HUMAN Brands© connect more deeply with the essence of what makes us human.
With what matters most to us, how we feel, what we value, how we relate…
Why HUMAN Brands© are better?
HUMAN Brands© outperform other brands across major KPIs achieving deeper connection, higher loyalty, increased advocacy, sales, and longevity. Ultimately HUMAN Brands© are inimitable, unforgettable and irreplaceable.
And for people? We all deserve to live in a more human-centric world, one that is designed in a way aligned with how we are built as human beings, one that makes us feel safer, more joyful and inspired, one that brings meaning into every moment and Human Brands© provide us with just that.
Why now is the perfect time to make your brand more HUMAN?
I have always been a firm believer that brands should be more human, not only because all the psychology and neuroscience research has been showing that our brains already perceive brands as human beings, but also because I could clearly see the trajectory of the consumer mindset changes and how that will impact the next few decades for brands. And humanisation of brands and all aspects of our lives was the obvious next major chapter in the human story.
Today, the demand for more human brands is very ripe. The series of major existential crises, epidemic of loneliness and growing uncertainty are shaking up the foundations of what it means to be a human. This is precisely when the human brain will subconsciously navigate towards solutions to these fundamental shifts and that naturally means looking to consumer brands for answers as they are not only omnipresent in human lives, but more importantly they are the architects of mindset, culture and humanity.
Yet, those brands that are not aligned with the core human needs, designed in a way that is consistent with how we are built as beings and contributing to a wider humanity improvement are simply not the solutions to these existential threats. The Human Brands© however are.
What are Human Brands©?
Human Brands© are brands who holistically and consistently think, feel and behave in a way that makes them be perceived as human-like. This stems from being intrinsically human-, humanity- and planet-centric.
Note that this is a very active and intentional approach to brand strategy encompassing the whole brand universe (externally and internally) consistently delivered across time and channels. The same way as your relationship with your friend is dependent on the holistic nature of what makes them THEM and on their consistent behaviour throughout the duration of your relationship and in various contexts, the same way the relationship with a brand is driven by the holistic nature of what makes this brand whole and its consistent behaviour across the time and channels. The agency and intentionality of that approach is what further imbues the brand with human-like qualities. Where anthropomorphism, assigning human-like characteristics, emotion, behaviours and intentions to non-human entities, is a process that only assumes agency for the perceiver (the human), Humanising Brands© grants that agency to the brand in a way it strategises, designs and manages itself.
There are five major organs of Human Brands©: Brand Soul©, Brand Spirit©, Brand Heart©, Brand Mind©, and Brand Body©.
All of these organs have two sides to them: Inspiration and Impact. Inspiration refers to how a design of a human being, humanity or planet inspires the strategy, design, experience or innovation of a brand within the framework of a particular Brand Organ©. Impact refers to the impression on, change, or enrichment of a human, humanity or planet stemming from a particular aspect of brand strategy, design, experience or innovation informed by that Brand Organ©.
The ultimate North Star for all Human Brands© stemming from that dance between Inspiration and Impact in each Brand Organ© is Symbiosis, with two lower levels of Resonance and Augmentation below. Symbiosis refers to an active, intentional and committed co-creation and co-impact between a brand and a human, humanity and planet, where both sides benefit due to their cooperation and they create something bigger, better, more than they can individually create or even be/become without this symbiotic relationship. As with human relationships, this mutual impact changes the nature of each party as well as the relationship itself. The ratio of Inspiration and Impact is fairly equal within this level, while in Resonance, where a brand is congruent with a human, humanity and/or planet, the Inspiration is the major force, while in Augmentation, where the relationship with a brand makes a human, humanity and/or planet better in some way, the Impact is the main focus.
Each Brand Organ© answers one core questions:
| Brand Soul© | Why do we exist and what ultimately matters? |
| Brand Spirit© | Who are we, consistently, across time and context? |
| Brand Heart© | How do we emotionally and socially connect? |
| Brand Mind© | How do we perceive, think, learn and decide? |
| Brand Body© | How do we express, behave and are experienced in the world? |
Brand Soul©
Brand Soul© is a motivational core of the brand, its quintessential inspiration for existence as visible in its meaning and value architecture. It is made out of Human-Brand Meaning© and Human Brand Values©. It answers: “Why do we exist, and what ultimately matters enough to guide sacrifice, trade-offs, and long-term consistency?”
Human-Brand Meaning© is a mutual, co-creative pursuit of meaning by a brand and a human (consumers and employees). This concept goes beyond a simple brand perception and focuses on how both a brand and a human can achieve their life meaning through their symbiotic relationship. On the brand side, Inspiration is represented by how the perception of what the brand means to the individual and a wider culture inspires a person’s own pursuit of life meaning, while Impact is represented by how humans (consumers and employees) impact brand’s own pursuit of meaning, for example through co-creation. On the human side, Inspiration is delivered by how a brand’s strategy, design, experience or innovation is influenced by a human’s pursuit of meaning, while Impact is where a brand actually contributes to a person achieving at least some of that meaning, e.g. giving a customer/employee a sense of purpose or making them feel important.
The benefits of establishing the Human-Brand Meaning© are endless, with your brand not only being top of mind, but its importance to a human or even whole humanity’s identity being inimitable and irreplaceable. These are the brands, which if they disappeared, individuals and whole societies would not only mourn deeply, but that loss can actually lead to a profound identity crisis. Ponder if you can imagine the world without Apple or Google… Now, you know what I mean.
Human Brand Values© represent the hierarchy of what is important to both a brand and a human and how these can be achieved through a symbiotic human-brand relationship. These values will naturally stem from the Human-Brand Meaning©, motivating and guiding all decisions and behaviour. If a core purpose for the brand and what gives them their life meaning is to eliminate loneliness, then their highest value which drives their strategy, design, experience and innovation will be to provide belongingness (Inspiration). This is therefore also the value that humans will derive from their relationship with this brand (Impact) and be the core reason why they buy/work for this brand regardless of the product it sells. Of course, both brands and humans will have a set of values, but in general you will see one core value group informed by their purpose (part of Human-Brand Meaning©) and a few supportive value groups that help them deliver their core value. Think about these as bricks to build the house of your life meaning.
Since value-congruence is an increasingly paramount driving force behind loyalty, advocacy, re-purchase intention, product value perception and many other desirable KPIs, being extremely clear on your Human Brand Values© and how these stem from your Human-Brand Meaning© as well as ensuring that you holistically and consistently express them through all of your brand thoughts, feelings and behaviours are fundamental to your brand’s survival and success.
Brand Spirit©
Brand Spirit© is who you are, your personality and how it drives your actions. It is measured by our Human Brand Personality Framework© made out of four dimensions: Energy, Innovation, Kindness and Trust. It answers: ‘Who we are, consistently, across time and context?’
There is also a mutual nature to this organ, as humans intuitively choose brands that are aligned in personality to them (self-congruence). So, your brand personality influences creation, expression, and evolution of your humans’ personality (Impact), while your humans’ personality informs the creation, expression, and evolution of your brand personality (Inspiration).
It is not just about a set of human-like characteristics used to describe a brand, but more importantly about a matrix of traits that serve as a compass in holistically and consistently creating, expressing and evolving your whole brand universe (Brand Body©). The same way as for humans personality is practically the only constant of their psychological make up, with values, purpose, identity, preferences and attitudes changeable throughout life, the same way your brand personality forms the core of who you are. Those individuals that behave differently across time and context, betraying inconsistency in their personality, are often psychopaths. I doubt you want your brand to be perceived as a psychopath, so using your brand personality as a compass for all your strategy, design, experience and innovation is fundamental to achieving strong brand equity.
Human Brand Authenticity© is crucial to attaining a strong and consistent Brand Spirit© perception. Our view and model of authenticity is mutual in nature, where both Inspiration and Impact are achieved to the highest standard for both the brand and the humans (consumers and employees alike). It is not only about sticking to your guts and being consistent in how your brand expresses itself, behaves and is experienced across time and channels (Brand Body©), but also about inspiring that same authenticity in humans your brand has a relationship with and even in a wider humanity. This is where integrity, care, transparency and especially consistency play a crucial role.
Brand Heart©
Brand Heart© is the emotional and social centre of the brand and is made out of The Emotions Matrix©, Brand Relationships Matrix©, Human Brand Community© with brand intimacy, Brand Vulnerability©, empathy, compassion, loyalty and trust being some of the central building blocks. It is fundamentally about fostering belongingness through deep connections. It answers: ‘How do we emotionally and socially connect?’.
On the Inspiration side the brand’s strategy, design, experience and innovation are all informed by the human emotional side including brands embracing within their strategy concepts like vulnerability, empathy and compassion, aspects of human existence not typically associated with a brand or business. On the Impact side of this Brand Organ© we see the influence emotionally- and relationally-informed strategy, design, experience and innovation have on the human, culture and wider humanity. Let’s however not forget about the symbiotic human-brand relationship being a North Star we should be aiming for, where humans also inspire the brand to have more heart.
Emotions Matrix© is our cutting-edge system for orchestrating brand’s primary and secondary emotions across all touchpoints and steps of the customer journey which leads to much deeper connection, increased brand memorability, improved brand and product value and positive influence across other major KPIs like loyalty, trust and advocacy. These are then translated into Emotions Maps©, a channel-specific maps of all emotions that should be present across all miniature steps of the customer journey to achieve desired perceptions, behaviours and decisions.
Brand Relationships Matrix© is our proprietary tool for defining the types of relationships your brand should create with your humans and what specific relationship dimensions you should strategically develop across all your brand’s touchpoints. Some brands are more of a best friend, others an inspiring coach and some even a secret affair. Each relationship type requires focus on other dimensions like devotion, intimacy or trust.
These relationships and their value to the brand don’t however happen by accident. As with human relationships, if you don’t put intentional and consistent effort into creation, management and growth of a relationship, the inertia will eventually kill it. That intentionality and consistency is also what feeds the fulfilment of the Brand Soul©, Brand Spirit©, rest of the Brand Heart© and Brand Mind© together with all of its benefits.
Human Brand Community© is our strategic framework for creating inimitable and deeply connected communities with versions for both brands and multi-brand retailers. Based on decades of behavioural research, our model creates a unique mental and social brand world which embeds the brand into not only individual, but also social identities. It has two elements to it: 3 groups of relationships a brand helps to create, express and evolve (Human, Local, Brands) and 8 mechanisms through which it can be achieved including co-creation, matchmaking, rituals and storytelling, all with multiple detailed criteria. It is simplifying a complex matrix of interrelations and psychological, emotional and social antecedents and benefits of brand communities into a recipe that helps you achieve a stronger loyalty, advocacy and long-term customer value.
Brand Mind©
Brand Mind© is the cognitive centre of the brand. It governs how a brand perceives the world, interprets information, forms judgements, learns over time and makes decisions. It answers: ‘How do we perceive, think, learn and decide?’.
On the Inspiration side, Brand Mind© is shaped by deep understanding of human cognition: attention, perception, memory, learning, judgement and decision making. On the Impact side, Brand Mind© shapes how humans think with, through and because of the brand, positively impacting person’s mental abilities, confidence in their own decision making and sense of control.
It is made out of Human Brand Mindset© and Human Brand Memory©.
Human Brand Mindset© is a brand’s overarching worldview and cognitive orientation. It defines how a brand frames reality, approaches people, change, and growth. It includes worldview (narrow vs expansive, extractive vs regenerative), locus of control (internal vs external), attitude to growth (static vs dynamic), attitudes to people (trusting vs controlling, contributory vs exploitative) and cognitive inclusion (who is seen, considered, designed for). The Inspiration side is achieved when the brand understands where their customers stand on the above, using this insight to inform its strategy, design, experience and innovation, which enhances self-congruence. The Impact is present when a brand goes beyond alignment and takes a responsibility of positively affecting humanity and helping their customers grow.
Human Brand Memory© is a brand’s active information ecosystem that directs attention, perception, intuition, decision making and learning. As for humans, memory is a hard drive we tap into to understand and react to what we encounter as well as learn new things and inform our identity, so it is for brands. A collection of heritage, history, experience, knowledge, insights, expertise and even shared moments inspiring all brand strategy, design, experience and innovation leading to increased brand continuity and strength. Inspiration side is also about how a brand uses understanding of human attention, perception, intuition, decision making and memory in all its strategy, design, experience and innovation. Impact side is not only how these cognitive constructs are better considered and even enhanced, but also how a brand influences people’s identities (individual or social/cultural) through shared memories and rituals.
Brand Body©
Brand Body© is an embodiment of Brand Soul©, Brand Spirit©, Brand Heart© and Brand Mind© as well as how a brand addresses our other three core categories (Basics, Humanity and Planet) across the whole brand universe. It answers: ‘How do we express, behave and are experienced in the world?’. It is made out of Sensory Brand Signature©, Human Brand Behaviour Matrix© and Human Brand Experience Matrix©.
Sensory Brand Signature© is what we use to define how a brand is expressed across 10 groups of senses. Yes, humans have up to 53 senses, so we use way more than your standard five. Each brand Organ© as well as Basics, Humanity and Planet categories are translated into clear sensory attributes that form brand’s sensory dictionary to be used across all design, experience, marketing and communications. This leads to ultimate multisensory consistency which not only enhances brand equity but has also been proven to impact all major KPIs like sales, dwell time, value perception, loyalty and advocacy.
Human Brand Behaviour Matrix© identifies how a brand needs to behave through language (verbal and non-verbal), interaction, service and rituals to consistently manifest all Brand Organs© and Basics, Humanity and Planet categories. This overarching strategic framework is then applied to specific aspects like customer service, where we use our Signature Service Ritual© to create fully personalised to your brand service style which becomes your ownable brand asset. From what your team says, through how they say it and behave, to how the environment supports this unique service ritual, all details are carefully orchestrated just like in a theatre or a movie.
Human Brand Experience Matrix© is all about how we want people to experience a brand. This is a fundamental ownership shift – experience is what happens in people’s minds as a reaction to what a brand puts out, therefore it is not owned by the brand but rather by a human. By clearly defining emotional, cognitive and behavioural components of experience across every step of your customer journey and all brand channels, we build a strategic roadmap for your brand experience using our FTD Framework©. This allows us to reverse engineer what happens in people’s brains and identify clear design elements that will help us achieve the desired experience across the whole brand universe and within each channel.
We also use our unique tools like Human Retail Experience Framework© and Human Ecommerce Experience Framework© build from seven categories (Basics, Soul, Spirit, Heart, Mind, Humanity, Planet) and hundreds of criteria based on tens of thousands of scientific studies and decades of industry experience to design, refine and innovate specific channel experience.
Is My Brand Human?
With customers and employees increasingly demanding brands to possess more human qualities and support them better in achieving their life meaning, protecting their wellbeing and building deep relationships while also showing genuine care for the wider humanity and planet, no brand is exempt from becoming more human.
Over the next few decades existential threats that shake up the foundation of what makes us human will only intensify, leading to an accelerated demand for humanising brands, design and experience.
How well brands understand all their Brand Organs© and how humanity- and planet-centric they are will separate clear winners from those slowly heading for distinction, something we have already been seeing in an unprecedented rate in the last few years.
If after reading about our Human Brands© Framework you can see that your brand can use more Heart or Soul or would like to know how human your brand is or work with us to make your brand more human, email our founder at kate@humanising-brands.com.
We are excited to fill the world with more and more Human Brands©.
