A good brand planner has to love his or her brands. With that love in hand the planner can spend enough time and mental capital to really get close. Past the label. Past the brand manager’s bias. That means seeing a brands warts. Knowing the warts and working around them are the goal. Consumers at their very core love patterns and predictability, but they also like new and optimism. Have you ever tasted lettuce grown in your own garden? It tastes better, no? That because you want it to taste better. Optimism.
In the advertising business there are a lot of people who live on snark. Creatives don’t like clients who don’t buy their work. Managers don’t like people who can’t make decisions or won’t follow directions. No one likes those who are focused on the broken not the fix. Have you ever read the comments following an Adweek story? There is so much envy and loathing it’s scary.
But brand planners have a nice job. A Zen job. To do it well they need to like consumers — to watch and listen. To find the love. But don’t advertising it. Are you listening Blackberry and Subaru. Peace!