prius (Toyota) 98, 118, 165
quotation from 164 Mikimoto pearls I 8 I Procter & Gamble 15,30, 146, 157, 166;
Landers, Scan (artist) mobile phones 137, 138 see also Lafley, A.G.; Olay skin-care
quotation fi-om 100 Monroe, Marilyn 85 products; 'lIde
LECO 79, U9 moon project, Apollo 11 94 research methods 165-67
Lent, Eric (Kodak) l'iO-52 motorcycle industry 28 Putumayo World Music 84, 85, 115
Letterman, David (the "Late Show") 177 mUSK
Levi's 79 emotion and 117 QualiQuant International 157, 160, 161,
Levy, Maurice (Publicis Groupe) importance of for Lovemarks 124 167
quotations from 42, 43, 94 Myers, Douglas (Lion Nathan) 18 quality control 62
LeXlIS ('I('yota) 89 Quant, Mary 12, 13, 116

217
Red Bull 27, 85 secrets Xbox controller 125
Red Crescent 96 eliminating unnecessary secrets from Toyota 3, 79, 98, 118, 125, 136, 137, 146,
Red Cross 79, 96 your business 64 177,182
reliability, importance for Lovemarks 62 Seelert, Bob (Saatchi & Saatchi) 20 trademarks 25-29
REMO general store 178 developing the Love/Respect Axis 146 brands, evolution into 30
Research 154-67 Sensuality generic nan1es, transformation into 26
focus groups, limitations of 162, 167 Brahma beer campaign, as element in historical development of 25
Internet, role of 167 189 Trimble, Sam 119
Love/Respect, correlation between 161 characteristic of Lovemarks 74-79, Trung Nguyen cafes 5
Lovemarks, research into 160, 161 106-26 trust
QualiQuant International 157, 160, 161, service, importance of for Respect 62 importance of in business 62, 66-69
167 Lexus, and 194 "Trust in the ~uture" article, by Kevin
qualitative and quantitative, relationship Seven Flags 149 Roberts 66-70, 72
between 161 sight Twinings teas 179
Research & Development budgets 116, using visual style in marketing 113-15
205 Singapore Airlines 178 United Airlines 149
research methods, limitations of 154-59 "single living," rising trend of 135
Saatchi & Saatchi, China research ream smell value, consumer perception of 62
162-64 Head & Shoulders campaign 120 Olay Total Effects campaign 186
Xploring 162-65 use in marketing 118-21 Van den Bergh ice cream 17')
Respect Snaidero kitchen designers 182 Vaseline 26
as foundation for business 60-63 Sony PlayStation 148 Vespa 79
Love/Respect Axis 146-52 sound Virgin 78
Olay Total Effects, in marketing 187 use in marketing 117-18, 189 Atlantic 79, 149
Rice, Butch (co-author Commitment-red Starbucks 97, 120 music stores 111
Mtlrketing) 138 Starck, Phillipe 100 Visiontlire magazine 86, 87
Roberts, Kevin Starlet (Toyota) 177 Vogue magazine 188
China, in 18, 24 Statue of Liberty 179
Gillette, as International New Products Statue of the Virgin Mary, Harissa 5 Walkman 26
Manager for Middle East 15 Steinlager 128 Wal-Mart 62
Lion Nathan, as Chief Operating Officer Steinway pianos 18.3 Walton, Sam (Wal-Mart) 62
for 18 Stengel, Jim (Procter & Gamble) Webber, Alan (FriSt COrnptlflY magazine)
Mary Quant, working for 13, 14 quotations from 78,79, 165 quotations from 67, 72, 120,206
Middle East, in the 15,16,31 105, Stevens, Cat (Yusuf Islam) 40, 41 "Trust in the Future" article, by Kevin
157-59 "Father and Son," Telecom NZ TV spot Roberts 66-70, 72
New Zealand, in 18, 19 40,41 Weymes, Ed (co-author I'mk I'erforrrltlnce)
Petlk Perforrrltlnce, co-author of 93 Storper, Dan (Putumayo World Music) 93
Pepsi, in the Middle East 16 quotations from 84, 113 Where the Wild Thing,- Are 179
Pepsi Canada, as CEO of 16 storytelling, importance of for business Winfrey, Oprah 134
Procter & Gamble, as Brand Manager 75,88-90, 191 World Cup (Soccer) 192
f(Jt 15 SUras dairy products 175
Saatchi & Saatchi, as CEO Worldwide Swatch 79 Xbox (Microsoft) 12')
of20 Sydney Opera House 96 Xploring, approach to research 162-6')
"Trust in the Future" article 66-70, 72
Roddick, Anita (The Body Shop) 95 taste Yahoo! 137, 170
Rolcx Daytona 140 Apple, iMac campaign 123 Yankees, New York 99
Rollerblades 26 use in marketing 122-23 Yorkshire pudding 5
Technics turntables 176, 180
Saatchi & Saatchi 20, 21, 40, 41 Telecom New Zealand 40, 41 Zippo lighters 143
case studies on Lovemarks 186-200 "Father and Son" TV spot 40, 41
China, research team in 162-64 telecommunications industry 40, 41
F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, Brahma beer telemarketing 34
campaign 189-92 text-messaging 125
Head & Shoulders campaign 123 ThinkPad, IBM 149
Innovation in Communication Award Tide 16, 66, 79,104,165
209-11 Lovemark case study 198-200
pro bono work 207 Tiffany's 181
Kevin Roberts, becoming CEO The Tipping Point 155
Worldwide 20, 21 Tonga 182
Sanders, Tim (Yahoo!) Total Effects (Olay) 188
quotation from 170 touch
Schmitz, Herbert 16,32 use in marketing 124, 125
Further Reading
Diane Ackerman, 1991, Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson, 2001,
A Nfltllrtll History olthc Senses, New York: Vintage Books. The Hero and the Out/awe Building Extraordinary Brands Through
the Power ofArchetypes, New York: McGraw-HilI.
Diane Ackerman, 199'),
A Ntltura! History olIoue, New York: Vintage Books. Geoff Mulgan, 1998,
Connexity: How to Live in fI Connected World, Boston: Harvard
John Armstrong, 2002, Business School Press.
Conditions ojIolle: The Philosophy oflntimflcy, London: Penguin.
David G. Myers, 2002,
Donald Caine, 2000, Intuition: Its Powers find Perils, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Within Rl'IIson: Ntltionrziity find Humfln Behflvior, New York:
Vintage Books. Hamish Pringle and Marjorie Thompson, 1999,
Brflnd Spirit: How Cfluse Related Marketing Builds Brands,
Antonio R. Damasio, 1994, Sydney: John Wiley & Sons.
Desmrtes' Frror: Jimotion, Neflson, find the Humfln Brain,
New York: Avon Books. Robert D. Putnam, 2000,
Bow!ing Alone: The Collapse and Revivfll ofAmericfln Community,
Antonio R. Damasio, 20U}, New York: Simon & Schuster.
Looking/i" SpinoZi/: Joy, Sorrow, find the Feeling Bmin, Orlando:
Harcourt, Inc. Annette Simmons, 20U 1,
The Story Fflctor: Inspirfltion, Influence, and Persuasion Through
Ciep Franzen and Margot Bouwman, 2001, the Art of Storytelling, Boston: Perseus Publishing.
Fhe Mental World of Brand;; Mind, Memory find Brrmd Success,
Oxf<lrdshire: World Advertising Research Center. Gerald Zaltman, 2003,
How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the
Malcolm Gladwell, 2000, Market, Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.
Fhe lippillg Point: HOII' Little Things Cim Mflke fI Big Diffirence,
New York: l.ittle, Brown and Company. Theodore Zeldin, 1998,
An Intimate History of Humanity, New York: Vintage Books.
Thomas Hine, 2002,
I Wtmt Fhru': How Wi, All Became Shoppers, New York: Shoshana Zuboff and James Maxmin, 2002,
HarperCollins. The Support Economy: Why Corporations Are Failing Individufl/s
and the Next Episode ofCflpitalism, New York: Viking.
Lynn Jamieson, 1998,
Intimflcy: PersorMI Ne!rttion.;hips with Modern Societies, Oxford: and www.lovemarks.com
Polity Press.

Regis McKenna, 2002,

lot,zi Access: Giuing Customers What They W0nt in an Anytime,
Anywhere WtJrld, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

219
Credits
Page 13: Photograph 1966 David Bailey
Page 40: Lyrics from Cat Stevens' song "Father and Son" are reproduced after consultation with
Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
Page 65: Photograph 1994 Bill Lishman. Bill Lishman is associated with Operation Migration.
Page 92: The GUINNESS word and HARP device are trademarks of Guinness & Co.
Page 96: NIKE and the Swoosh Design Logo are trademarks ofNike, Inc. and its affiliates.
Page 97: Hello Kitty is a registered trademark of Sanrio Co, Ltd, Tokyo, Japan.
Page 98: M&M's is a trademark of Mars Incorporated and its affiliates.
Page 103: This image is an artwork by Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado, 1970-72.
Copyright Christo 1972. Photograph by Wolfgang Volz. The cables in this work span 1,368 feet (417 meters),
varying from 365 feet (Ill meters) on the sides to 182 feet (55.5 meters) in the center. The artists do not accept
sponsorship and pay all expenses of their large-scale, temporary works of art themselves. For more information,
visit www.christojeanneclaude.net
Page 116: Photograph of Rowena Roberts by Duncan Cole
Page 137: Photograph by Kevin Necessary
Page 163: Photographs by Chien Chung, a young photojournalist, working with Sandy Thompson
of Saatchi & Saatchi Hong Kong. Look out for Sandy's awesome book One in a Billion, to be published soon
after Lovemarks goes to press.
Page 187: Photograph by Sarah Maingot
Page 196-97: CHEERIOS is a registered trademark of General Mills, used with permission. The Cheerios box
and still image from the "Football" Cheerios TV spor are reprinted with the permission of General Mills.

Pages 4,5,17,19,23,33,34,37,42,56,73,81,94,95,108, III, 127, 128, 130, 131, 135, 153, 154, 157,
158,160 (National Geographic Image Collection), 162, 166, 169, 173, 185,201, and 213 feature images
supplied by Getty Images.

Pages 25, 26, 49, 91, 97, 99, 117, 141, and 145 feature images supplied by Corbis.

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately
capitalized. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or
service mark.

Any inadvertent omissions to these credits and acknowledgements can be rectified in future editions.

221
Acknowledgements
This book draws together a range of contributors to inform and shape the evolving
story of a future beyond brands.

In beginning to place acknowledgements, my first and biggest credit is to my family.

We share a continuous journey from our home in New Zealand to various parts of
the world, sustained by human Love. Thank you Ro, Nikki, Ben, Bex, and Dan.

The 7,000+ talented Saatchi & Saatchi people around the world are also family.
They have worked together with me to bring Lovemarks to life, and I tell this story
on behalf of, and for them.

Credit for the development of concepts for, and execution of, the book's design goes
to Derek Lockwood, Saatchi & Saatchi's Worldwide Director of Design. Derek has
offered his empathy and energy to give a visual pulse to every page.

Thanks to my friends at SVL in New Zealand, who have been with me every step of the
way. Brian, Jane, Jim, Mary, Carla, Simone, Richard, and team .... Chapeau, chapeau!

The crew at powerHouse Books are entrepreneurial, passionate, and edgy. I've seen
how they're a Lovemark to their audiences. And the coolest thing is that they're one
block from my office. The pulling power of the local shines yet again.

For the insights given me by those I have spoken with about Lovemarks, and for the
generous support I have received from the people I have met and continue to meet,
I am grateful.

Many friends helped me during the journey. Inspired me. Opened me. Touched me.
You know who you are. Thank you.

Kevin Roberts
 2004 Saa,chi & Saa,chi
Foreword 2004 A.G. L... Aey, The Procter & G:Jll1blc C ompan y

All fi ghts rese rved. No part of this book may be reproduced in a ny manner in any m edi a,
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without th e prior wrinen permiss ion of rhe publisher.

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First ed it io n, 2004

Library of C on gress Ca ta login g-i n- Publi cation Data:

Robe rts, Kevin , 1949-

Lovc marks : the futurc bcyo nd bra nds / by Kevin Rob(;rts ; rorcword by
A.C. Lalley.-- 1st ed.
p. C I11.
ISBN 1-57687-204- 1 (Hardcover)
1. Brand na me produccs-- Marketin g. 2. Brand n:lIn e
producrs-- Fo recastin g.3 . Advenising-- Brand nam c products. 4.
Trade marks. I. Till e.

HD69.B7 R632004
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Hardcover ISBN 1-57687-204- 1

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