There are companies who have products and services that are not very inspirational, and yet they associate their products with feelings of inspiration. And there are companies with very inspiring products and services who market from a place of features and benefits. Many times, companies with an inspiring story are reluctant to put forth a bold message that inspires an audience, and by doing so they short change their marketing.
Every once in a while, I wake in the morning with a song in my head that I haven’t heard in years. When this happens, I’ve learned to look up the lyrics and see what message there may be for me in the song. As I’ve been doing dreamwork for quite some time, I see this as an extension of the work, and often times the meanings in these songs prove to be quite valuable and at times even profound for me.
Just a few days ago I woke with a song from the early 1970s, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.” The video (by today’s standards) is rather hokey, but the message is sweet.
I’d like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees
And snow white turtle doves
I’d like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I’d like to hold it in my arms
And keep it company . . .
When searching the song, I was reminded of a Coke commercial around the same time with a slightly altered version of the song. A group of young people from diverse ethnicities were standing on the top of a mountain singing this song together as they held bottles of Coke.
The song starts the same,
I’d like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees
And snow white turtle doves
And then,
I’d like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I’d like to buy the world a Coke
And keep it company
The takeaway is that Coke produces a product that is unhealthy and leads to obesity, adult onset diabetes and tooth decay, and yet they have built and maintained a multi-billion dollar business by marketing this way—inspiring people to see the world as a beautiful place and associating that feeling with their product.
Coke, and other large companies like them, tend to employ very sophisticated marketing agencies and experts, including behavioral psychologists, to associate certain feelings with their products. They call this “positioning.”
What if . . . businesses that have a deeper purpose than merely making money—companies that may self-identify as “conscious” or “social” or “ethical” in nature—were to market from a place of authentically conveying the purpose of why they exist. In other words, to leave behind the old-school method of “features and benefits” and instead to inspire audiences based on the real reason they exist.
Coke and Pepsi and others have shown us the power of marketing by inspiration, and yet they don’t have very inspirational products to sell. How much more powerful would it be for companies with products and services that are actually inspirational to market by inspiration?
Instead of “features and benefits” serving as the A-story, and the conscious, social or ethical underpinnings of a company serving as the B-story, what if we lead with why we exist? What if our reason for existing becomes our A-story, and if people want to visit our website they can search for the nitty gritty details of our products or services?
How powerful would it be?