Branding Between the Ears: Using Cognitive Science to Build Lasting Customer Connections

CHAPTER 1

BRANDS THAT ROCK

Epic brands in the marketing sphere and chartbusters in the music world have one thing in common. No one seems to know how to make one. They come out of nowhere, like sweet accidents that rock our worlds.

Take the recent hit, “Dance Monkey,” from Toni Watson, known professionally as the artist Tones and I.¹ I like the song because it has exactly the kind of effect I want my brands to have on consumers. The words of the song speak to the trance-like hold that some street dancers can have on bystanders, when neither they nor the performer can let go of the moment. Who knows what they see, hear, and feel, we just know that no one wants the music to stop.

Yet even Watson’s managers warned her not to expect too much from ...