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Products and services are clearly linked to our feelings and behaviors. But how close are these connections and how important are they to marketers?

Surprisingly, much of marketing theory and practice does not fully recognize these connections. Sure, modern advertising tactics routinely paint a worthwhile picture of what you might look like if you had just bought Brand X. Even so, it often feels like those rosy pictures that creative directors paint and the way their for-profit clients think are separated about the real reasons we buy and consume. For many of us (and even for many seasoned marketers) there is a dichotomy between me and the things I buy. This is the case for several reasons, including:

We focus on a product’s functional characteristics (e.g. gas mileage) rather than its subjective benefits (e.g. impressing your friends with your hot new sports car). A simplistic (modernist) view of cause and effect tends to obscure the long-term psychological dimensions of brand ownership (e.g. how this product acts as its “ally” in social interactions) Most ratings of brand meaning are highly mechanistic. They try to measure brand equity using simple scales – 1 disagree to 7 strongly agree – that ask consumers to quantify their satisfaction with a brand’s performance. They do not reveal the important nuances of the many connections a product or service has with a consumer’s identity.

After all, until recently, product selection wasn’t as important to self-identity as it is today. That’s because the traditional markings and signposts that people have used for millennia were still sturdy. This includes place of birth (and likely death), religion and social status, and family line. Before the advent of postmodernism, many branding decisions were predetermined and offered relatively few options.

In the age of large, homogeneous market segments, for example, the brands that defined a social category were also fairly homogeneous. An “organizer” of the 50s or early 60s didn’t have too much leeway when choosing clothes (the normal white shirt or perhaps a daring light blue), and the housewife of the same era relied on known “household brands”. with huge market share to fill their pantry. Many decisions were dictated by societies that tolerated only minor deviations from a set pattern. Some cultures developed explicit rules (known as luxury laws) about the specific items of clothing and even colors that certain social classes and occupations were allowed to depict. These traditions live on today in Japanese-style manuals that provide detailed instructions on how to dress and address people of various statuses.

In fact, the concept of a unique “self” that you would express through your choices was somewhat alien in many cultures. Many Eastern cultures emphasize the importance of a collective self, when a person largely derives their identity from a social group. They tend to focus on an interdependent self where we largely define our identity through our relationships with others. For example, a Confucian perspective emphasizes the importance of the “face”: the perception of self by others and the maintenance of the desired status in their eyes.

Enter the brand resonance

Sure, we value what we buy because we have to get things done. But a deeper look at brand meaning leads us to the question of why our possessions really matter. In fact, there are a multitude of dimensions that lead to what my colleagues and I refer to as brand resonance. Brand resonance is the extent to which the meaning of a brand resonates with the user. A resonant brand starts with you because it helps you express some aspect of your identity.

Here are some examples of brand resonance dimensions. A much longer list is available for free download in a “Brand Resonance Audit”.

1. Interdependence: Does my brand facilitate habits, rituals and routines that seamlessly embed the brand’s meaning into the consumer’s everyday life? Brand example: Ben & Jerry’s ice cream
2. Intimacy: Does my brand have “insiders” who know the details of their story, including key product development details, product developer myths, and obscure “brand trivia” or facts? Brand example: Air Jordan sneakers
3. Category Response: Is my brand iconic within its category; Do customers use it as a benchmark to compare other brands? Brand example: Harley-Davidson motorcycles

Contribution to Branding Strategy Insider by: Michael Solomon, author of The New Chameleons: Connecting with Consumers Who Defy Categorization

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