Humans have a deep need to belong and connect with others. Brands help fulfill this need by facilitating connections between people and signaling who they belong with. A key component of a brand's identity is defining its "reflected consumer" - the type of person the brand aims to build as a reflection of its customers. Marketers often mistake the target customer for the brand's reflection, focusing on current purchasers rather than how the brand wants customers to see themselves. Effective branding communicates a desired reflection to customers rather than just speaking to their current needs.
31. one key way marketers
speak to the target instead of
their desired reflection is
through the constant use of
“that’s why” advertising
and we all know “that’s
why” advertising
33. “‘that’s why’ advertising navigates by reference to
consumers. it holds up a mirror to their lives—or
what the advertisers supposes are their lives—and
gives them a reason to believe the product we are
selling contains something that will make their day
better in some regard. in this situation i, the brand,
am acting in effect as a mirror.”
-adam morgan, eating the big fish