Branding lessons from Rusinga on attachment, love

A private school in Nairobi was sued for allegedly suspending a pupil for having dreadlocked hair. The High Court sitting in Nairobi, however, declined to issue an order compelling the school to reinstate the pupil.

The head of Preparatory, Nelly Omino, said the school has, since inception in 1975, maintained Christian values and beliefs in their grooming policy, which all parents and guardians subscribe to when admitting their children.

When I was growing up 20 years ago in Kibra, a young black male wearing locks was often stereotyped. This is because dreadlocks were the hairstyle of choice for reggae singers like Bob Marley and Alpha Blondy. Photos with dreadlocks often showed up on the heads of young black men in police mug shots.

Welcome to branding 101.

According to Pepe Martinez, author of The Consumer Mind, consumers often contradict themselves. On the one hand, consumers tend to act on their feelings but they consciously report what they believe they are thinking. Emotions are the primary reason consumers prefer brand-name products.

Many of the products we buy are available as generic and store brands with the same ingredients and at cheaper prices. But why do we decide to pay more for certain brands? The emotion that a brand evokes in someone — or, more importantly, in a group of people — has a big impact on a company’s success or failure.

Emotions play a huge role in how consumers act and react. Emotions drive decisions, prompt actions, and change mind-sets, leading to strong loyalty and a deep personal connection with a given brand that can extend beyond its rational attributes.

These emotional connections are more psychological than logical, and are usually subconscious feelings. Brands that develop distinct personas in people’s minds project an image that people want to buy into. Someone may buy a product because it makes them feel smart, affluent, or sophisticated.

Generally, people buy products that are consistent with their positive, or aspirational, image of themselves. The richer the emotional content of a brand’s mental representation, the more likely the consumer will be a loyal user.

The incident at Rusinga School is proof that all organisations have an emotional signature of the experience which will drive decisions from their customers.

Emotional signature

So, naturally by understanding what emotional signature your customer experience elicits, you can better control the subconscious reaction to your brand and influence positively the decisions your customers make. One way to design your experience and affect your organisation’s emotional signature is to look at the experience from the point of view of the customer.

Globalisation, low-cost technologies and saturated markets are making products and services interchangeable and barely distinguishable.

Beyond face value

As a result, today’s brands must go beyond face value and tap into consumers’ deepest subconscious emotions to win the marketplace. In short, the Rusinga School incident was not about the theology of hair.

You too must get emotional and build a brand that effectively engages your customers in a personal dialogue on their needs. You must be able to evoke and influence persuasive feelings such as love, attachment and happiness.