How maternal brands engage consumers
People are often disappointed in politics and the media. Brands have the potential to compensate for this social trust deficit and to show themselves to be reliable bastions of trust in the new era. After all, brands are closely linked to people's everyday lives. This is where they repeatedly deliver on their product promises. Their history and tradition convey to consumers that it is possible to weather the storms of time and continue to develop.
What do brands have to fulfill in order for us to trust them? Stephan Grünewald, co-founder of the rheingold institute, answers this question in Markenartikel magazine.
The royal road to building trust
According to this, brands must "assume maternal and paternal functions such as caring or challenging." This can create trust, which "today more than ever forms the basis for brand success.
Consumers expect their brand to know their wishes and their secret desires. Like a mother in childhood, she should know the customer better than he understands himself - at least she should fulfill wishes that he cannot admit to himself. The royal road to building trust begins with generating a deeper understanding of the customer.
What actually moves him in a market? What are his subconscious wishes? For which conflicts does he expect a solution from his brand?
Cologne-based psychologist Stephan Grünewald is the founder of the market and media research institute rheingold. Grünewald became a bestselling author with his books "Deutschland auf der Couch" (2006) and "Die erschöpfte Gesellschaft" (2013) as well as "Wie tickt Deutschland" (2019).
Phone: +49 221-466 828 0
E-mail: gruenewald@rheingold-online.de
