Elevate your brand, create a compelling brand story, and build brand loyalty
In Follow the Feeling, strategy advisor Kai D. Wright answers a critical question plaguing entrepreneurs, brand strategists, marketers, and leaders: how do you grow your brand in a noisy world? Analyzing 1,500 fast-growing companies from Alibaba to Zara, the Columbia University lecturer and Ogilvy global consulting partner unpacks five branding secrets. Starting with behavioral economic principles and ending with a new systems-based approach to brand building, Wright offers readers one constant that trumps the hundreds of factors entangling brand value - feelings.
Follow the Feeling will show you how to best build and position your brand so you can stand out from competitors, build a tribe, and engineer a positive feeling across five important branding territories - lexicon, audio cues, visual stimuli, experience, and culture. Sharing real-world lessons and practical advice he has gained helping everyone from Sean Diddy Combs and Meghan Trainor to Bank of America and HP, Wright can help you develop and implement shareable, culturally-infectious branding strategies. Through storytelling, global research, and practical tips, this valuable book will help you and your organization:
- Efficiently create and deploy a comprehensive brand strategy across the organization
- Quickly launch new brands or reboot existing brands for growth
- Build tribes from audiences, consumers, clients, and partners
- Lean into the convergence of communication, culture, digital, and technology
Regardless of industry or sector, branding is essential for companies, nonprofits, and even individuals. Follow the Feeling: Brand Building in a Noisy World is a must-have resource for anyone from C-Suite executives to aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to unleash the full potential of their brand. And in this world of ever-increasing metrics paired with waning attentiveness, it’s not just what your brand does, it’s how your brand makes your customers feel.
Table of Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
About the Author xvii
Introduction 1
Forming a Worldview 2
A Case for Change 4
Feelings Aren’t Things to Gloss Over 8
1 Inside Out: What’s the Value of Being an Outsider? 11
A Red-Hot Industry 13
A Few Things to Keep in Mind 15
2 Going Haywire: What’s the Relationship between Economics and Communication? 17
“Most of the Time We Coast” 20
The Virality Coefficient 22
3 Resonance versus Share of Voice: In What Direction Is Technology Propelling Us? 25
A Lesson in Audience Physics 28
The Economy of Community 29
Are We Speaking on the Same Wavelength? 30
Avoiding Dissonance Begins in the Briefing 31
4 Creativity Applied Strategically: What Parts of a “Brand” Matter Most to a Digitally Wired Audience? 35
The Cracks in the Axioms 36
Emotional Horsepower Drives Many a Decision 37
Influence Rules the Day, But We Can Rule Influence 39
Surviving Brand Quicksand 40
A System Built for Brand “Value” 41
Every Hero Needs a Villain 42
5 Communication as a System: How Does Communication Work in Society? 45
Communication as a “System“ 46
Wired to Think, Feel, and Do 50
Finding the Right Triggers and Traps 51
A Fight for Equality 55
6 Lexicon Triggers: Branding Objective: Appeal to a “Tribe” 59
Limits of Words 67
Context 68
The Invisible Hand: Community 70
Shifting from Target Audience to Community 74
A Tale of Two Words 78
Niche Wins 79
Branding Language 80
A Planning Process Mindset Shift 83
The Double-Edged Sword of Being a “Household Name“ 85
Anchors and Normative Messaging 87
Cutting Anchors Loose 91
Conclusion 94
7 Audio Cues: Branding Objective: Develop Instant Recognition 103
Every Brand Longs to Be Heard 104
Audio’s Role: Hardly New, But Certainly Evolving 107
Sound as a Mood Shifter 110
Is Audio the Most Salient Part of “Memory“? 113
Our Firewall Works Like This: “Tuning Out“ 114
How Brands Learn from Television Theme Songs 116
Owning a Sonic Cue - Decline of the Jingle 118
Translating Sounds 119
Results at the Speed of Sound 121
Sound and Product Design 123
Voice 125
This Could Give You a Headache 128
Repetition Is Marketing Mythology 129
Conclusion 134
8 Visual Stimuli: Branding Objective: Become a “Conversational” Brand 145
Words Are Finite, Images Are Limitless 147
Say It with Purpose 153
Color 155
Shape 159
Becoming More Visual Searchers, Learners, and Sharers 162
The Journey to Brands Being Content 164
Welcome to the Newest Communication Club Members 167
The New Moving Image 170
Tracking Evolution One Dictionary at a Time 173
Conclusion 174
9 Experience Drivers: Branding Objective: Close the Feedback Loop 185
Create a Cross-Functional System 189
Business Models Built on Experience 191
Evolution of “Brand“ 194
Omnichannel Attributes 197
Great Strategy Comes from Unconventional Places 201
The Goal of Experience 209
Conclusion 213
10 Cultural Connections: Branding Objective: Align Thoughts and Actions 221
The Myth of “Safety in Size“ 227
Communication’s Role in Culture 229
Getting Out of Your Seat, and into the Field 232
Who’s the Villain in Your Brand Story? 235
Finding Your North Star 238
Building a Narrative 239
An Age Where POV Matters 240
Owning Your Narrative 244
Undercover Boss 246
Aiming for Success in Action and Commitment 255
Finding Your Brand’s North Star 256
11 Following the Feeling: What’s the Role of Technology in Following the Feeling? 265
Achieving Brand Lift-Off 269
Index 273
