Maslow and Branding: Esteem

Yesterday we looked at Security and Connection, the two most foundational needs (above basic survival) on Maslow's Hierarchy. I was planning to focus on another two today, but this next need -- Esteem -- is rather juicy. I'll save the other ones for tomorrow.

Esteem
Or, "make me feel special and important."  There are numerous ways that brands can deliver on customers' need for Esteem; customer service comes to mind first. A great example is Conference Calls Unlimited, which stopped all advertising and redirected marketing dollars into overqualified customer care members, employee incentives and a ton of customer perks including free passes to events and conferences (I received flowers after my first conference call!). The CEO, Zane Safrit, informed me that the strategy produced measurable results.

Some newer ways of delivering Esteem include:

• "New Economy" forums like LegoFactory. Not only is this a place to show off your new Lego designs to other community members, but you also get a chance to be publicly recognized for a great design by the Lego Product Designers themselves. Another example is Slashdot, where you earn karma for smart participation in the forums. You can see in the FAQs that people's karma scores serve as  'reputation badges,' and it appears that some folks were a bit peeved when the karma indicator was changed from a potentially unlimited number to a label ( Terrible, Bad, Neutral, Positive, Good, and Excellent.) You can see the importance of Esteem in this (pretty funny) response:

• "Q: It seems unfair that I can't get any more karma than that even if I earn it.

A. The text label is one way we've decided to emphasize the point that karma doesn't matter.... Karma is used to remove risky users from the moderator pool, and to assign a bonus point to users who have contributed positively to Slashdot in the past. It is not your IQ, d**k length/cup size, value as a human being, or a score in a video game. It does not determine your worth as a Slashdot reader. It does not cure cancer or grant you a seat on the secret spaceship that will be traveling to Mars when the Krulls return to destroy the planet in 2012. Karma fluctuates dramatically as users post, moderate, and meta-moderate. Don't let it bother you. It's just a number in the database."

Interesting; they're trying to emphasize that karma doesn't matter. Clearly it does... it's a foundational human need. Despite their huge success, they may do even better if they reinstate numbers instead of labels. It's all about earning recognition.

• Amazon's plogs (personalized weblogs) and recommendations are good examples of how to deliver Esteem using technology instead of people. They're so good it's almost creepy. I visited Amazon yesterday and was greeted with "Jennifer's Plog" that included a long post written by Elizabeth Kostova, author of The Historian (good book, BTW.)  Amazon is the only brand from which I actually enjoy receiving emails; they're always kindly informing me about a new book that I should be interested in (and they're always right.) It's as if I had a personal book assistant thinking about what Jennifer might want to read.

So yes, this really is all about ego. We don't like to admit that we need our ego stroked, that we want to be recognized and feel important. But hey, it's a fact AND it's a huge motivator for purchase (like L'Oreal's tag line: "It's more expensive, but I'm worth it.") Obviously all fashion, cosmetics, car companies, etc. are playing on Esteem, but as you can see from the above examples, any company can meet this need.

How could your brand boost your customers' egos and make them feel special?

Comments

[Tomas Hrivnak]

Dear Jennifer, I can't wait for the top of the pyramid. Even though this (Maslow's hierarchy of needs) is seemingly a very workable and simple paradigm, there have been new readings of it which suggest, for example, that such a sequential hierarchy of needs doesn't usually happen in our post-scarcity society. Rather, we should see "human needs as an ecosystem where all needs co-exist together for the vast majority of us once our basic subsistence needs are met. The interesting opportunities lie in understanding how, where and why these needs are not being met. The implicit challenge for brand strategists and brand-owners alike is to accept the contradictory nature of most modern consumers and to work with it." (Mark Rodgers & Mattias Ostlund in Creating Desire – Helping the Buyer to Buy, an Esomar paper from April 2004

[Mark True]

Jennifer:

This post merges well with the brand life cycle a former collegue shared with me several years ago (I can't remember the original source, but maybe some of your readers will know it). It suggests that brands move through the following four stages:
1. Here I am
2. Here's what I do
3. Here's why I'm better (than the competition) and
4. I'm part of your life

Obviously, brands want to move through the first three and set up house in the fourth, and it's hard to accomplish that without appealing, at least a little, to the ego!

[steven e. streight aka vaspers the grate]

Maslow's Hierarchy is a Psycho Capitalism misanthropic gimmick. Christopher Lock, at Mystic Bourgeoissie explains the racist roots of Maslow and his lab.

Every starving artist betrays the falsity of his silly scheme.

NO--you don't have to wait until all your basic needs for food and shelter are met, prior to engaging in "self-fulfillment" which for many, translates into corporate Enron type greed, and narcissistic delusions of grandiosity.

It's nice to return to your blog and see a lovely new photo, and controversial posts.

Keep up the great work, Jennifer!

[PRMama]

This is a great series. Lots of good information to consider!

[Zane Safrit]

Good Lord! Thank you so much! That's very kind of you to say.

Wow!. Our weekend is made!

[Alvin]

Hi Jennifer!

I surfed onto your site from Gaping Void. I loved reading your posts on marketing as applied to Maslow's hierachy of needs.

I've read about them but have never seen them applied to a marketing persepctive before. Great stuff.

[shereen]

your site is very helpful in my oral presentation in my marketing class, thank you for all the information, keep up the good work!