In “Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands” Kevin Roberts describes how brands can evolve to a next level of connection with customers.
These next level brands become “Lovemarks” and use traits of love and respect to emotionally connect with consumers.
Examples include Guinness beer, the iPod or Doc Martens where consumers feel a personal relationship with the brand.
This post will explain the concept of Lovemarks, why they are important and how CSMs can use the idea of Lovemarks in our work.
The Concept of Lovemarks
According to leading advertising practitioners such as Maurice Lévy, former head of global advertising firm Publicis, consumer decision-making is driven by emotion:
“The best 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.”
In summary, consumers choose based on rationality and emotion and when a customer feels good about a brand they choose it.
Lovemarks use the traits of Love and Respect to form this connection.
According to Roberts, brands demonstrate Love by showing the following traits with customers:
- Mystery: the stories, metaphors, dreams and symbols of a relationship
- Sensuality: experiences such as vision, smell, hearing, touch and taste
- Intimacy: being close through empathy, commitment and passion
Likewise by showing Respect, brands follow traits like:
- Performance: performing at each interaction
- Commitment: going the distance with our customer
- Reliability: always passing the reliability test with customer’s expectations
Why Lovemarks Are Important
According to Roberts, Lovemark brands are their customer’s first choice. They inspire loyalty beyond reason.
Roberts describes these types of brand experiences as winning the heart and mind of the customer appealing to emotion and rationality.
How CSMs Can Use Lovemarks In Our Work
As CSMs, we can show love and respect to our customers to build a connection.
In terms of Love, we may want to show:
- Mystery: sharing inspiring stories about our product, providing exclusive access to product features or giving unique swag that helps our customers feel like a fan of our company
- Sensuality: positive energy in our interactions, excitement to work with our clients and appreciation for our partnership
- Intimacy: studying our customer’s business and sharing unique insights; providing big ideas on use cases or getting to know our customer personally
Here are some ways we can show Respect to our clients:
- Performance: As A.G. Lafley, former CEO of P&G says in Lovemarks’ foreword – “brands that win moments of truth again and again earn a special place in consumers’ hearts and minds”
- Commitment: helping our customer document goals and achieve success; working through challenges to achieve results
- Reliability: promptly replying to our customer when called upon, being there when difficult times arrive and connecting with our customer regularly in syncs
The Love and Respect traits of Lovemarks provide a way to help our customers feel connected to our product and as Kevin Roberts shares “inspire loyalty beyond reason.”