March 07, 2005
Are Spock and Kirk keeping an eye on you (question mark)
Let me start this one out by saying that I am not a Trekkie. Just as Quentin Tarantino claims there are two types of people in this world, those who like Elvis and those who like the Beatles, I seem to think there are two types of people in this world, those who lean toward Star Trek and those who lean toward Star Wars. I tend to be the latter. But enough of my providing you with information that you didn't really want to read. No, I can't give you the last thirty seconds of your life back. Sorry.On with the show...
Just as everyone seems to have an innate familiarity with The Gong Show, so too do they seem to possess a familiarity with the construct of Star Trek. And it's usually something beyond "[Expletive], Jim! I'm a doctor!" It usually extends to knowledge of the emotional, yet well meaning, Kirk and his hyper-logical Vulcan cohort, Spock. And I am relying on that knowledge, and that construct, to convey my point.
Any brand in its infancy will generally have every member of its target market approaching it as Spock would approach it. Is it logical? Does it make sense? Is it reasonable for me to engage with this brand? Everything is based on reason. It is about, all marketing being equal, weighing options and selecting the appropriate choice. There is very little, if any, emotion involved. It's purely a decision-making process.
When asked, these Spock judgments and considerations can be easily recounted. They are based in fact. They are formed on syllogism. They are itemized considerations. Reality, not perception, holds the majority of the equity at this time.
This is where every company starts with its brand. And where every company that fails at branding ends with their brand, if not their company. The logical. The dispassionate. The reasonable.
Kirk, on the other hand, is the market for a mature, well-developed brand. Kirk acts on emotion and gut instinct. He's not going to waste a great deal of time comparing and contrasting the reasoning behind a decision. He's going to move. He acts on emotion first and reasoning second. And sometimes, he acts against reasoning because, at that point in time, it simply seems to be the right thing to do.
Now, when your market is asked to recount the reasoning behind their Kirk decisions, things become a great deal muddier. Why did you make the decision? I don't really know. It just seemed right. I had heard good things. I like the company. The product looked cool.
You see me making Kirk-like assertions in this Blog all the time: I love Google; Martin Lindstrom is a genius; I have grown fond of LinkedIn. And that's because, in my mind, those companies and their brands have made the leap. They have transitioned from a logical, Spock decision to an emotional, Kirk decision for me. And even if they stumble from time to time, I am willing to forgive them. Because my relationship with those brands is on an emotional level.
And that is the challenge for all marketers, but especially those interested in brand. How do you give your market enough logical reasons to continually choose your product, so that eventually, they shift their thinking from a basis of logic to a basis of emotion? And where are you in your brand's lifecycle? And is your market occupied by Kirks or Spocks? You can change Spocks to Kirks, and vice versa, but you need to be thinking about it. And you may need to oscillate.
Even more importantly, you need to understand the dynamic of Kirk and Spock. They work together. The work with one another. You can change Kirk's opinion with enough Spock tactics, and Spock will follow if there are enough reasons that Kirk tells him to do so. Spock will coalesce to do things that are "highly illogical." Your current product line, for instance, may have a variety of Kirks who need to convince a glutton of Spocks that your new product is worth the risk.
So ask those angels and devils on your respective shoulders to scooch over a bit and provide some room for Spock and Kirk. They need to be helping you make those decisions on a regular basis. And you need to be considering the dynamic between emotional and logical with every move you make. Because you don't want your campaign, your product, or your company to wind up being one of those guys in the red shirts.
Do you have an interesting construct you use to judge your work? Let's hear about it. And, I'll chat with you about it when you return.
Are Spock and Kirk keeping an eye on you (question mark)
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