Earlier this week Forbes ran an article announcing the release of a Prophet brand ranking Index which ranks the “relentless relevance” of 400 top brands from 29 categories. The respondents were U.S. consumers, active in the category and familiar with the brand, so the results go beyond visibility and reach to understand the attachment to the brand.

Relentless relevance was measured by four dimensions:

• Customer Obsessed: Being important to a person’s life, connecting emotionally, and creating happiness.
• Ruthlessly Pragmatic: Makes life easier by being dependable, available, and delivering a consistent experience.
• Distinctively Inspired: Inspires, has a meaningful purpose, is trustworthy, and in-touch.
• Pervasively Innovative: Pushes the status quo, engages with customers in new and creative ways, and finds new ways to address unmet needs.

Brands that are relentlessly relevant are likely to be dominant leaders of a subcategory which is usually the best route to growth as I explained in my book Brand Relevance.

Several findings caught my eye:

1. The top three brands, Apple, Samsung and Microsoft, are considered highly reliable enablers of what is important in the life of respondents. They score high across all dimensions. All of these brands are highly visible and have been the subject of positive news as well as controversy. But at the end of the day, their customers still love them, and loyalty wins. I recall hearing Phil Knight commenting on why he was running highly-controversial Nike ads. He noted that all he cared about was his core target markets, and they loved them. It’s that intense focus on the core customer that creates brand enthusiasts that stick with your brand through thick and thin.

2. Involvement is a driver of relentless relevance. The scale “engages me in new and creative ways” helped give the brands PlayStation, Xbox, EA and Etsy a place in the top 50. Etsy, admittedly a surprise to me, helps those in the Maker Movement reach a bigger pool of shoppers. The e-commerce company has devoted itself to building an authentic, people-driven marketplace, with 23 million buyers to date.

3. The Ruthlessly Pragmatic (dependable) dimension is more influential than expected in weighting the relevance score. After the first three brands, three of the next five, Netflix, Chick-fil-A and Spotify all scored extremely high on the Ruthlessly Pragmatic dimension that includes concepts like availability, consistent experience, dependability, and making life easier. It is great to be inspiring, innovative and central to a person’s lifestyle but simply delivering your brand promise is of very high value to consumers.

4. Fifteen of the top 50 brands were classic brand names that largely delivered functional benefits, or so it seems. Leading the way with positions in the top 25 were Betty Crocker, Band-Aid, Clorox, KitchenAid and Folgers. All were extremely high on the Ruthlessly Pragmatic dimension, reinforcing the hypothesis that delivering to expectations may not be glamorous, but can drive a brand’s ability to create and keep a loyal segment which can be the basis of a healthy long-term business. There’s also likely to be some emotional benefit linked to the nostalgia of growing up with these brands – they become part of the fabric of people’s lives. Likely connected: Many of these brands had relatively high scores on the “trust” dimension as well.

5. Four of the top brands including Netflix at number 5, Spotify at number 8, Pandora at Number 19, and YouTube at number 43 are Internet media brands and score high on the “important in my life” dimension. Two more, Pixar at 11 and Disney at 24, are entertainment brands and were extremely high on both “makes me happy” and “connects with me emotionally.” Not only are these companies providing a more fun experience for their customers, but they are innovating the experience and constantly keeping it fresh and relevant in consumers’ lives.

6. Seven fashion-connected brands populated the top 50 including Nike, Sephora, M·A·C, North Face, Under Armour, Adidas and Victoria’s Secret. Many had high scores on the “distinctively inspired” dimension. All involve a high level of involvement and energy as well. Relentless relevance measured on those that are active in the category and familiar with the brand provides a key brand equity indicator that is not available on other brand strength scales and represents a brand relationship that is a key to business success.

“Brands that are relentlessly relevant are likely to be dominant leaders of a subcategory.”

In my last post, I wrote about why I believe Lifebuoy’s “Help a Child Reach 5” campaign is the most effective social responsibility program running today. The program’s mission is to help one billion people develop better handwashing habits and thereby prevent some of the two million deaths of children under five that occur annually due to poor health and hygiene.

In this post, I discuss why two particular stories Lifebuoy shares in its program are so powerful. Brand stories are the hot, new currency of content marketing as firm after firm hires editors, writers, and videographers to find and record these narratives. Lifebouy seems to have cracked the code. The following two videos produced by Lifebouy provide insights into what it takes to tell an impactful story in a mere three minutes.

The first video was filmed in the Indian village Thesgora. Because of the village’s high rates of disease, Lifebouy chose it as the site for its pilot handwashing program, which resulted in a reduction in diarrhea from 36% to 6%.

In the film, a father is shown walking a long distance on his hands through fields, puddles, and a stairway to the nearby temple to seek God’s blessing. As the man walks, he is accompanied by villagers and people playing music. Inspiration for the story is rooted in the local practice of expressing gratitude by doing something like sacrificing a favorite food or walking a long distance.

We then learn the reason for the man’s journey. He finally saw one of his grandchildren reach five and is overcome with delight. The video ends by telling the viewer that two million children die before their fifth birthday because of diseases that can be combated by better handwashing. The emotional impact is powerful and reinforces the importance of Lifebuoy’s handwashing program.

In the second video, we are introduced to Utari and her tree. Utari has an attachment to the tree: she waters it, dances around it, protects it from water buffalo and stands by it late into the night. Why? We learn in the video that Utari’s son will turn five the next day, and it is a village tradition to plant a tree when a child is born.

For far too many mothers in Utari’s village, only the tree remains after five years. But Utari is one of the lucky ones and her worship of the tree reflects that gratitude. The video closes with an explanation of why the Lifebuoy handwashing program works is vital to reducing those deaths.

“The first video was seen by over 19 million people and the second by over 11 million.”

The first video was seen by over 19 million people and the second by over 11 million. Why were these videos so powerful and influential in helping the Lifebuoy program get 250,000 people – one-fourth of their overall goal – to adopt effective handwashing habits? There are many reasons including:

• The characters are real, interesting and authentic.
• Curiosity about who the characters are and what they are doing drew people in.
• The video showed real emotions, which generated a connection with viewers.
• The statistics of global infant deaths, which can be addressed with a simple and effective program were shocking.
• There was a direct connection to Lifebuoy and the impact of its hand washing program.

My current nominee for the best social program ever is “Help a Child Reach 5”— a hand-washing program sponsored by a brand that virtually disappeared from the U.S. a half-century ago, Unilever’s Lifebuoy soap.

However, Lifebuoy is far from dead internationally. The brand is dominating the market in India and other emerging countries, with a fourth-place ranking in Kantor World Panel’s 2015 valuation of users and their buying frequency of 11,000 global brands in 35 countries—only falling behind Coca-Cola, Colgate, and Maggi.

With “Help a Child Reach 5,” Lifebuoy’s mission is to save lives by spreading the importance of good handwashing habits around the world. This campaign is driven by two facts:

1. Every year, 2 million children fail to reach their fifth birthday because of diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia.
2. Handwashing with soap at key occasions can reduce diarrhea by 45% and pneumonia by 23% worldwide, thus reducing infant deaths substantially.

A pivotal event in Lifebuoy’s “Help a Child Reach 5” effort was the implementation of a showcase program in Thesgora, a 1,500-home Indian village. The program, which showed a reduction in diarrhea from 36% to 6%, became the subject of a three-minute video featuring a grandpa walking on his hands through town to celebrate one of his grandchildren finally reaching 5 years old.

The video has now been seen over 19 million times and the resulting case study helped Unilever accelerate the program throughout India and in 24 other countries. Lifebuoy executes the “Help Children Reach 5” program with creativity and flare.

In India, 1,500 Unilever employees have volunteered to help teach school children the importance of handwashing through child-friendly materials, including comics, songs, games, and rewards. The importance of washing for 20 seconds on five key occasions throughout the day is driven home through a device that illuminates germs that are still around after one hand wash.

But it doesn’t stop there. Mothers are educated because over 40% of infant deaths in India occur during the first 28 days of life. Unilever retrofitted water pumps so that children can embrace the habit more easily. Unilever even put the phrase “Did you wash your hands with Lifebuoy today?” on over 2.5 million pieces of flatbread called “rotis” during a Hindu holiday.

“Leon Kay of triplepundit.com, posited that this was the most impactful program ever in terms of the number of people reached.”

Plus, the company has created dozens of videos expressing the impact of this initiative on children, parents, and communities as a whole. Lifebuoy is also leveraging Global Handwashing Day, October 15th, which was established in 2008. In fact, on October 15, 2012, Lifebuoy’s office in Dubai set a Guinness World Record when they got people from 72 countries to simultaneously wash their hands.

“Help a Child Reach 5” is a winning social responsibility program. It has already reached more than 250 million people and is on target to reach a billion people by 2020. One observer, Leon Kay of triplepundit.com, posited that this was the most impactful program ever in terms of the number of people reached. It certainly adds energy and a higher purpose to the brand and generates social and emotional benefits too.

There are three accelerating branding trends that affect nearly every business. The winners of tomorrow are going to be riding these waves rather than swimming against them.

First, there is a trend from “my brand is better than your brand” marketing to subcategory competition driven by the fast pace of innovation in the marketplace and a growing recognition that, with some exceptions, meaningful brand growth spurts are caused by a new “must-have” defining a new subcategory for which competitors are not relevant.

The evidence that subcategory competition is driving growth is abundant. For me, the insight started with my analysis of some 40 years of Japanese beer data. During that time there were only four major changes in the market share trajectory. Three of these were caused by new subcategories being formed or solidified: Dry Beer, Ichiban, and Happoshu. The fourth was when two subcategories, Dry and Lager, were simultaneously re-positioned.

I have found the same pattern in dozens of categories such as cars, financial services, computers, retail concepts, water, airplanes and many more. Growth, with rare exceptions, comes only when new subcategories are formed.

In the automobile space, for example, we know that was true for the Chrysler minivan, Prius, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Tesla and others. There are several implications. Firms need:

• To shift some investments from incremental innovation to “big” innovations.
• The ability to recognize what is a “must-have” in the marketplace and what is not.
• The will and capability to manage subcategories rather than brands, to make sure that their subcategory wins and that it evolves so it keeps winning.
• To own the subcategory by creating barriers to competitors.

One route is to brand the “must-have” innovations. A branded technology, for example, like Uniqlo’s HeatTech fabric that retains heat, is hard to duplicate because Uniqlo owns the brand.

Second, there is a growing shift from communicating facts about the brand, offering, or firm to developing content that interests and involves customers and populate that content with stories in addition to facts. The digital world, where customers are increasingly gaining control of the communication vehicles, is one driver of that shift. The tragic reality is that people are not interested in your brand, offering, or firm. They are just not.

An alternative is to look to what they are interested in, what activities occupy them, what they talk about, what are their passions. I call it the customer “sweet spot.” Then, find or develop content or programs around that interest area with the brand as an involved partner. Customers are not so interested in:

• Diapers, but they are in baby care and the Pamper’s LoveSleepPlay baby care site.
• Cosmetic products, but they are in beauty and Sephora’s BeautyTalk.
• Farm equipment, but they are in improving farming and the rural lifestyle and in John Deere’s Furrow magazine now over 100 years old and read by over 2 million farmers around the world.
• Hardware products, but they are in building homes for the homeless and thus Home Depot’s link with Habitat for Humanity.

A sweet-spot-driven content or program can generate interest and energy, create or enhance perceptions, engender trust and authenticity, and stimulate a social network.

“A sweet-spot-driven content or program can generate interest and energy, create or enhance perceptions, engender trust and authenticity, and stimulate a social network.”

Third, the trend toward having and elevating a higher purpose should continue to grow. In addition to being the right thing to do and addressing real social problems, a higher purpose can provide inspiration and meaning to employees. Being engaged in reducing global warming or enabling students to be more creative is more rewarding than just increasing sales and profits.

A higher purpose can also promote cross-silo collaboration by providing a common goal that encourages people to perceive colleagues as teammates instead of being irrelevant or even competitors. It comes more likely for the employee to assert “How can I make us succeed?” than “How can I get ahead?”

Another motivation for a higher purpose is to provide a route to customer relationships. Starbucks quest to inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time provide a way to connect that means something to customers. Patagonia, the ultimate in having environmental considerations in their heritage, in their products, and in their programs attracts customer loyalty among those that share their values.

A sizable and growing customer segment is looking for organic and natural products, and as a result, packaged food companies are facing a brand relevance problem. One company that has done well in this difficult and changing environment is General Mills.

The General Mills Acquisition Strategy

There is a lot to like about their acquisition strategy. Take major General Mills acquisition, Annie’s, bought in 2014 for just under one billion dollars: Annie’s makes Mac & Cheese, snacks, dressings and frozen food all under the organic and natural labels. The brand is fast-growing, authentic and high quality with an expanding product footprint. The purchase provides General Mills with another growth platform in the healthy eating arena. And there were important acquisitions even before the purchase of Annie’s.

“These acquisitions provided not only new growth platforms but an injection of knowledge and passion around organic and natural.”

Back in 1999, General Mills acquired Small Planet Foods, owners of Cascadian, which is a maker of organic frozen fruits and vegetables and Muir Glenn, the maker of canned organic tomato products. In 2008, Larabar, a fruit and nut-based energy bar that has become a player in the healthy end of a growth segment, was purchased. And in 2012, General Mills bought the “Food Should Taste Good” line of snacks, also marketed as organic and natural. These acquisitions provided not only new growth platforms but an injection of knowledge and passion around organic and natural.

How General Mills’ Acquisitions Power Relevance

Brand relevance is a measure of how integral a brand is to people’s lives— the more relevant the brand, the more equity, presence, and importance the brand has. General Mills took a unique approach to boosting relevance by recognizing new customer demands— in this case, the demand for healthy foods— and acquiring other brands that offer innovative, healthy products across different areas of customers’ lives.

Annie’s in particular is credited with providing leadership in product innovation and distribution. Several of the long-held General Mills brands joined the effort. Fiber One had been a leader in the fiber race for years – first in cereals, then in snacks – and is currently on a growth surge. If fiber is your concern, Fiber One will be preferred.

Nature Valley connects to the core health segment not only through its products but also because of its support of the national parks. The Nature Valley Trail View provides 360-degree views of 400 miles of national park trails across the country. Yoplait Greek 100 also has a lot of healthy characteristics and is one of GM’s current winners.

General Mills has also made product changes that have been responsive to the healthy eating trend as well. In 2004, it changed its cereal line to whole grains and reduced sugar levels sharply in kid’s cereals. Yoplait also reduced the amount of sugar in its products.

In 2011, General Mills begin to source eggs from cage-free sources. It was an early leader in gluten-free products, long before gluten-free became trendy. By adding gluten-free options to top-selling brands such as Cheerios, General Mills now has 600 products that are gluten-free. And of course, they have Betty Crocker to lend her credibility to their effort to improve food choices.

A Different Route: Kellogg’s Approach with Kashi

In contrast to General Mills, Kellogg’s, only a bit smaller in sales than General Mills, has gone a different route. Kellogg’s bought Kashi in 2000, its “healthy” entrée into the market, but it’s performing badly because it lacks the organic and natural focus of the brands that are competing for the knowable, health-conscious segment.

Rather, Kashi emphasizes whole grains, high protein and fiber, which is not enough today. It has experienced difficulty in connecting with the target segment, as exemplified by their response to a grocer who posted to social media accounts that Kashi uses genetically modified organisms (GMOs) despite their claim to be natural. Kashi replied that the FDA does not regulate the use of the word “natural.” And while this may be true, most people imply that natural means that processed food has no artificial ingredients, pesticides or GMOs. In part because of the decline of Kashi sales, Kellogg saw its earnings per share in 2014 decline sharply. In contrast, the earnings per share at General Mills continued a healthy increase year by year that it has enjoyed for the last five years.

On May 3, 2013, Uniqlo became the exclusive, multi-year sponsor of the New York Museum of Modern Art’s Friday night program, which offers free admission in the evenings. Almost a year later in March of 2014, Uniqlo launched SPRZ NY (Surprise New York) in partnership with MoMA.

Under SPRZ NY, Uniqlo puts artwork inspired by top contemporary artists such as Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring on some 200 items that will sell from $6 to $50. Some of the artists, including Ryan McGinness, will personally design clothing items based on their works hanging in the museum. It’s “the place where art and clothing meet.” The sponsorship is designed to showcase the huge signature 5th Avenue Uniqlo store that is located around the corner from MoMA.

“The place where art and clothing meet.”

The store redesigned the second floor so it looks and feels like a museum, with framed pieces of art-stimulated clothing on the wall. A Starbucks was added that provided more destination appeal and energy. A one-year anniversary of the launch saw a month of special events such as an Art of Discovery scavenger hunt in the museum, a design your own t-shirt program for kids, and a special New York art tour featuring secret locations.

The partnership works for four reasons:

It provides a brand image lift. The association and the programs provide a lift to the Uniqlo image of representing quality, innovation and contemporary fashion that works in everyday living. The art provides self-expressive benefits to some and a sense of being contemporary and fashionable without being trendy to others. It gives energy to the brand, the store and the store experience. Just think of having unique designs attached to interesting and visible artists. The MoMA connection is not possible to duplicate; it’s the ultimate characteristic of an exclusive sponsorship.

It energizes the flagship store. It provides a spotlight on the flagship store and by extension the Uniqlo effort in US major cities, which also offer many of the MoMA-inspired clothing items. It gives the Uniqlo 5th Avenue store a burst of energy and differentiation. Both are highly sought after and hard to attain for retailers, especially prime competitors like Zara and H&M. The fact that the store is around the corner from the MoMA cements the relationship.

It’s dynamic. The sponsorship was not simply an association based on paying more money than others, but it was alive, active and anything but static. Each year, Uniqlo not only sticks with the sponsorship but leverages it in new and creative ways. And all along, Uniqlo stuck to the core features of the MoMA and the SPRZ concept of creating surprising experiences.

It links back tightly to the Uniqlo brand. Free Fridays are labeled as Uniqlo Free Friday Nights. SPRZ NY clothing is featured in the Uniqlo 5th Avenue store and is available elsewhere. Except for the MoMA store, the only place that clothing appears is within Uniqlo. It fits Uniqlo, a brand with an emphasis on contemporary fashion for everyday living, on innovation and on having a distinctive in-store experience.

Who wants to spend time with someone who is so boring that he’s described as having no personality? Maybe it’s better to be a jerk because at least you’ll be interesting. Having a personality is equally helpful to brands, especially in the digital age.

Not all brands have, or even should have a strong, distinctive personality, but those brands that do have a significant advantage in terms of standing out from the crowd, having an on-brand message, and supporting a relationship with customers. Personality is an important dimension of brand equity because, like the human personality, it is both differentiating and enduring.

Enhancing Self-Expression Benefits

People express their own or idealized selves in part by the brands that they buy and use, especially when the brands are socially visible and have a personality. Such a brand is a badge that tells others what you value and how you live, and, more importantly, reaffirms to yourself what is important in your life.

Using an Apple computer expresses for some a non-corporate, creative self, based in part on the perception that the Apple brand’s personality is irreverent, creative and young, and challenges convention. The use of Betty Crocker expresses the home/mother/nurturing side of some of its users because “Betty Crocker-as-person” is a mother figure: a traditional, small-town, all-American person who cares about cooking and about her family. Wearing the Nike brand reflects “Nike-as-person”: someone who is exciting, provocative, spirited, cool, innovative and aggressive, and into health and fitness. Being a Patagonia fan expresses a passion for the environment and for sustainability. Being a Dove user reaffirms a belief in real inner beauty.

Providing the Basis for a Relationship

A brand personality can help build an understanding among the brand’s company and can communicate internally, about a brand-customer relationship that can suggest programs and be the basis of brand loyalty.

For example, consider the following relationship metaphors: A well-liked and respected family member—a warm, sentimental, family-oriented, traditional personality—would match brands like Hallmark, Hershey’s, John Deere and Campbell’s. A person whom you respect as a teacher, minister or business leader—someone who is accomplished, talented and competent—is like IBM or The Wall Street Journal. A companion for an outdoor adventure—an athletic, rugged and outdoorsy personality—is like Nike or The North Face.

A stimulating companion—an interesting personality with incredible stories—is like the Dos Equis beer spokesman, “the most interesting man in the world.” A “brand-as-person” who has a passion for healthy, organic foods is reflected by the Whole Foods Market personality.

Representing a Functional Benefit

A brand personality also can be a vehicle for representing and cueing functional benefits and brand attributes. It can be easier to create a personality that implies a functional benefit than to communicate that functional benefit directly. Further, it’s harder to attack a personality than a functional benefit.

The Harley personality is a rugged, macho, America-loving, freedom-seeking person who is willing to break out from confining society norms of dress and behavior, which suggests that Harley motorcycles are powerful and have substance. Meanwhile, MetLife has used the Peanuts characters to create a personality of being warm, approachable and humorous, a highly desired but hard-to-achieve personality for an insurance company.

“People express their own or idealized selves in part by the brands that they buy and use.”

The Energizer rabbit is an energetic, upbeat, indefatigable personality who never runs out of energy—just as the battery runs longer than others. Wells Fargo, as represented by the stagecoach, reflects an independent, cowboy type who delivers reliably. Although competitors may actually deliver superior reliability and safety of assets, because of the stagecoach, Wells wins the battle of perception.

Guiding Brand-Building Programs

Tactically, the brand personality concept and vocabulary communicate to those who must implement the brand-building effort. As a practical matter, decisions need to be made about the communications package, including advertising, packaging, promotions, events, customer touchpoints, digital programs and more. If the brand is specified only in terms of attribute associations, little guidance is provided.

To say that TaylorMade golf equipment is of high quality with an innovative design does not give much direction. However, to say that “TaylorMade-as-person” is a demanding professional conveys much more. A brand personality statement provides depth and texture, making it more feasible to keep the communication and other brand-building efforts on strategy.

One retail chain created a mythical “brand-as-person” with a home setting, a family, interests, opinions and activities. The company gave that person a name. Let’s call her Sue. Then whenever a product, communication or operation initiative was proposed, the criterion was: Would Sue do it? The concept led to easier and better decisions.

Helping to Understand the Customer

The brand personality metaphor can help a manager gain an in-depth understanding of consumer perceptions of the brand. Instead of asking about attribute perceptions, which can be both boring and intrusive, asking people to describe a brand personality often is involving and can result in more accurate and richer insights into feelings and relationships. The arrogant and powerful personality ascribed to Microsoft, for example, provides a deeper understanding of the nature of the relationship between Microsoft and its customers. Or the personality construct might be a better entry into understanding the calm emotion associated with Celestial Seasonings tea than a discussion of attributes.

A variant is to ask what a “brand-as-person” might say to you. In a credit card study, one segment who perceived the brand as being dignified, sophisticated, educated, a world traveler and confident believed that the card would say things like, “My job is to help you get accepted,” and, “You have good taste.”

A second intimidated segment perceived the card to be sophisticated and classy but snobbish, aloof and condescending, and believed that the card would make comments like, “I am so well-known and established that I can do what I want,” and, “If I were going to dinner, I would not include you.” The perceived attitude of the brand toward the customer was a big insight into where an important customer segment was coming from.

Providing Energy

When developing a brand vision, there frequently comes a point at which someone asks: Does the brand contain any energy? And if not, how is it going to communicate and succeed or even be relevant in today’s environment? A brand personality often is a good way to introduce energy into a vision.

A strong brand personality, such as those surrounding Mercedes, Muji or American Express, can provide energy by adding interest and involvement. It effectively amplifies brand perception and experiences. All airlines seem very similar until the energy created by the personality profiles of brands like Singapore, Southwest and Virgin are considered. Think of the energy surrounding the personality of the AXE brand, which is obsessed with being successful with attractive women.

“Don’t Think of an Elephant!,” by UC Berkeley linguist Goerge Lakoff, is important to every brand strategist. One of its most powerful points is that it explains how, within a political setting, Republicans so often win policy arguments. The answer is in the framing. Republicans are just very good at it.

Lakoff’s insights directly apply to branding. Framing dictates the discussion and the decision. It affects how we see the world, how we process information, whether that information is distorted, how we interpret it, what behavior occurs, and whether attitude and behavior change is even possible.

It matters whether the frame is tax relief (taxes are an affliction and heroes remove them), paying your share (just as you pay dues at a club, you should pay for education, libraries, roads etc.), or investing for the future (building infrastructure or educating will help future generations).

It matters if the frame is pro-abortion or even partial-birth abortion (who is for abortion?) vs pro-choice (who wouldn’t want choice?). It matters if you think of climate change (climate has a nice connotation, so what if weather changes?) vs global warming (which suggests a real danger).

It matters if you think of patient protection or affordable care (both of which are widely supported) or Obamacare (which suggests Obama and the government are overreaching).

Framing is about choosing language that fits your worldview. Some implications for brand strategists: Pay attention to framing subcategories rather than brands. Notice what people are buying and why. Move from positioning the brand and engaging in “my brand is better than your brand” marketing to framing the subcategory (or category) and thereby changing the way people perceive, discuss and feel about your brand.

Importantly, this changes which brands are relevant. So instead of how a brand is perceived, we consider how a person looks at brands and decisions regarding subcategories like compact hybrids, rental cars, organic milk, online banking or urgent care centers. Be disciplined and persistent in using the language and symbols that represent your frame. Some people are locked into a frame, but many are susceptible to alternative frames and will gravitate to the one that is simply used the most.

When opponents or competitors start using your frame, the battle is over. When Democrats start using terms like tax relief, abortion rights, climate change and Obamacare they have lost the fight. Frustratingly, even an attempt to negate a frame actually strengthens it.

When people are told to not think of an elephant, they can’t get the image out of their minds. When Richard Nixon said he was “not a crook” what emerged was a reaffirmation that he was a crook. So it is necessary to be disciplined to consistently use the language of your frame and never accept the alternative. Know that facts don’t really matter.

“It is a myth that people are rational and that some well-presented facts will change their frame-anchored view.”