3 Reasons Your Brand Needs To Be Born Again

Guest AuthorNovember 14, 20134 min

Yes, that kind of born again. And while I don’t mean that we all literally should start talking about Jesus, brands can learn a lot from people who have found meaning and deeper relevance in time of crisis. After all, the social media revolution has brought crisis to anyone relying on traditional branding tools.

The brands that have taken the path of higher purpose like Chipotle, Dove and Intel, have not only survived the transition from the age of broadcast to the age of social media, they’ve become more relevant and valuable than ever. The fate of the countless unconverted has not been nearly as enviable.

So what are the steps someone takes when they get born again and what can brands learn from the process?

First, you discover your values.

Religious people love the word “values.” It’s part of their everyday parlance. Why? The first thing that happens when someone undergoes an awakening is they start telling themselves a new story about who they are and why they are here. In this story, they stop defining themselves by what they own or what they’ve done. Their new story is about the values they hold and where they are going. Born again brands speak first about the values they passionately pursue and the world they’re inviting audiences to create. This is what allowed Chipotle to avoid irrelevantly advertising their burritos and instead create a viral firestorm with their magical invitations to create a better world by creating a better food system. Any brand can make this shift but not before they start telling a new story to themselves about why they’re on this planet and the values they serve. Ben Cohen, the founder of Ben & Jerry’s who famously turned ice cream into a values-machine gave me this warning about identifying brand values: “They can’t just be milquetoast, namby pamby middle of the road crap. You need to stand for something, so customers who believe the same thing can glom onto your brand.” Any brand can be an evangelist for universal human values. What are yours?

Next the hero of your story changes.

Most of us walk around thinking we’re the heroes of our own story. Narcissistic? Maybe, but it’s pretty much universal. Not the born again. We all know who’s the hero of their story and that completely reorients how they communicate. As they stop talking so much about themselves, they start becoming remarkably effective at converting others to their way of thinking. Here’s what brands can do: Stop talking so much about how great your company or product is. Make your audiences the hero of the stories you tell. Intel swept the Cannes festival by literally using the faces of hundreds of their users to represent their brand in a breathtaking storytelling campaign, garnering unprecedented engagement and brand co-creation.

Finally you (try to) live your new story.

Ask anyone who’s committed to a conversion and they’ll tell you taking on a new story is easy. Living it day to day is another matter. Many don’t succeed. But it’s not just about the destination — it’s about the effort to get there. The secret here is that your new story can become a beacon, not just to others, but to yourself about who you can be if you stay the course. Brands that aren’t shy about communicating big ideals that they have not yet or maybe never will achieve (see Google’s “do no evil,” Apple’s “insanely simple,” Patagonia’s “authentic sustainability,” IBM’s “smarter planet”) create a coherent narrative that audiences want to help write. Their stories hold substance and rise above advertising blather. And they attune their actions to the happily ever after they’ve committed themselves to achieve.

To answer your obvious question, I myself am Jewish and don’t intend to get born again. But in this time of change and crisis for communicators, I’m thankful that others have blazed a path toward salvation in a chaotic world. I intend to follow them.

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Jonah Sachs, CEO of Free Range Studios, and author of Winning the Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell (and Live) the Best Stories Will Rule the Future.

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