Brand Strategy and the Hero Trap
In preparation for Chapter 3
Friends,
In preparation for chapter three, may I suggest that you listen to a podcast or two. Chapter three of The Experience Strategy book is titled Principle 2—To Be Compelling Requires a Strategic Point of View. And the subtitle is: What’s more important than branding? Having a point of view.
My co-host, Aransas Savas, and I interviewed Thomas Kolster, one of the most recognized thinkers globally about where marketing, business, and sustainability meet.
Thomas wrote two books: Goodvertising & The Hero Trap.
In this episode, he talks about his own personal journey as an advertiser turned do-gooder. Pay attention to his concerns about branding and advertising today. Notice how he had to correct courses with his second book because companies were applying his principles without thinking about the customer experience.
There are purpose brands and then there are companies that understand their customer’s purpose and seek to help them accomplish their mission. What’s interesting for this brand guy is that he comes to the conclusion that helping people accomplish their own missions is far more important to a brand than having a brand that heroically accomplishes social good.
