The truth about "one night stand approach in branding"

Too much marketing takes a ‘one-night stand’ approach to building relationships.
The brand does all it can to get people’s attention – to seduce and woo them – only to ignore them the morning after.

But most of us already know that such an approach rarely establishes meaningful, long-term relationships.

Sooner or later, no matter how clever the tagline, or how single-minded the big idea, successful brands need to progress from courtship to a relationship.

And that requires a different approach.
It needs regular, two-way communication.
It needs compromise and understanding.
It needs trust.

And all of those require something more than a flashy new campaign every few months.
Sure, they’re a big part of courtship, but courtship is just the beginning.
Moving from lust to love requires us to show our audiences attention; not just for them to give it to us.

Let’s get serious.

Brand Strategy..

The Supremes gave us some indispensable social marketing and Brand Strategy advice way back in 1966:

You can’t hurry love, No, you just have to wait;
Love don’t come easy, It’s a game of give and take.

They were right.

Building a meaningful relationship takes time.
And sometimes, the other person isn’t ready for the kind of relationship you want.
Trust and affinity grow over multiple interactions, bit by bit.
But the rewards for patience are much greater than those of a conventional advertising one night stand.


Social marketingand branding isn’t a race.
As the Italians say, “pian piano, si va lontano” – take things slowly and you’ll go much farther.