Stern’s Four-Stage Model: Stern’s four-stage relationship model, developed by marketing researcher and professor Barbara Stern, was based on Levinger and Snoek’s five-stage relationship development cycle and adapted to fit Stern’s theory of advertising intimacy. Of the original five stages (Acquaintance, Build-up, Continuation, Dissolution, and Ending), Stern removed the “Ending” stage, thinking that departed customers are too expensive or difficult to reacquaint. The purpose of this model was to conceptualize relationship marketing, or marketing focused on customer loyalty and long-term engagement.70
Stern asserted that the goal of relationship marketing was to move away from impersonal mass communication and toward representations of personal disclosure. She adapted Levinger and Snoek’s model for relationship development in order to study the brand/consumer relationship as a more personal, intimate process, and explore potential opportunities for improvement for advertisers. Stern gave examples of how marketing tactics could be used within this relationship model, like layering personal relevance with ambiguity to spark curiosity (Acquaintance), or reward programs and loyalty incentives (Continuity).71
Reis and Shaver’s Interpersonal Process Model of Intimacy: H.T. Reis and P. Shaver’s Interpersonal Process Model of Intimacy explains how intimacy is formed between two people, and consists of two key components: self-disclosure and partner responsiveness. The model suggests that intimacy is initiated when one person communicates personally relevant and revealing information to another. This can be factual information, personal thoughts or feelings, and may also include other means of communicating emotions through non-verbal cues, like gazing or touching. As the intimacy process moves forward, the listener in turn must respond to the speaker by disclosing similarly personally revealing information, expressing emotion, and giving non-verbal signals. As these interactions continue, intimacy is built between the two people.72
Reis and Shaver found that both self-disclosure and partner responsiveness contribute to the experience of intimacy. Two studies tested this model and strongly supported the conceptualization of intimacy as a combination of self-disclosure and partner disclosure at the level of individual interactions, with partner responsiveness serving as a partial mediator in this process. (Interestingly, the second study also found that self-disclosure of emotion was even more of an important predictor of intimacy than self-disclosure of facts and information.73)
Although this model was designed to explain the development process of interpersonal intimacy, it has been adapted to study relationships between marketers and consumers. Because it identifies perceived partner responsiveness as an important element of building intimacy, it suggests that marketers can build stronger consumer relationships by showing that they are responsive to consumers’ thoughts and needs.74
Andrea Scott’s Adaptations: In Andrea Diahann Gaye Scott’s study of intimacy in services marketing, she adapts Stern’s four-stage relationship cycle, as well as Reis and Shaver’s Intimacy Process Model, to better fit her study of the consumer-marketer relationship. Scott advances Stern’s adaptation of the Levinger and Snoek model by adding relevant marketing constructs to contextualize each of the stages: Acquaintance becomes [Involvement], Build-up becomes [Risk], Continuation, [Satisfaction], Dissolution, [Loyalty; Voice], and Ending is [Negative Word of Mouth].75
In addition to adapting and expanding these models, Scott also identified three advertising appeals (rational, warmth, and intimacy) and outlined the differences between them in order to study how they affect the consumer-advertiser relationship. For each, she sought to identify the focus of the ad, the creative strategy, the creative execution, the creative components, the primary processing mode, the desired consumer outcome, and the impact of individual differences.76
THE FORMS OF INTIMACY
From these more theoretical constructs, we move to Beverly Golden, a writer and cultural purveyor, who has further dimensioned the “faces” or forms of intimacy. The most obvious is a physical or sexual connotation, although even this form has more nuance. People want to feel safe while being vulnerable, and this form of intimacy also includes a wide range of sensuous activity and sensual expression.
Emotional intimacy, by contrast, happens when two people feel comfortable sharing their feelings with each other. Fears related to this, which include the fear of rejection (losing the other person) and the fear of engulfment (being invaded, controlled, and losing oneself) can sometimes inhibit or prevent the development of intimacy.
Intellectual or cognitive intimacy is about communication—the ability to share ideas in an open and comfortable way, which can lead to a very intimate relationship.
Finally, there is experiential intimacy, or intimacy of activity, the essence of which is that very little need be said to each other. It’s not a verbal sharing of thoughts or feelings, but it’s more about involving yourself in an activity and feeling an intimacy from this involvement.77
IN CONCLUSION
Reviewing various definitions and approaches to building intimacy provided important perspectives on the power of emotions and the closeness experienced by those in intimate relationships.
While there are multiple approaches detailing intimacy between people, we saw little thinking around the possibility of being intimate with brands.
1-5
DISCOVERY
Our quest to find answers related to creating a new marketing paradigm was a comprehensive and insightful one. It began with a broad investigation into how the marketing of yesterday has been transformed into the selling of today. We wanted to understand what businesses were doing to address current realities to help them achieve growth. We also wanted to review relevant marketing models and methodologies, to gain a richer perspective on what was being recommended by the best and the brightest. We read books, articles, and research studies on how changes in brands and technology are impacting the modern consumer. We assessed multiple theories, models, and doctrines from psychologists, scientists, and economists, all who have published on topics related to the science of decision making. We then moved into our extensive study on the psychology of intimacy, looking to understand historic and academic approaches.
All of this got us excited about what we felt was a better way to measure, build and manage brands. We hadn’t yet completely concretized our thinking; however, we knew that we were heading in the right direction—and that no one to our knowledge had yet connected the dots and put forward an approach that leveraged all this information.
First, we wanted to test our theory about the ability of people to form intimate relationships with brands and get firsthand knowledge. This required learning directly from consumers about if, how, why and when they form attachments to brands.
Working with a very similarly-minded research firm, BrainJuicer (now System1), we developed an intensive eight-week online community of consumers from the United States, Germany, and Japan. Respondents were first questioned about relationships in their lives, how they form intimacy with people, how they feel about intimacy, if and how they form relationships with brands, and what brands they’ve been very close to. We wanted to better understand how people interact with brands in their everyday lives, why they feel close to certain brands (but not others), how they talk about these brands, and what characteristics or attributes they ascribe to them. We also wanted to learn about the longevity of these relationships. Do people break up with brands? Once established, do these relationships last forever?
We amassed over 20,000 unique stories from more than 350 people, which resulted in 2,000 pages of data, based on 1,000 hours of insights. In addition to our insight communities, we completed an online content analysis through an algorithm created to search queries for 110 keywords, identified from our insight communities, across three contexts: personal, social, and environmental, looking on blogs, social networks and communities.
It took months to pour through this data, reading stories in full, synthesizing key information, identify
ing patterns, and detailing some frameworks. Nine key findings from this research helped shape our understanding and became the core of our thinking on brand intimacy.
FINDINGS:
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BRAND INTIMACY PARALLELS
HUMAN INTIMACY
This was an important insight, and confirmed our thinking about people and brands. Could brand and human relationships really be that similar? Our assumption was that people do indeed have strong attachments to certain brands, but we couldn’t be sure if it was to the same degree as personal connections, and if so, how similar the process was. But in fact, intimate brand relationships do appear to closely mirror intimate human relationships.
People have a standard way in which they develop significant relationships, be it with another person or a brand, and they can form real and deep attachments to brands the way they do with people. The steps are similar, the processes the same, and the outcomes aligned.
“
I think of intimacy as a more intense brand relationship.
German consumer
I develop a feeling for a company or brand or product that is similar to love. It is beyond a cold business relationship because the brand has become inseparable from myself.
Japanese consumer
Audi is practically a member of the family.
German consumer
”
FINDINGS:
2/9
BRAND INTIMACY MIMICS
FORMS OF HUMAN INTIMACY
Not only does brand intimacy parallel human intimacy, but the forms and types of intimacy also align quite strongly.
Writer and cultural purveyor Beverly Golden created the Faces or Forms of Intimacy, which directly correlates to the ways consumers describe the types of brand intimacy they experience. Obviously, because brands are inanimate constructs (generally speaking), the sexual aspect of physical intimacy is less relevant. However, there are numerous ways that brands can foster closeness through sensorial stimulation. Consider some of the ways that Starbucks, for example, engages the senses: the store’s design and layout (sight), the music played in the store (sound), the aroma of the coffee (smell), the warmth of the cup of coffee in your hand (touch), and the distinctive flavor of the coffee (taste).
PHYSICAL INTIMACY
Aligns to a sensorial-oriented relationship between a consumer and a brand that develops through engagement of the senses. Brands that we ingest (e.g., food and drink) as well as brands used/worn on or near the body are often associated with physical aspects of intimacy.
“
I found Wen cleansing conditioner almost two years ago and have only used that product to clean my hair. They use a blend of herbs and natural ingredients instead of harsh chemicals that strip your hair of its natural oils. Beside the benefits of using all-natural ingredients, the amazing scent gives you a wonderful aromatherapy session every morning in the shower.
U.S. consumer
”
EMOTIONAL INTIMACY
Links to a deeply personal relationship between a consumer and a brand that develops because the consumer feels understood and accepted as an individual. While brands may not have innermost feelings to share, brands can still create emotional intimacy through the projection of emotion, which they do in many ways, and by eliciting emotional responses in consumers. Consider how many sports brands inspire consumers through imagery that projects the exhilaration of athletic achievement.
Often, emotional intimacy is manifested by a brand through thoughtful gestures and a caring nature.
“
For me, it is all about caring. Because I’m so endeared to Southwest, I want them to succeed even though I have no direct relationship. I want the company to do well, I want the employees to be happy, I want their safety record to be spotless—everything that causes a company to surpass others, I wish for them.
U.S. consumer
”
COGNITIVE INTIMACY
Emphasizes a more reason-based relationship between a consumer and a brand that develops around a feeling of intellectual connection, often centered on a deep level of affinity and respect for the brand’s values or ethos.
“
I feel that brand-intimate companies have different values than those that aren’t brand-intimate. I feel that brand-intimate brands are more customer-focused. They are more interested in pleasing the customer over the bottom line and are more likely to provide quality services or products. They value customers.
U.S. consumer
”
EXPERIENTIAL INTIMACY
Fosters a socially focused relationship between a consumer and a brand that develops through a feeling of being part of a special group.
“
Samsung is an electronics genius and very popular with our family. We consider ourselves to be ‘of the Samsung tribe.’ Everyone has the latest generation of Samsung: TV, landline phone, mobile phone—everything from Samsung, precisely because it is very reliable.
German consumer
”
FINDINGS:
3/9
RECIPROCITY IS KEY
Further echoing the structure of human relationships, reciprocity is key when it comes to developing strong brand connections. Two-way engagement is essential; both brand and person must be active participants. Consumers may choose to deepen communication with brands by opting in for emails, signing up for newsletters, and filling out warranty cards. Some will begin a more active brand conversation through liking brands on Facebook, replying to posts, and sharing branded content. Yet it is exceedingly rare to read any marketing strategies or theories that discuss this two-way reciprocal nature of a brand relationship, so this is a new and important way to think about building bonds.
“
Midori milk and Miyoshi soap bring health and happiness to my family and children. They nurture us, so I feel close to the brand—like it’s a family member.
Japanese consumer
”
FINDINGS:
4/9
SIX MAIN ARCHETYPES
DELIVER BRAND INTIMACY
We observed how people explained and defined their close brand relationships, and over and over the same types of words and experiences were used to explain the bond a person felt with a brand. The more we reviewed these, the more we realized these markers were among the most effective tools to leverage in building brand intimacy. Software helped us determine frequency and later factor analysis was used to prioritize, combine and summarize groupings of sentiment, feelings and associations.
We detailed six archetypes that are consistently present, in part or in whole, among intimate brands. These help identify the character and nature of intimate brand relationships. Interestingly, we found a brand can be intimate across more than one archetype, and global brands can be associated with different archetypes in different countries. For example, German consumers are twice as likely as Americans or Japanese consumers to engage with brands via the nostalgia archetype. Japanese consumers are significantly more likely to form intimate brand relationships based on the identity archetype, while Mexican consumers have the highest rates of indulgence.
“
FULFILLMENT
I only buy Tide and I rarely look at other brands of laundry detergent. I think it works the best. I get the best results with Tide; I must have eight bottles of it at any given time in my laundry room.
U.S. consumer
IDENTITY
Apple products are easy to use, stylish and fast. They make me look modern and maybe even cool.
U.S. consumer
ENHANCEMENT
PlayStation has been there for me since I was a preteen. It was a great way to connect with my brother... I have made friends through games, learned how to problem solve, and even added accomplishing things ‘in game’ into my list of life achievements.
U.S. consumer
RITUAL
For me, Lavazza coffee is simply the best. Every day, the first thing I
do is enjoy my Lavazza coffee. The whole thing has already become a routine, which I won’t do without.
German consumer
INDULGENCE
I love Lindt for its high quality. This company manufactures its products using only the finest ingredients. This makes it a brand I love to eat and like to give as a gift on special occasions, such as Easter, birthdays, Christmas...
German consumer
NOSTALGIA
I’ve been fascinated with foreign music since I was a child. I bought foreign music magazines and admired the brands in those magazines. One of the brands I aspired to then was Fender guitars. I have one now, and it brings back all of my great childhood memories.
Japanese consumer
”
FINDINGS:
5/9
BRAND INTIMACY HAPPENS IN STAGES OR PHASES
Even if you encounter a brand that you find a powerful attraction to, you don’t immediately form an intimate relationship. Intimacy takes time. It requires that you build trust, interaction, commitment, and ultimately, being co-identified.
As is the case with personal relationships, our qualitative research revealed that there are specific and distinct stages one must progress through when cultivating brand intimacy. While the amount of time it takes to reach brand intimacy may vary, the three stages are consistent, regardless of brand, culture, or geography. Similar to human relationships, there is risk at every stage that the relationship could end; however, the deeper the relationship and the higher the stage it progresses to, the greater the potential for forgiveness.
Brand Intimacy Page 6