brands are behaving like organized religions

7/24/2019 Brands Are Behaving Like Organized Religions

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BRANDING

Brands Are Behaving LikeOrganized Religionsby Utpal M. Dholakia

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Organized religion has shaped virtually every aspect of human behavior for thousands of

years. Some historians have even argued that religion was integral to human

survival. Perhaps its not surprising, then, that savvy marketers have figured out that they c

use some of the same basic principles to connect with their customers and that brands hav

taken on such importance to consumers.
https://hbr.org/http://www.politicalaffairs.net/role-of-religion-in-human-history-interview-with-alexander-saxton/https://hbr.org/search?term=utpal+m.+dholakiahttps://hbr.org/topic/branding


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And yet the narrowly formulated, self-serving, and consumption-focused beliefs and values

rituals, and communities provided by brands usually have little to offer beyond the

boundaries of their products and services. Thoughtful marketers should have an

understanding of how this is shaking out how some brands are adopting the characteristic

of organized religion so they can think critically about whether this is something they wan

to do.

Scholars have found that every organized religion offers three key benefits to its followers, a

a set of core beliefs and values, b) symbols, myths, and rituals, and c) relationships with

members of a like-minded community. Here are a few of the ways in which brands have

begun using these elements to create congregants, not just customers:

Core beliefs and values.The essence of any religion lies in a set of beliefs and moral value

Just consider how fully many of us embrace precepts such as Impossible is nothing,

Challenge everything, or Make the most of now. Each of these slogans sounds

inherently good, worth adopting and even building our lives around. Yet their origin is no

some divine revelation or millennia-old discourse, but the minds of clever copywriters.

Also common to every religion is belief in a divine, benevolent, supreme being. And today

figures like Jeff Bezos and the late Steve Jobs have been described as our saviors in how

theyre portrayed. For instance, when Mr. Bezos purchased the Washington Post in Augu

2013, many media experts called him journalisms savior. And the international edition

of Fortune magazine recently depicted Bezos as the Hindu god Vishnu on its cover. Storie

about the magnetic, larger-than-life founders of Amazon and Apple provide a rich

mythology that draws consumers to these brands.

Symbols, myths, and rituals. Rituals are repeated behaviors that follow a script and posse

symbolic meaning. Over centuries, people have practiced religious rituals to mark rites of

passage such as birth, marriage, and death, to mark certain times of each year like the end

of the harvest season, to please divine powers, and to ward off misfortunes. Rituals impos

order and structure to our lives, and assure us about our place in the scheme of things.

While we continue to follow many rituals established by religionwedding vows or the

Thanksgiving meal, for instancewe have also adopted many rituals associated with
http://www.geekwire.com/2016/jeff-bezos-fortune-hindu-god/https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjp2uOIiOTKAhVL4mMKHYc1BMMQFgg8MAc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fopinion%2Ftopoftheticket%2Fla-tot-cartoons-pg-is-jeff-bezos-journalisms-savior-or-just-another-bean-counter-photo.html&usg=AFQjCNHQBElWLSIt7VL8bWgSfiRtEix3rw&sig2=gviSpqz1vsXuY4SWcnKh8ghttp://www.salon.com/2013/08/11/we_worship_the_iphone_steve_jobs_is_our_savior/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc7TSb9NtwMhttps://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjOscC637nKAhVU3WMKHWhyC5cQyCkIHzAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DlPYkOMj-3iI&usg=AFQjCNESEzyLlKxOQcNj7P6gbiYN4yWiaQ&sig2=fifiSv61TiJeRltw11Z87Qhttp://www.adidas-group.com/en/media/news-archive/press-releases/2004/impossible-nothing-adidas-launches-new-global-brand-advertising-/http://www.amazon.com/Consumption-Spirituality-Routledge-Interpretive-Marketing/dp/0415889111http://www.amazon.com/Ritual-Perspectives-Dimensions-Revised-Catherine-Bell/dp/0199735107http://www.danielemathras.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/MathrasCohenMandelMick2016.pdfhttp://www.amazon.com/Religion-Explained-Evolutionary-Origins-Religious-ebook/dp/B009TCW076/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1


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brands. Activities like a particular way of eating an Oreo cookie (twist, lick, then dunk),

participating in the VW wave (waving to another Volkswagen Beetle driver to say hello

and signal solidarity), or using special, made-up words like Venti or Frappuccino at a

Starbucks store every morning provide some of the same benefits as religious rituals do.

Consumer psychologists have shown that creating new rituals for customers is a great wa

to heighten their enjoyment and to build strong brands.

Relationship with a community. Through the ages, religious life and social life went hand

in hand. People belonged to the same religious congregation their entire lives, and relied

fellow members for companionship, financial assistance, and social support. The found

their friends, well-wishers, and spouse, and socialized their children there. Today, brand

communities, fan clubs, and social networks provide many of these same benefits. Many

motorcycle enthusiasts spend their weekends and vacations with their Harley Owners

Group at rides and rallies. In user forums and chatrooms of companies like Hewlett

Packard, Microsoft and Texas Instruments, tech enthusiasts devote hours upon hours

helping others solve their problems without pay. Brands like Jeep, the Russian camera

maker Lomo, and Samuel Adams organize Brandfests to bring together customers for

enjoyable and educational experiences. In such venues provided and managed by brands

people socialize, form friendships, and even romantic relationships.

On one hand, its easy to see why these powerful tactics would appeal to marketers. On the

other, as consumers, worshipping an iPhone or a Tesla cannot teach us to be happy or conte

with our lives. Nor can a Harley Owners Group necessarily provide us with the genuine

friendship and intimacy that a caring spouse, life-long friend, or neighbor can. So as shoppe

we may be best served by enjoying the benefits that brands provide, yet acknowledging ther

are limits. And as marketers, we might want to ask ourselves if the value of what were sellin

lives up to our power to sell it.

Utpal M. Dholakiais the George R. Brown Professor of Marketing at Rice Universitys Jesse H. Jones

Graduate School of Business.
https://hbr.org/search?term=utpal+m.+dholakiahttp://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137349101_9http://jsr.sagepub.com/content/12/2/208.shorthttps://hbr.org/2009/04/getting-brand-communities-righthttp://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/07/17/0956797613478949


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NICK JACOBS 36 minutes ago

Overall, I think that this essay highlights some important considerations about brands and marketing. I thin

one ontological weakness I see here is whether religion teaches us to be happy. Does it purport to? Definite

But I would argue that it isn't 100% successful either.

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