Love + Fear
Mastering the Primal Motives of Buyers
by
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In Philadelphia, the eleven o’clock news bulletin starts with a mushy story of a pet being rescued or child getting honored. It turns quickly to a different report on a death by fire or gunfire, and then it circles back to something hopeful again. I am sure this format is followed by many media channels. There is irony in the order of emotions we get put through, but the format somehow works—and has worked for a long time. In many respects, this rhythm of warm fuzzies and cold alarm is what this book is about. At the very essence, human beings are driven by two primal emotions: love and fear.
Love and fear are the ebb and flow of personal emotions every day. They underlie every decision we make in our personal and professional lives. They also underlie every inaction of ours and every regret we have. From an individual space, love and fear are strong motives in how we choose to relate to our world.
For some people, their expression of love and fear becomes so magnetic that they are able to pull other people along too. They attract people who identify with their emotions, their causes, or their missions. Most of the time, these affinity groups do good things, but there are some that don’t.
The world is a giant ocean of emotion, with different currents flowing in different directions, causing waves, tides, and tsunamis over the course of our lives. Sometimes these cultural currents harness love and do good things, but others are rooted in fear and can be negative. This book taps into this for marketing purposes.
Brands, in this ocean of emotion, contribute even more noise and motion to the marketplace as they tout their wares. “Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!” say a myriad of brands in all voices, colors, and forms. This book is about aligning a brand to a cultural current that’s relevant to it, where it has purpose and where it has permission to amplify the force of natural human currents. In some cases, where the current is a harmful one, a brand has the power to be a catalyst to change its direction—or stop it altogether.
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About the Book
Love + Fear Mastering the Primal Motives of Buyers shares a simple marketing framework that anyone can use, from an entrepreneur with a disruptive idea to the chief marketing officer of a Fortune 500 company.
Shantini Munthree, who has built and transformed leading brands throughout the world, cuts to the chase on brand positioning, explaining gaps in buyer behavior that have long frustrated marketers.
By drawing on work at Vanguard, Procter & Gamble, SABMiller (now under Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV), Sara Lee, and Caterpillar, and by sharing case studies from others, the author:
· strips away layers of brand positioning strategy and races you to the heart of a brand;
· reveals how to woo new buyers by taking on a macroaffection or macroinfliction—two new concepts;
· unpacks and tackles buyer objections and unexplored emotional deal killers; and
· shares proven strategies to tap into the deepest human motivations to turn buyers into brand advocates.
By the end of this book, you’ll be ready to unveil the real why of your brand, link it to a what that your buyer cares about, and do so in a way that elevates your brand above competitors.
About the Author
Shantini Munthree describes herself as having an American heart, South African soul, and universal spirit. For more than twenty years, she has helped build and transform some of the world’s leading brands. Shantini is President of BRANDKIND, a socially conscious brand strategy consultancy.