Fearless Marketing
Brand loyalty is a big deal to me. Maybe it’s because I’m in marketing or maybe it’s because I enjoy the personification of random objects, but I love creating deep connections with brands and their advertising. When you get to say, no, this one! This one speaks to me! I’m a Kate Spade girl with too much L.L. Bean in her closet and a million Apple devices. (You’re creating a picture, aren’t you? Stop that. I also own the Stargate SG1 boxed set. So there.) In Latin class in high school, my amazing Bulgarian teacher used to talk about our gossip magazines and celebrity idolatry. She’d say that the Romans had their gods and we have our stars, and, like the Romans, we look to our celebrities as morality tales of what to do and what to never do.
Brands are the same thing to me. We hold them up and we identify with them. They’ve become talismans in our consumerist culture. And as a marketer, I am here for it.
Until recently, my identification with certain brands was first-hand. Oh, I love Estee Lauder or Klipsch or something else that was beloved because I trusted the brand quality and what it stood for. That all changed when I started dating my current boyfriend.
My boyfriend is a veteran. A guy who reloads and regularly takes apart his Glock to show me the guts and owns these coats that are insanely warm and thin (what’s up, Arc'teryx?). He knows boots and international history and did a few tours overseas. And he has this incredible passion for certain veteran-owned brands. Ranger Up. Article 15. Violent Little Machine Shop. He loves these brands. He follows their social media accounts, loves their merchandise, and regularly forces me to watch ads for Black Rifle Coffee Company.
What gets me is the die-hard nature of the audience. Truly brand advocates in the purest sense of the word. The best advice I ever got on writing for a brand was that you should speak as though you were the brand’s biggest fan. And these guys and gals? They get it. They speak the language. There’s this universal experience that’s shared and it’s more than just funny patches and t-shirts that make me shake my head. These brands are funny and awkward and empathetic and real. Their copy is hilarious, and I regularly stalk Violent Little Machine Shop to see what new creative content they’ve produced.
They are the heart of that call to boldness that Ann Handley loves to highlight. Be bold. Well, Violent Little often reads like your favorite drunk uncle went to war and came back a little high but always charming. They are beyond unafraid and their fanbase loves them for it. Ranger Up and Article 15, with their plethora of social media personalities, are like eager kids with firepower and a business to run. The enthusiasm is downright giddy.
Quite frankly, these brands inspire the heck out of me. They’re not just creating cool stuff and selling it well. They’re embodying their target audience because they’re making content and goods that they themselves love. It’s not phony marketing and excessive KPI metrics that’s driving sales. It’s heart and boldness and passion.
You don’t create brand loyalty in one interaction. It’s a series of little things that reinforce a connection, and it doesn’t stem from overly manufactured marketing. It’s authentic nerdiness and passion for your products and audience. It’s being unafraid to be hilarious and take chances.
I usually get double takes when I explain how much these brands influence my own strategy work. Really? Them? With their inside jokes for veterans and oddball email campaigns? But here’s the thing: good marketing is good marketing. And we should pay attention to those brands that embody this fearless authenticity. I sure do.