Make people feel stuff and they'll buy stuff

For me, the really great companies make you feel something, not just buy something. 

Mostly because they have something they want to do.

Usually they want to change something. 

As people, we want to be part of something, we want to belong. 

So we want to part of that change. 

This is where so many challenger type companies tend to go wrong because they criticise the world as it is. 

The best organisations feel human, because they tell us how it could be. 

They strip away the layers or corporate bullshit and lay themselves bare.

Life isn't perfect, especially at the moment.

So celebrating and documenting the real struggle in company's journey.

Or genuinely being part of theirs.

Stands out and gets related to.

Computing that works for creative people, not corporations. 

A beauty brand that wants to stop the beauty industry making you feel bad.

A diesel engine for people people who hate diesels.

A car company for successful people with a work ethic as high as theirs. 

An premium insurance company for people who know you only get out what you put in. 

A strong deodorant that wants to give you a break from having to look strong all the time. 

Just as the greatest heroes in our greatest stories are flawed, their journey is a much about overcoming themselves as any bad guy.  

You could call it a purpose, but that term has been mangled by the PR folks into CSR bollocks. 

Don't believe the self-serving 'trust' data either, it's much simpler. 

In jaded world, we're all a bit numb, we all want things that make us feel more.

No amount of programmatic precision will help with this.

Nor will knowing what a company makes is really good.

In a busy world, brands that make us feel something, sell more.

Because they are in tune with the rhythms of our real lives.

We can't say why they're different, we just feel different about them (hi Byron Sharpe). 

This isn't love, we don't love brands, we love our friends, family, maybe Star Wars.

It's simply getting noticed.

Getting brought without thinking.

The rational facts justify the emotional decision we've already made. 

Because people may block out marketing, they don't block out life.

And when so much if life is pre-programmed these days, feeling something is really powerful.