Asking the right questions

Recently, a yoga teacher who attended the Urban Zen Initiative in the city relayed a teaching from the event to our class. As an entrepreneur and a marketer, it struck me both personally and professionally:

Do not ask what the world needs. Ask instead what makes you come alive. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive.

Strategists are trained to ask what the world needs. We ask consumers in focus groups what they need. We ask our investors what they need. Positioning is nothing more than looking at a category and trying to assess the greatest need. We seek the void in order to fill it with something we suppose or deduce people need.

This approach has gotten us little more than a preponderance of choice. We are inundated with things we don’t need. The most commonly cited number of beverage combinations at Starbucks (at last count) was 21,000. In 1970, Colgate offered two varieties of toothpaste; today, they offer more than 36. These may be things we like, but they are certainly not things we need.

More and more, I am finding myself attracted to brands I believe have a legitimate reason for being. I’m talking about companies and products born of true inspiration; brands that have “come alive.”

Here’s a trend: I am not alone. As we all search for the things that make us come alive, we are attracted to people…and brands…on the same mission.

Some of these brands are attached to a cause, like BoGo Lights, the solar powered flashlights created to illuminate communities in the developing world. Just watch the brief video clip of entrepreneur, Mark Bent, and you will be drawn in. Other brands come alive by projecting a genuine passion for their business: Apple, eBay, Whole Foods, Scion…these are living, breathing brands. It feels like the light is on and someone (someone who cares) is home.

I was explaining the allure of American Apparel once and I said, “This is a brand that has a life. I can feel the mystery and elusiveness of this brand. It is not courting me (not asking me what I need). It’s actually too cool for me. It feels like this brand is hanging out with cooler people than me, and getting into the parties I can’t get into. I am left with this irresistible feeling that when I am not looking, this brand is up to a lot of reckless, carefree, no good.” You don’t have to be a do-gooder to become magnetically alive. We love the rebels, too, as long as they are doing what they love.

So wherever your brand is in its life stage, ask yourself: “What makes this brand come alive?” The world does not need another flavor of Colgate.