MEMETIC BRANDING

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MEMETIC BRANDING
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MEMETIC BRANDING

• This overview of Memetic Branding is divided into
  two parts
• Branding 101
• Memetics
• Branding
• Research
• Media

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CAUTION

• The following presentation is rife with
  speculation, biases and unproven hypotheses and
  is not suitable for children under the age of 12
  unless accompanied by an adult

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BRANDING 101
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WHAT IS A BRAND?

• Brand is a perception, a promise, and manifests
  as a positive or negative preference
• In a world of parity products, brand is the
  difference of to buy or not to buy

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BRAND PREFERENCE

• Preference Value
• To the consumer
• To the company
• To Wall Street

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WHAT IS A BRAND?

• A brand is the sum total of all images and
  associations that exist in a consumers mind and
  heart when they think about a product

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BRAND MESSAGES COME FROM EVERYWHERE.
Advertising
Architecture
Employees
Anything you print
Hold Music
Annual Reports
News Stories
Logo
Target Audience
Word of Mouth
Press Releases
Speeches
Packaging
1-800
Sales calls
Products
Trade Shows
Sponsorships
Website
Promotions
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OVERARCHING BRAND
Product Platform
Products are extensions of a brand
Product Sub-brand
Product Sub-brand
Product Sub-brand
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BRAND PREFERENCE

• Brand Rational Emotional
• Brand Market Positioning Statement Personality

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RATIONAL BRANDING

• Market Positioning Statement
• To (primary target audience),
• BRAND is the one (competitive set)
• that (meaningful point of difference).

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EMOTIONAL BRANDING
When dealing with people, remember you are not
dealing with creatures of logic, but with
creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with
prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity. -
Dale Carnegie
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AVOID PUFFERY

• Consumers infer a promise from their
  understanding of your BRAND
• A promise is only valid if it is
• Real
• Consistent
• A broken promise yields negative emotions

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BRAND CHOICESDETERMINE MESSAGE TONE
Advertising
Architecture
Employees
Anything you print
Hold Music
Annual Reports
News Stories
Logo
Word of Mouth
Press Releases
Brand
Speeches
Packaging
1-800
Sales calls
Products
Trade Shows
Sponsorships
Website
Promotions
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MEMETICS
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MEMETICS BRANDING
The fundamental components of ideas act just
like genes, competing for brain space the same
way organisms vie for breathing spaceMemetics
promises marketers a more scientific way to reach
consumers. -John Hoult Fast Company July 2000
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GENETICS

• Darwin and Mendel made discoveries regarding
  heredity
• In 1909 Wilhelm Johanssen coined the word gene
• The word gene fostered the field of genetics,
  allowing for some general hereditary
  observations
• Isolation breeds mutation
• Minor environmental changes can result in
  significantly different selective pressures
• Over specialization increases chances of
  extinction

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MEME DEFINED

• Memetics Study of Memes
• Meme is defined as
• "An element of a culture that may be considered
  to be passed on by non-genetic means, esp.
  imitation. (Oxford English Dictionary)
• A unit of cultural information, such as a
  cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted
  verbally or by repeated action from one mind to
  another. (American Heritage Dictionary )

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EXAMPLES OF MEMES

• Any word, title or slang expression
• The word Internet is a new meme
• The word blue is a much older meme
• A physical gesture, a habit or a selection of
  color or fashion
• Americanism is a hot meme evident recently in
  increased incidence of
• American flags
• Red, white and blue
• Clothing
• Stickers
• Tattoos

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MEMETIC SYNERGY

• Memetics incorporates genetics, psychology and
  physics
• Memetics generates a perspective not imaginable
  by using these disciplines independently
• Memetics is an inquiry into biological power

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MEMETIC GENETICS

• Memetics seeks to understand genetic precepts as
  they relate to thought contagion
• Evolutionary genetics
• Isolation breeds mutation
• Minor environmental changes can result in
  significantly different selective pressures
• Over specialization increases chances of
  extinction
• Evolutionary biology
• Biological organizations evolve to prevent
  potential conflict in natural selection--how can
  marketing ideas leverage these defenses?

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MEMETIC PSYCHOLOGY

• Memetics seeks to understand psychological
  precepts as they relate to thought contagion
• Psychology of influence
• Scientific method allows testing to uncover
  patterns of effectiveness
• Evolutionary psychology
• Human psychology evolved to perpetuate the human
  gene, not each individual human

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MEMETIC PHYSICS

• Memetics seeks to understand physical precepts as
  they relate to thought contagion
• Resistance breeds change
• Entrainment
• Precept discovered by Dutch scientist Christian
  Huygens in 1665 illustrates how separate entities
  will fall into rhythm with one another

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MEMETIC BRANDING
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Brands are the animals of the corporate kingdom
MEMETICS MODELS BRANDS

• Brands proliferate according to the laws of
  memetics

• Animals proliferate according to the laws of
  genetics

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PUSH VS. PULL

• Genetic Scientists can genetically engineer
  organisms to replicate faster and grow bigger
• Genetic engineering creates supply
• Well engineered tomatoes grow bigger and are more
  pest resistant which brings more produce to market

• Brand Managers can memetically engineer ideas to
  replicate faster and grow bigger
• Memetic engineering creates demand
• Well crafted ideas influence consumers to the
  point where they want to purchase what you are
  offering to sell

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YOU ARE ONE OF MY KIND

• Species usually support their own tribe
• A pride of lions may attack or challenge another
  pride of lions, but they tend to support their
  own kin
• Memetic branding attempts to reflect the consumer
  so they adopt us as part of their tribe

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SELF IDENTIFICATION

Thats me!!
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TRUE REFLECTIONS

• The truer we reflect our users values and
  aspirations
• The deeper they identify with our brand
• The stronger their brand preference becomes
• The more products we sell

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BEAUTIFUL MIRROR

• Either we reflect people accurately
• Or we facilitate them to see a positive image of
  themselves

Im an adventurer.
I like it when I think of myself as an
adventurer.
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SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
Brands are living organisms

• Animals compete for food and territory
• Proliferation of a species is interdependent on
  other animals and the ecological environment
• Species proliferate to the extent they are fit
• Genus outlive extinct species

• Brands compete for customers and markets
• Proliferation of a product is interdependent on
  other products and the market environment
• Products proliferate to the extent they are fit
• Brands outlive discontinued products

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LIMITTED RESOURCES
Brands are living organisms

• When a new territory emerges, species proliferate
  to reap the resources
• Eventually, the newfound resources can not
  sustain the increased population
• The variety is culled to sustain fewer, healthy
  species
• Species that are best suited to the territory and
  competitive species thrive

• When a new target emerges, brands proliferate to
  reap the target
• Eventually, the newfound target can not sustain
  the increased competition
• The variety is culled to sustain fewer, healthy
  brands
• Brands that are best suited to the target and
  competitive products thrive

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MODELING BIOLOGY
Brand
Sustainable growth

• In order to sustain an increased population,
  cultures must replicate with Fidelity, Fecundity
  and Longevity
• Fidelity Replications accurately reflect their
  source--Too many mutations endangers the entire
  population
• Fecundity Some of the replicators must be able
  to generate more than one copy of themselves
• Longevity Most replicators must survive long
  enough to affect their own rate of replication

• In order to sustain growth, brands must replicate
  with Fidelity, Fecundity and Longevity
• Fidelity Brand experiences must be relatively
  consistent--Inconsistent experience undermines
  the entire brand
• Fecundity Sustainable brands have more than one
  way for consumers to tap into the brand
  experience
• Longevity Overarching brand visions and promises
  must survive longer than individual products

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MODELING BIOLOGY
Sequencing

• Sequencing DNA uncovers which genes produce what
  proteins
• Sequencing DNA identifies and maps which genes
  manifests what characteristics in a healthy
  species

• Consumer research can uncover which brand
  attributes produce what emotional responses
• Brand Sequencing would identify and map which
  attributes manifest what emotional responses in
  an optimal brand experience

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MEMETIC RESEARCH
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RESEARCH VS. MEMETIC ENGINEERING

• Research is a sampling of the present, which
  becomes the past and gets staler as it ages
• Memetic engineering generates a vision for the
  future that gets stronger as it is lived into
• Brand managers are memetic engineers who use
  every type of research at their disposal

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NEURAL NETWORKING

• Amazon.com
• Mind Mapping

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SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP

• Researcher
• Generalist in your business
• Expert in
• Secondary research or
• Qualitative research or
• Quantitative research or
• Observational research
• Increases profits by increasing effectiveness
  through insights into consumer
• Beliefs
• Behavior
• Attitudes
• Categorizations and/or
• Knowledge

• Memetic Engineer
• Expert in your business
• Generalist in
• Secondary research and
• Qualitative research and
• Quantitative research and
• Observational research
• Increases profit by effecting consumer behavior

• Brand engineering requires understanding and
  respect for consumers

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BRAND SEQUENCING BOARD

• Brand Sequencing Board, a platform that captures
  the essence of the pinnacle relationship that
  exists in the minds and hearts of patrons

PhysicalCharacteristic
Brand Sequence
Brand Touches
Brand Promise
Sensual Characteristic
Every element of our brand must promote these
tones or experiences
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BRAND SEQUENCING

• Your Brand Sequence Board communicates your brand
  essence in such a way that
• New employees have something to imitate
• Existing employees have something that reinforces
  best practices

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BUILDING ABRAND SEQUENCING BOARD

• Generating a Brand Sequence Board entails
  uncovering
• Emotional drivers of core constituents
• Emotional impact on patrons
• Imagistic landscape such as logo, design, service
  and products
• Perceived implication of being a patron
• Perceived future role of category
• Possible avenues to strengthen current image

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BUILDING YOURBRAND SEQUENCING BOARD

• Brand Sequence Board is begun by mind mapping
  core constituents and laddering to emotional
  benefits of product/service attributes

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BUILDING YOURBRAND SEQUENCING BOARD

• Visions must be crafted to be feasible
• Visions must be crafted to be viewable by most
  anyone
• Visions require upper management ownership and
  commitment or they risk becoming puffery

Revise/Recreate with management
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HERES AN EXAMPLE
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MEMETIC MEDIA
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A FLIGHT OF ADS

• Ad campaigns are run in flights
• Generally, multiple executions are run in
  multiple media
• This collection of advertisements can be viewed
  as a specific meme pool

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CAMPAIGNSAS LIVING ORGANISMS

• If you can ascertain a similarity between your ad
  campaign and a living organism,
• Then you can leverage an understanding of that
  living organism to buy complimentary media

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FOUR EXAMPLES

• Rabbits
• Live short lives
• Are plentiful
• Require a bunch to have a significant impact on
  their environments
• Dogs
• Synergistically different when they travel in a
  pack

• Elephants
• Live long lives
• Are scarce
• Only takes one to have a noticable impact on
  their environment
• Dragons
• Is fierce
• Many knights are looking to lop off that long
  neck that is sticking out

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FINAL THOUGHTS