I learned about the Lovemark from the PBS show, The Persuaders, about the multi-billion dollar advertising, PR, and marketing industry. We watched it for a marketing course, and have talked about it ever since.
The idea of the lovemark is this: People become emotionally attached to certain brands, inspiring “loyalty beyond reason.”
Lovemark brands are brands who spawn commitment among consumers, whose loyalists do not only like the product the company produces, but love the brand itself; what it stands for, the personality it embodies, and what they feel it says about them that they affiliate themselves with the brand.
Examples include Apple, Jeep, Target, Louis Vuitton, or Harley-Davidson.
(You hear people say “I am a Mac person.” This does not just mean they use apple computers; but rather it suggests an identity expression of the type of person they see themselves as being.)
Sports teams are a strong example. Being a Detroit Redwings fan is not just about hockey, it’s about a whole culture. A ticketmaster executive, speaking in one of our classes the other day, said there is a forty-thousand-some waitlist for Greenbay Packers tickets; talk about loyalty.
Tying this to arts, a classmate brought up the fact that in Europe, people feel loyalty to their local arts organizations, the way we feel loyalty toward sports teams here in the US. I want to know this: what is the formula that inspires loyalty, for a non-profit organization? A strong brand image? Just great marketing?
Are there some arts organizations that have captured it here in the US? Like the MET? By what strategy? And how can we incite this kind of loyalty in to our own organizations? If not only for moral support, our financial future would certainly be more steady with lovemark status.
How do we become a lovemark?
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2 weeks ago
2 comments:
Gotta love the lovemark! I think one of the factors that makes a brand a 'lovemark' is exposure at a really young age. If you grow up having something, that's an especially strong connection that stays with you for life. Remember how baby boomers flipped out when Volkswagen introduced the New Beetle in 1998?
Another factor could be innovation. Think of Apple and how everybody flips out in anticipation for the next iPhone to be released.
For the arts, this translates to the importance of early education and innovation. If you have dynamic, innovative programming and expose young people to it, it's like the organization itself is alive, constantly 'growing' and changing with you.
I think you're right, Eric.
I've got another one - differentiation. If a brand is different than others in its market, we want to be associated with it. I think people like defining themselves (why do we have customizable ring tones and glitzy carrying cases for cell phones? Why do we like listing our favorite tv shows/music on facebook? It's not relevant to anyone else, we do it for our own satisfaction, in effort to express who we are as individuals). We like brands that send a signal about our personality.
So for arts, I think we could strengthen our patron loyalty by developing a stronger organizational personality, that if people are affiliated with, says something about them. This is tied to promoting a more specific mission, too.
In Bloomington, I think the BPP is kind of like this. They're not just after "providing high quality theater" but rather writing-focused, new, American, edgy, experimental, sometimes uncomfortable stuff. People affiliated with it might feel their affiliation expresses something about themselves.
BPP is half there, they just need better marketing/branding to solidify the image they've got going.
Thanks for the comment, Eric!
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