[A tidal cairn, a stacked set of 15 large stones that I balanced in the water—here: 7 above the waterline, 8 stones below the waterline; as the tide comes in—the cairn submerges—and the storytelling of the rippling, the contours of the stones, play out their vibrational rhythm—like a profile that speaks.]
The brand has a profile, it’s a form that speaks, its outline creates vibrations—that filters out as sense-based expressions of sound, touch, scent, visibility, taste—fired in instinct and intuition—that final sense of balance and equilibrium. The sixth sense is the one that rings them all together, encircling and whole.
K N O W
W H E R E
Y O U
S T A N D.
I drop a stone of an idea, and the waves of content—a molecular construct of sound—the disruptions move out over the water, the proverbial waves—they tell a story about the collision of rock and water.
Rippling–the metaphor of touched outreach.
One story, is another, and another. An other.
Drop your stone—you tell me your story,
and I will hold it to heart, and carry that story
as it becomes my own—carried for you, by me.
Care, beauty, sharing and community—ideas, sensations, vibrations and expressions interlace, interlink, refer to each other, layer and retell to a new patterning.
What is the ripple?
Where does that word come from?
It might be that the ripple comes from the word rip—in the sense of the watery shift in current, the rip, the tidal movement, the curl of the ripping wave, the rolls out, cracking a telling on another and distant shore — the sand like the millions, in stories spread in the vibrations of the telling.
The idea of story is newly engaged—these days, everyone talks about it. We started talking about it—storytelling and brand—at a keynote to allstaff @ P&G, building one, downtown Cincinnati—25 years ago, exactly. But key to any telling is who is listening? It is pointless for a story to be told to no one—“here is a story, but now—who can hear this story?
Who will care to listen—to hold it, to care it away”
That ripple lies there—the stone is dropped in the plane of circulation and the field of content, it undulates outwardly away from the source of evocation.
There’s a story there—who’s telling it, where did it come from, what’s it sound like?
And who’s it for—who’s listening?
The story, gathered round, is a circle. Like the campfire—listeners attuned, the raconteur radiating a telling.
That’s the stone, the ripple, the wavelet that goes out. And out. One to one. one to many. One to billions.
Seth Godin offers, “Most amateurs and citizens believe that marketing is the outer circle.
Marketing=advertising, it seems. The job of marketing in this circle is to take what the factory/system/boss gives you and hype it, promote it and yell about it. This is what so many charities, politicians, insurance companies, financial advisors, computer makers and well, just about everyone does.
The next circle in has so much more leverage. This is the circle of telling a story that resonates with a tribe. This is the act of creating alignment, of understanding worldviews, of embracing and elevating the weird. Smart marketers in this circle acknowledge that their product or service isn’t for everyone, but bend over backwards to be sure that some people will be able to fall in love with it.”
In the end, falling in love is everything. The very sequence of brand connectedness is about—relevance [“I need”] enchantment and captivation [“I’m drawn in”]—embracement: [“OMG—I love it, it’s mine.”]
None of it means anything without love.
TIM GIRVIN | GIRVIN BLOGGER
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WHY BRAND LOVE?
GIRVIN strategies of memory +enchantment = audience engagement