Emotional connections are not exclusive to the world of music.

Some of the most profitable brands also create an extrasensory connection with consumers, evoking emotions just as powerful as those associated with music. Remember the loyal Coca Cola fans who rioted and filed lawsuits demanding a return to the original formula when the company made the executive decision to discontinue Classic Coke and replace it with New Coke? Beyond preferring the taste of Classic Coke, fans saw this as an attempt to eliminate an old and trusted friend (brand) that had for decades been a part of their lives. And what about Harley Davidson loyalists and weekend warriors who shed their corporate and professional titles on weekends to tour the country in leather clad packs? Harley fans have been so vocal and influential that foreign governments have changed their environmental laws to allow the importation of “hogs”.

When an emotional connection with a brand occurs across a large group of people, it becomes adopted by a culture, emblazoned in the minds and lifestyles of those consumers. That is what happened to rock and roll with the help of Elvis Presley. Though he made a real connection with Americans in his own right lasting into the twentyfirst Century, perhaps his greatest impact was being the conduit for the adoption of rock and roll by American culture.

Legendary rock and roll bands are often conduits to the changing culture of markets. Bob Dylan, for example, is considered by many to be the voice of the baby boomer generation. Elvis embodies the late 1950s and the end of an era of innocence; Bruce Springsteen represents the working people of America. These types of characterizations, from representing a generation or group of people to defining an era or time in history, are informal measures of the cultural adoption and long term success of a band, sometimes recognized on a more formal basis by induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Fans, however, take loyalty to the next level, seeking out specific brands, shopping only certain retailers, and closing their minds to other alternatives, as seen in Figure 1.1. Fans invest time, attention, energy, emotion, and money into building and maintaining a relationship to a brand, and these strong emotional attachments between company and customer are difficult, if not impossible, for others to break. And fans are vocal-they not only tell others about their favorite brands, they recruit others to buy what they buy and shop where they shop. Customers and devotees can be described more in terms of their frequency of behavior, while fans are described more in terms of the emotionality and intensity of their behavior. Fans don’t drink coffee, they crave Starbucks. Fans don’t drive a car or ride a motorcycle, they pilot a Saturn or a Harley Davidson.

Figure 1.1 Customers versus Friends versus Fans

Friends Customers (Repeat Customers) Fans Are price driven Are value driven Are experience driven Shop opportunistically Shop purposefully Shop for pleasure Want you to sell them Want products and Want personalized products good service advice and solutions Need a reason to buy Prefer to buy from Are devoted to you from you you and are yours to lose Are surprised by good Have a history of Automatically assume service good experiences you will delight them with you Drop you if they’re Tell you if they’re Tell you if they’re disappointed disappointed and disappointed, want give you a chance you to fix it, and are to respond anxious to forgive and forget Are indifferent to your Feel a connection Actively invest in their company with you, rationally relationship with and/or emotionally you-time, emotion, attention, money Don’t think or talk Recommend your Evangelize about your about your firm firm casually firm In that category is Target, or “Tar zhay,” as so many of its devoted fans like to call it. A mass retailer to the casual observer, Target has bridged the gap between discount store and department store by combining the best of both worlds, offering value oriented prices to customers who don’t want to sacrifice quality, aesthetics, and style.