Mind Reading - The Ultimate Super Power for Branding

On St. Patrick's Day, a leprechaun visited the Pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms at school.  Much to the delight of our daughters, the leprechaun messed up papers, turned the teacher's chair upside down and left footprints on the students' tables.  

Their visit was the center of discussion at dinner that night.  Maggie, 6, informed all of us that if you caught a leprechaun, you could have one wish.  I asked her what she would wish for and she gave it deep thought and decided "all of the superpowers".  

Jordan, 8, said there were too many things on her list to choose just one and asked if she could force the leprechaun to give her more than one wish.  (This should be great insight into her personality and how difficult the next 10 years will be for us.)

Molly, 5, said that she would want to be Katie because Katie has straight hair, no freckles, and most importantly, doesn't pick her nose.  Ummm, okay.

After I stifled laughter I started to think about super powers in the context of my job.  What super powers would be best for us to have as a branding agency that would most benefit our clients.

Mind Reading.  

Yep, Matt Portman Heroes-style mind reading.

How great would that be. Talk about consumer insights.  Real genuine consumer insights, not just what the loud mouth in the focus group thinks makes her sound cool.

But, then I realized that we are developing that power now.  Social Media gives us the power to read minds.  To eavesdrop on people's conversations.  To see them actually interacting with the products in their own lives, not just in a staged test in the lab.  To hear people around the world talk about a product...good or bad.  If they hate it, you will quickly find out why as they tell all of their friends.  If they love it, you can just quickly realize it when they turn in to brand advocates.

Branding is all about the emotional connection that a consumer has with a product or company.  Social media is the perfect set of tools to hear if that emotional connection is being formed or not.

Ahh, to be a fly on the wall and eavesdrop on all of those conversations...what an incredible super power.

Jaci Russo

Sr. Partner

The Russo Group