NORTHERN PLANNER

I have never worn a pair of Adidas; I always choose Nike (but don’t worry, this isn’t another uninformed take on what made Nike successful).

I’m a Leeds United fan (football or soccer depending on where you are from); nothing will change this, even though I don’t watch football very often and couldn’t tell who most of their players are.

Two very personal facts about me that actually tell us a lot about how great brands find their edge and get chosen over others that just follow the Byron Sharpe or System 1 playbooks (good as they are, and thank God they are here though).

By creating magic moments, not just mundane ones.

If you focus on reaching as many buyers as possible while being consistent and recognizable, if you tie your efforts to key entry points in your category, ensuring you are recalled in various buying situations you’ll make it easy for consumers to think less and buy you.

That’s only half the story of memory though. You can hack your category if you play with the rest of it.

Just as life really does come down to a few moments, so does how we recall things.

Life is too busy, we filter out most of it, mostly remembering the beginning, end, turning points and any highs and lows in between. There are plenty of these in real life and the more you find a way to be genuinely part of them, the more you find your edge in the battle for memory.

When you’re asleep, and you’re in the rapid eye movement cycle, you’re brain us actually sorting your memory, what to lose into the subconscious and what to keep more ‘top of mind’. The more profound the experience, the more it provoked a strong emotional reaction, the less likely it will be jettisoned into the depths.

Therapists actually help patients with trauma by getting to think of the event while following a signal guiding their eyes left to right. Best to avoid trauma though and evoke more positive associations!!

Magic moments, profound moments pay back – and the more you’re attached to what people really care about, the more powerful the memories you create will be.

Look at beginnings……

Back to Nike and I. As a teenager, starting to play club tennis, feeling frustrated at all the white clothing rules, middle class cliques and general stuffiness, Nike, with Agassi and McEnroe, were shaking up the country club. After that, no other sports brand has ever felt right.

Back to Leeds United. My Dad took me to first match as a child. I wasn’t bothered about football, but I was about time with my Dad. As John Lewis knows, sometimes men can’t express things together, football is way for many Dads and their sons to bond.

Imagine a football sponsor helping families to take their kids to their first match, in a world where it costs so much and tickets are so hard to get.

(or thinking about endings, grown up sons and daughters being able to take their ageing parents to see their beloved teams one last time).

Many children starting out in football don’t have to worry about middle class stuffiness, in many cases little girls have to play in mixed teams but don’t get picked, or even spoken to by more, let’s say, traditional coaches. It can be intimidating for Mums in what can be very male environments too. There’s a big, important beginning someone can get involved in, not necessarily Nike.

My beloved children love my beloved Yorkshire Tea because it was the first, and only brand I gave them. It’s how we start our day, made in the pot. Imagine a tea brand focusing on the morning ritual, or the cuppas you make as soon as you get to the office. Or doing everything you can when the kids BEGIN teenage years to establish rituals to do keep doing together as they start to want their own space.

Years ago a hair care company only had a tickle at what to do when you first notice grey hairs. They called it FACE YOUR FIRST – asking if you would the colour fade or start colouring. I think if they’d committed this could have been really powerful.

Just as my son is a Harrys loyalist because that’s what I gave hime when I showed him how to shave, one of the overlooked rites of passage, like when you start letting older teenagers try alcohol.

Anyway, real lived reality is full of potentially powerful moments to be part of. They can rocket fuel campaign work, but the more you genuinely embed your brand in these real experiences, the more your brand can find it’s edge by creating genuine magic moments while the rest live in the mundane.