Join getAbstract to access the summary!

For the Culture

Join getAbstract to access the summary!

For the Culture

The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be

Public Affairs,

15 min read
6 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

To inspire action, go beyond demographics to understand people’s worldviews and connect with their beliefs.

  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×

Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging

Recommendation

To inspire people and to align your product, candidate, or idea with those who hold similar beliefs and might buy from you, approach marketing as an anthropologist. Marcus Collins urges you to learn which groups share your beliefs, going beyond past demographics or personas to learn their tribal cultures and lexicon. Focus on aligned beliefs, not products. Collins emphasizes understanding your brand’s beliefs so you can find and reach “like-minded groups.” A devout Christian, Collins bases many examples on Christianity. He knits theory and practice together to explain how to understand your market’s culture, how to find your tribe in the digital world, and why both culture and tribe matter.  

Summary

People embrace brands that speak to their beliefs and identity.

Urbanites with plaid shirts, facial hair, and a belief in egalitarianism chose an unlikely favorite beer when they made Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) popular. For 150 years, the company brewed beer without hi-tech filtration, special hops, or traditional marketing measures. It sponsored bike messenger rodeos and opened art galleries. Counterculture urbanites embraced it as a cultural identifier.

From politics to tech to news shows, niche groups often gain or reinforce part of their identity through the brands they adopt as part of their “cultural practice.”  Brands influence cultural norms. Early in photography’s development, for example, the only people shown smiling were “peasants, dimwits, drunks, or children.” To encourage people to take more pictures, Kodak marketed photography as a way to remember happy circumstances. As people changed their thinking about photography, smiling in photos became the norm.

 Sociology pioneer Emile Durkheim explained culture as a “system” used to explain a distinct group of people. Culture encompasses shared beliefs, rituals...

About the Author

Dr. Marcus Collins, clinical assistant marketing professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, formerly led strategy at Wieden+Kennedy, New York.

Comment on this summary