Last weekend I went to The Hillsong Church. It’s the shiny church that says it’s good and right to make lots of money.
It was Hillsong’s ‘youth’ night and I wanted to see how such a daggy organisation could attract so many young people.
For the record, Hillsong Church’s album For All You’ve Done was number one on the ARIA charts in 2004—that’s not a joke.
A while ago I was going to do an exposé on a ‘personal development organisation’—Landmark Education, with the Nine Network’s A Current Affair. I was to be wired up with a pin-hole camera and microphone to expose the kind of stuff it does on its recruitment drives and three-day ‘personal development’ courses (during which some people say sensory deprivation and time disorientation techniques are the norm). There are many internet sites calling this organisation a cult—and I wanted to find out for myself if a) it was a cult, and b) if it was how modern cults captured people. All I know is many a yuppie friend of mine has entered the Landmark’s gates and never left.
Finally, I was also at the footy last year and saw a bunch of young guys with their faces painted red and white and yelling obsessively. These guys followed the Swannies ‘religiously’. Now the Swans aren’t a cult, are they? But they do evoke a rather fanatical following.
So, Landmark Education, the Hillsong Church, and the Sydney Swans are three organisations that are attracting a hell of a lot of young consumers (or people) to their ‘brands’. They have huge budgets, spend a crap load on marketing and PR and between the three of them they have never made one decent TVC. Why then are the brands so strong? Why are they so good at recruiting and developing strong loyalty (people don’t leave once they are in the fold)?
Community
Community is the most obvious promise from these ‘brands’—we are all a little lonely, so let your brand follow the examples above and give people the opportunity to meet others. Excellent examples of this are Nike conducting fun runs and training sessions as part of ‘You’re the run that I want’. Another good example is Jack Daniels with the Jack Awards—harnessing and nurturing the ‘rock’ community. What is your brand doing? Create a magazine, or even a half decent website, let your communities meet and find a sense of belonging. Reason‘We may handle any how, if we only have a why’—Nietzsche. Organisations that can give us meaning are bound to create loyalty. The footy club dudes have something to do every Saturday, the Landmark groupies have got a series of never-ending ‘personal development’ courses to attend. What meaning does your brand offer? A good example is The Heineken brewery in Amsterdam—it’s the first stop for many of us on our first trip to Europe. It’s a right of passage into adulthood (and they serve free beer at the end). Let people discover life through your brand. Marketing is no longer just associating itself with cool cultural events, it’s beginning to create the very culture we live in.
SexWhenever there are others around, there is the opportunity of meeting someone hot, or falling in love. That’s (a big) part of the reason young people are sociable, and as soon as you find a partner, your social life goes south. Brands targeting youth should promise sex, such as Virgin’s Warren, OPSM’s ‘Need Contacts’ campaign, and many others. I’m sure a few lucky ones at Hillsong would have been having a pash in their cars after the service.
There are learnings we can take from all of these organisations if we are serious about youth marketing. What is the big idea for your brand? What are you offering young people beyond yet another pair of faded denim jeans or a new flavour of alcohol? The bar has raised. Branding is no longer just about a few emotional values laid on top of a functional product—there is a whole lifestyle to consider and support.
Adam Ferrier is a consumer psychologist and partner at Naked Communications. To join his cult E: adam@nakedcomms.com.au
