Category Creation

2Why Brand Is at the Heart of Category Creation in the Business-to-Human (B2H) Era

It’s still dark outside as my iPhone chimes its painfully familiar tone at 6:00 a.m. I reach over to the nightstand, still half asleep, looking for the dopamine hit accompanied by the blinding light of a smartphone held inches from my face—a habit I promised myself I’d kick by now. I find the lock screen (as I do every morning) flooded with notifications, and the home screen littered with apps bearing red badges, numbered, quantifying my challenge for the next several minutes. Stronger than a doppio espresso, I begin my morning routine by clearing as many notifications as I possibly can before starting the day, working my way to the Mail app, where I know the real work awaits.

The red badge reads 124 unreads—how is that possible? It was only 34 when I went to bed the night before! I knew, however, that of the incremental 90 emails I received overnight, perhaps only three or four were actually of value and sent by a human being and not a marketing automation tool. Tapping into the app, I start my ritual of swiping left again and again, making split-second decisions on which emails are real, all before my feet hit the ground to begin my day.

I’m not proud of what I just shared, but my bet is that you’ve had a few mornings like this as well. This is our experience as consumers in today’s digitally enabled world—our contact information ends up on a list somewhere, and companies infiltrate our inboxes ...