Explore the Brand Motivation Triangle!

There are three foundational insights that guide what we do and how we think about brand strategy at Launchforce Strategy, which together, represent what I like to call the "Brand Motivation Triangle."  The three insights are as follows:

1. Human behavior is guided by underlying psychological motivations.
2. Consumers are attracted to brands that appear to be vehicles to fulfill these motivations.
3. The degree of loyalty and passion for a brand is a function of the clarity and uniqueness with which a brand represents these motivations.

The first corner of the triangle is not new. psychologists have for many years posited that our behaviors as human beings are guided by an underlying set of motives. Of course, those same psychologists have many different viewpoints as to what those motives are and how they are formed, from Freud's sex & aggression, to Adler's inferiority complex, to Watson's learned behavior, to Maslow's self-actualization. Most recently, Dr Steven Reiss offered the most comprehensive theory to-date of human motivations with his quantitatively validated model of 16 desires that we all share. The emphasis we place on the various motives varies from person to person, and is part of what makes us unique. Net, we all agree that these underlying drives conspire to affect how we interpret the world around us and the way in which we act, even when we are not consciously aware..

The second insight is where motivation meets brands. This is the idea that consumers are naturally and magnetically attracted to brands (and people) that appear to express the fulfillment of the motivations that we are particularly oriented to. So the implications for brand managers are obvious: make your brands speak the language of motivation! Of course, this is where we come in. Our Blink Apperception Research method is designed to identify the motivations that brands uniquely express to consumers. The method is a sophisticated version of a projective interview that uses over 100 images to discern prompt projective stories. If you want to learn more about this method, then check out our website, or better yet, give us a call.

The third insight, for me is the most exciting. Again, that insight is that brands can increase their appeal and loyalty by focusing their branding and innovation through the lens of an ownable motivation. We have developed a guide for this called the Resonant Insights Model, but I will save this for another blog post. Real motivational power is available to brand who are willing venture into the Brand Motivation Triangle.

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