NORTHERN PLANNER

It will take a lot for me ever choose Nike over Adidas. I know they're not different, they just feel it.

Most of this is because I was teenager in a middle class tennis club, resenting the stuffy rules.

When Nike came along with stuff like this that was it.

 

I know teenage rebellion through tennis is pretty lame, but that's what got me hooked.

Well, not hooked, deep in my make-up, Nike feels different. I choose it without thinking. Like everyone else. 

That's the thing about brands, we can't articulate why we buy, there's just a a 'ness' about them that helps us buy them without thinking.

There is a Nike-ness.

A Brewdog-ness.

An Audi-ness (or there was, what the hell are they doing!!). 

An Apple-ness. 

That 'ness' isn't about just about tone of voice etc, not even about point on view, although it helps. They just tap into something that  people are feeling.

 

Here's how to think about it. 

Without the usual fluff from the brand consultants. Keep it simple stupid!!!

Draw three circles. 

On one, what is the brand really good at?

On the next, what really drives it? What does it care about? What is its enthusiasm?

Then finally, what is the zeitgeist? Not one of the crap trends from the usual companies, the ones that put two names together,  'The Prosumer', 'Fremium'. What have you spotted that no one else has? What are people feeling that no one is helping with? I mean a shift that will stay shifted. 

Un-resolved tensions. 

The intersection between all three is where a brand can really come alive, get noticed and be remembered. The intersection between what they are good at, what drives the business and how they can be more relevant than everyone else.

Take Nike tennis:

Really good at? Tennis apparel that looks worlds apart from the usual stuffy tennis whites

Enthusiasm? If you have a body you're an athlete

Zeitgeist? The tennis establishment is stuck in the past and hates anyone upsetting their precious rules, so there's a young generation who love to play but feel alienated

By the way, this becomes even more interesting when you try and apply it to you and what you want to do or how you want to work.

There are lots of good strategy people, but how do you be the most wanted?

Just saying.