Patrick Hanlon’s Primal Branding taps into belief systems—and neuromarketing
Before I even knew about neuromarketing, I was inspired by Patrick Hanlon’s book Primal Branding. Patrick’s premise is that brands are belief systems. Like all belief systems, they consist of seven pieces of what Patrick calls “primal code”: a creation story, a creed, icons, rituals, sacred words, nonbelievers, and a leader.
Now, Patrick’s work can sound all highfalutin or academic, but his approach can be more…earthy. (This is “not the same old branding bullshit,” he writes.) And he has the chops, having worked on brands like Absolut, UPS, John Deere, Pepsi, and LEGO at big-boy agencies TBWA, Ogilvy, and his own Thinktopia.
In any case, I think he is on to something.
First, he keeps good company. Primal Branding reminds me of Joseph Campbell’s work on comparative world myths and religions, popularized by his interviews with Bill Moyers in the series The Power of Myth. Here, too, we hear about creation stories, heroes (leaders), and rituals.
Second, Patrick’s notion of primal branding is grounded in brain science, if unintentionally. I wrote Hanlon about this, suggesting the connection. He responded, saying of his branding system, “The short answer is that because it’s primal, it IS neuromarketing.”
He went on:
“Since our primeval beginning, we have learned attraction and avoidance. We are attracted to things that sparkle with Primal Code. People, products and services, ideas and communities that tell us where they’re from, what they’re about, show us what they look like, tell us how to use them, tell us the special words used to describe them, tell us what they’re not, and who’s leading the show [the 7 pieces of primal code] provide us with a brand narrative. They also provide us with meaning.
“And along the way, they give us a dopamine drip. We prefer them—and avoid things that do not give us those same benefits. I don’t know what the opposite of the dopamine drip is, but it’s probably not nice.”
The heart of Patrick’s response to me is that we are drawn to well-crafted narratives (which I’ve blogged about). Narratives trigger emotions, and we make decisions—like what brand to buy—based on emotions. We almost never make decisions for logical reasons, as much as people like to believe otherwise. Logic merely backs up decisions we’ve already made for emotional reasons. Think of your mind as the Starship Enterprise: the emotional human is in charge; the logical Vulcan is in the second seat.
But I believe it is also more basic than that. Highfalutin science aside, neuromarketing—or neurobranding or neuroanything—simply seeks to understand the primal reasons for what we do. For what attracts us, what is meaningful to us, and what we ultimately buy, or buy into.
Patrick has developed a successful narrative-building system for his clients. Although not consciously built on neuromarketing, it is certainly of neuromarketing.
You can watch Patrick on YouTube and get an overview of primal branding on Slideshare.
Chime in: Are you using narrative marketing and branding?
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Narrative Builds the Brand
Patrick Hanlon’s Primal Branding taps into belief systems—and neuromarketing
Now, Patrick’s work can sound all highfalutin or academic, but his approach can be more…earthy. (This is “not the same old branding bullshit,” he writes.) And he has the chops, having worked on brands like Absolut, UPS, John Deere, Pepsi, and LEGO at big-boy agencies TBWA, Ogilvy, and his own Thinktopia.
In any case, I think he is on to something.
First, he keeps good company. Primal Branding reminds me of Joseph Campbell’s work on comparative world myths and religions, popularized by his interviews with Bill Moyers in the series The Power of Myth. Here, too, we hear about creation stories, heroes (leaders), and rituals.
Second, Patrick’s notion of primal branding is grounded in brain science, if unintentionally. I wrote Hanlon about this, suggesting the connection. He responded, saying of his branding system, “The short answer is that because it’s primal, it IS neuromarketing.”
He went on:
“Since our primeval beginning, we have learned attraction and avoidance. We are attracted to things that sparkle with Primal Code. People, products and services, ideas and communities that tell us where they’re from, what they’re about, show us what they look like, tell us how to use them, tell us the special words used to describe them, tell us what they’re not, and who’s leading the show [the 7 pieces of primal code] provide us with a brand narrative. They also provide us with meaning.
“And along the way, they give us a dopamine drip. We prefer them—and avoid things that do not give us those same benefits. I don’t know what the opposite of the dopamine drip is, but it’s probably not nice.”
The heart of Patrick’s response to me is that we are drawn to well-crafted narratives (which I’ve blogged about). Narratives trigger emotions, and we make decisions—like what brand to buy—based on emotions. We almost never make decisions for logical reasons, as much as people like to believe otherwise. Logic merely backs up decisions we’ve already made for emotional reasons. Think of your mind as the Starship Enterprise: the emotional human is in charge; the logical Vulcan is in the second seat.
But I believe it is also more basic than that. Highfalutin science aside, neuromarketing—or neurobranding or neuroanything—simply seeks to understand the primal reasons for what we do. For what attracts us, what is meaningful to us, and what we ultimately buy, or buy into.
Patrick has developed a successful narrative-building system for his clients. Although not consciously built on neuromarketing, it is certainly of neuromarketing.
You can watch Patrick on YouTube and get an overview of primal branding on Slideshare.
Chime in: Are you using narrative marketing and branding?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download