Talk Bite: 3 Ways To Springboard Into the Kinship Economy

Humans are social creatures. They have an innate desire to be with others­. To belong.

Facebook, Skype, Twitter are technologies that have tapped into this basic human need. Developing services that are creating a more social world of interactions. A world where it’s easy to find and tap into a group of likeminded people no matter how niche the topic of interest may be. And in this social world of interactions, consumers are less and less interested in brand relationships. Instead they are more satisfied with relationships with other people. Case in point, Millennials and the fact that they’re less materialistic than generations past.

This focus on social interactions and desire for “human” interactions has ushered in a new era for marketers: The Era of the Kinship Economy. A time when marketers are freely calling out relationships between people rather than relationships between brands and consumers in their advertising. They are still talking about their brands. But instead of just listing out product or experiential attributes, brands that have embraced the Kinship Economy are talking about social attributes. Brand is secondary to the social attribute it’s touting to the consumer. And these social attributes are turning into compelling sources of differentiation for these brands. Check out work from Publix and Budweiser where relationships are front and center.

Here are 3 simple exponential ideas that can springboard your brand into the Kinship Economy.

1. Curate a lifestyle
2. Connect likeminded people who share something in common with your brand values.
3. Tell a compelling human interest story instead of just talking about yourself and your product / service

Culture VS Brand

Some of the most viral, passionate, advocacy-based brands are sports teams. So I started thinking, what made sports teams so great? Was it their marketing? Not so much. For sports teams, marketing seems to be more of an ingredient that helps spur on their culture and portray it authentically… at least for the great sports teams. I explored the differences between culture and brand. Coming up with a brand strategy is so very different than coming up with a strategy for developing a culture. I think some of the best brands outside of the sports world have unique cultures. Makes me think about brand strategy a little differently.