After thirty or forty years of wanton consumerism, while others around the world still stood in breadlines, we tried to decide which pair of shoes we wanted at a variety of stores. Marketers were able to have retail experiments as they performed crosscuts of demographics (e.g. Banana Republic, Gap, Old Navy), the sectioning of psychographics (Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, Ruehl), the paradox of high design and low cost (Target and Ikea).

The factories have been churning out product, and the plentitude has been as astounding as Ali Baba’s horde.

But as neuroscientists and their followers like Jonah Lehrer and others have been pointing out, the act of shopping itself is not so much about spending, as it is about feasting. Axioms about the thrill of the hunt aside, the act of shopping stimulates a dopamine drip. (Dopamine is the natural drug inside our brains that gives us feelings akin to have a good meal or good sex.)

So we shop. The thrill of shopping gives us a dopamine high. We shop until our credit card can’t take it any more. And then we get another credit card and max that one out, too.

This, beyond economics, is our national problem. To stop shopping simply for the thrill of it, we will have to (literally) go through dopamine withdrawal. This will be difficult, and will result in a lot of crankiness in the store aisles.

But without money—without the low interest liquid cash that credit cards dole out—decisions will have to be made. Do we really need seventeen pairs of shoes? Will last year’s coat be warm enough this year? Does last season’s swimsuit still look okay? If my iPod Nano still works, how much do I need the one in this year’s colors? And so on.

Which means that consumers will be taking a harder look at how they spend their money. For years, if I could envision some impulse purchase on the table at a future garage sale/tag sale, I didn’t buy it. This sort of rational buying (any rationale will do) may become more mainstream.

Retailing may have to take a hard look at itself. A successful model of the past has been to look at a successful store chain and then imitate it. If we already have Abercrombie and Fitch, do we really need all those flanking copycat stores? The same goes for other category leaders. All those second and third-rate retailers down at the strip mall will have to remind themselves that following the leader leads to trailing profits. Some of those retailer spots may be empty this time next year.

It is important to note that some famous high-end brands have launched during economic recessions. Brands like Polo, Starbucks, Newman’s Own, Hard Rock Café and the recently departed Sharper Image all started during recessions.

Americans have been consumer junkies for years. We have been addicted to the dopamine drip to the point of excess. Just as too much adrenalin hardens arteries, too much dopamine has crimped debt and cash flow.

Consumption for its own sake may be on the decline, but we will continue to buy enough to stimulate our dopamine drip. Just how much is enough will depend upon how much dopamine we can live with—or without.

Katrina Michel of planning and research firm Planning Express, Ltd. in Manchester, England created the list. “When a brand doesn’t have any standout attributes [Primal Branding] is great because it’s a method for establishing a belief system around the brand,” she writes.

Other suggested reading included classics like Trout and Ries’ Positioning, Disruption by Jean-Marie Dru, Microtrends by Mark Penn and Perfect Pitch by Jon Steel.

Reason why? Simple. Many consumers have less money in economic downturns (not to mention the recently unemployed) so every purchase becomes a considered purchase. That means they will rely on the tried and true brands they already know and trust and rely on to deliver their money’s worth.

But as someone pointed out at the recent Brand Manage Camp conference in Las Vegas, there is also opportunity for new brands to rise. Companies like Sharper Image, Ralph Lauren Polo, Starbucks and others started out during recessions.

There will be other opportunities as well. This is an ideal time for marketers to start shedding 20th century reliance on expensive television media advertising and start looking at the long tail, getting websmart with people like Google and David Scott Meerman and understanding the new (and less expensive) marketing advantages the 21st century Internet and Web 2.0 has provided them.

Some companies even hire personal coaches (also known as executive or life coaches) for their executives, to better align work and soul.

These physical manifestations–the result of a work ethic summed up as “24/7/365”, points not only to functional employee benefits, but to a corresponding search for meaning inside the work place; a quest for soul in work.

The deeper objective for leaders today is to create a community inside the company body that people can believe in. The result can be amped up employee morale, increased retention, better performance, and improved, mission-driven organizations.

Designing organizational culture.

Organizational culture becomes more important than ever when your company is under siege. Financial firms like Citibank, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and others have taken blows to the body corporate that have resulted in public humiliation, layoffs, decreased profits and lost employee morale. The corporate psyche has suffered.

Looked at holistically, organizational cultures are not simply functional operations. They are supportive internal communities that provide vision, trust, empathy and relevance that resonate far outside the corporate campus. They attract others who share your beliefs. How? By creating a belief system (and way of thinking) that motivates your employees and inspires others.

“Org-pride keeps workers committed to the firm when the pay is low, the bosses are stupid and the company’s stocks are hitting bottom,” quips one recruiting firm blog.

All over the world, people are dedicated to creating the next software advance, the next genetic leap forward, new financial tools, new design ideas, political battles, or the next advance in everything. These men and women are willing to sacrifice meals, sleep, social life, family time, even their own health in order to create the next next thing.
Why? Because they are driven by a higher ideal. They want to earn a paycheck, certainly, but they also believe in their quest so fervently they will give up all else in that pursuit. Today, it’s not enough that customers enjoy the products our company makes; it’s also important that we enjoy making the products our customers want.

What it boils down to is meaning.

“When you ask people what’s important to them, and really ask it,” says Gary Hirshberg, CEO of Stonyfield Farms. “You find out that most folks are looking for meaningful work–and meaning in their life, because they spend so damn much of their time at work.”

Fact is, even 9 to 5 employees who invest themselves in what the company is about become better people on the job. They have more positive interactions with co-workers, figure out how to perform tasks more efficiently, work better with customers and suppliers, exhibit less stress, and are more motivated to engage themselves in the success of the organization.

Today’s corporate leaders find themselves asking the question, What kind of company would we have if the people who worked here actually believed in what they were doing? Would our company be the same as it is now, or would it be better? For most executives, the answer is the latter.

Creating cultures that work.

Companies that people believe in have an inherent belief system that halos everyone around it. These companies have create resonant, sought-after cultures where people love to work. Belief systems have a construct of seven elements called the primal code. Those companies that have these seven assets become vibrant, resonant cultures. Those that do not, are not.

This is a simple outline of the seven pieces of primal code:

1. The creation story. In the beginning, there was someone with an idea that ripped apart the way things used to be. It was better, cheaper, faster, stronger, cleaner, more powerful. They made it in their garage, in the basement, they started in a hotel room. Even the largest companies in the world today, from Microsoft and IBM to Google, started as small businesses facing enormous odds. The creation story of these companies becomes the ur-legend as the company grows and is filled with hundreds, even thousands, of new employees who arrive each morning wondering why they are there.

“Teach org history,” counsels one placement firm. “Make admiration for the founders part of the company culture. Make workers feel part of a noble tradition.”

2. The organizational creed. The question, “What are we doing here?” is one that people ask themselves each morning, at every meeting, at the end of every workday. “The strategies change and the purpose changes,” says UPS CEO Mike Eskew in a New York Times profile. “But the values never change.” Whether the mission is to provide a synchronous global supply chain like UPS, legendary customer service like Nordstorm’s, or an information resource like Google, the creed sums up the organizational vision, values, and reason for being. (The problem at some financial firms these days is surely that their creed of providing wealth and financial acumen for customers has been demonstrably violated.)

Employees who do not understand their purpose will never be motivated, efficient, or highly productive.

How the company got its start and what the company is all about are crucial and elemental pieces of the primal code. But they are only the beginning.

3. Icons. Company icons are quick imprints on your customers and employees. The company logo and corporate identity system are obvious. Other icons include the physical environment, products, even company leaders.

Architecture has become a powerful icon. Whether company headquarters has been designed by Rem Koolhaas or Enzo Piano today has tremendous meaning. Look at central London. New skyscrapers there defy the traditional 18th Century London urbanscape. Why? “People working in today’s downtown [London] tend to be highly paid specialists,” says Architectural Record. “An amenable office has become part of what attracts talent.” The location, size and status of the headquarters building, what the main lobby and reception look like are also to be considered. If you’re a retail organization, what your stores, banks or restaurants look and feel like is critically important.

The company leader—think Richard Branson, Stephen Spielberg, Bill Gates, Sandy Weill—is also an important icon.

4. If icons are the physical manifestations of the organization, company rituals are the organization in motion. Annual meetings, staff meetings, project reports, team checkpoints, factory recalls, trade shows, sales meetings, even interfacing with the receptionist become repeated interactions that are crucial cultural touchpoints and sum up who you are as an organization.

How people shop is a ritual. As financial blogging sites like wisebread.com demonstrate, there isn’t just one way of connecting with consumers anymore. (Social personal finance site Wesabe lets customers call their CEO four hours a day, seven days a week in their “Talk To Jason” program.)

Another word for ritual is process. “That’s how we do it here” and “that’s not how we do it here” are telling phrases that can set up the success or failure of the organization. What processes best deliver your mission to customers? Which processes prevent you from fulfilling your mission?

Rituals happen. Step into Best Buy headquarters at 10:30AM any weekday morning and you will find the main lobby congested with Best Buy employees. These people are many leagues from their legitimate workstations. Why? The Caribou coffee shop located on the first floor is the morning watering hole. Staff endure a line often 20-deep to enjoy the rite. Cell phones vibrate. Interviews are held. Meetings–planned and unplanned–take place. Ritual helps build resonant buzzing communities.

5. The sacred words. Every organization has a lexicon that distinguishes it from competitors. Some words are ingrained in processes, technology and words that surround our product or services. Others become co-worker catchphrases that bond and unite us (“Iced grande skinny decaf latte”, “QSR”, “TLA”). Every new employee spends their first few weeks learning and understanding your terms of art, anecdotes and processes. They must adapt your lexicon into their vocabulary, or they never quite “fit in”.

6. The nonbelievers. For every trend there is a counter-trend. While we try to identify people willing to work with us, there is great power in knowing who we do not want to work with us–who we do not want as part of our community. Even as employers providing equal opportunity, we can still decide which persons are skilled, qualified and best fits for our culture. There is power in understanding who we do not want to become. Think Target vs. Kmart. Porsche vs. Oldsmobile. JetBlue vs. American Airlines. Understanding who we are not, helps define who we are. It also helps us define new market opportunities: if we discern people who do not like sugar, we can create sugar-free. If we identify a group of talented people who do not (or cannot) work 9 to 5, we can create flex hours.

7. Leaders. Understanding who the leader is within your organization is critical for the people who work there. Not all heads of corporations are front page leaders like Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey or Steve Jobs. Nevertheless, employees need to know who is steering the boat. Not having clear-cut leadership—whether it is top leadership, or a department or team leader, can lead to confusion and loss of morale. Confused employees are not motivated employees.

The primal code gives leaders the ability to manage the intangibles of an organization: the ways people feel, act, think and motivate themselves to success. Leaders can create a community (call them employees, staff, co-workers) who are committed to the ideals, mission and opportunities of the organization. Nowhere else is quite so right for them. Because employees thrive, the company thrives. This is what Whole Foods CEO John Mackey calls the “virtuous cycle”. Happiness begets happiness.
Once leaders look at their organization through the perceptual lens of the primal code and see their company as a belief system, they can bring new levels of commitment, trust, relevance, and opportunity into their workplace.

Culture counts.

Companies with vibrant brand narratives seize imaginations. They become compelling places at which to recruit, work and invest. This is especially important when attracting new talent.

“Culture is huge,” says Mark Jaffe, head of recruiting firm Wyatt & Jaffe. “Is this a club you want to be a member of? For a lot of people, it’s the number one thing.”

“Corporate culture is important in any situation,” agrees Bernadette Kenny, executive vice president at Lee Hecht Harrison, a human resources consulting firm in New Jersey. “If you’re at the senior VP level, culture should be first on your list–who’s on the management team, what are the vision and goals of the organization.” Having a vibrant culture not only attracts new hires, it resonates with new customers, vendors, and investors.

When competitors encroach on your territory with new technologies, new products, sales initiatives, or other means, companies with vigorous cultures have a better chance of survival. Employees, customers, vendors and lenders stick with them, because the community they have created resonates outward.

Merging colliding cultures.

Mergers are an incredible opportunity for establishing culture within organizations. When companies with different people, places and philosophies merge together to form the Wachovias, Altrias, Interpublics and AOL Time Warners of the world, they bring with them inherently disparate cultures.

People working within the blended organization are faced with sweeping change on the fly. The traditional Monday morning meetings have been moved to Thursday afternoon. Loyal, long-time employees complain, “it’s just not the same here anymore.”

The clash of differing beliefs, different ways of working, even opposing views on how best to create their services and products results in a confused sense of mission, blurred motivations, loss of leadership, disgruntled employees, apathy and work by rote.

Rather than letting “things sort themselves out”, using the primal code can help level-set merging cultures. They can redefine the creation story, icons, creed, ritual and other pieces of primal code to create a revitalized belief system and a blended, cohesive workforce. People suddenly find themselves “feeling OK”. There is a renewed sense of commitment, trust, empathy, vision, and the potential to create an even stronger company than existed before. Which is why you merged in the first place.

After working with a technology firm, an employee stopped us in the hallway. “That was great what you did here,” she said. “It’s better here now.”
Understanding and managing a belief system using the primal code means CEOs, HR and other managers can manage the intangibles of their brand, enhance employee spirit, and make 24/7/365 a better place to work, play and succeed.

©2008 THINKTOPIA, INC.

This is further evidence that upscale is being scaled up.

Despite an overall feeling of “status despair”, there are an estimated 1,125 billionaires in the world today. Moscow reports 88,000 millionaires and more billionaires than any other city in the world. China has 345,000 millionaires according to a report released jointly by Merrill Lynch and Cap Gemini. And the list of the uber-rich keeps growing.

As has been true throughout history, the very rich work hard to differentiate themselves from, well, those who are not. In fact, the aforementioned feeling of status despair running through the ranks of the world’s richest right now has brought them to the crisis point. Why? It’s our fault. When even 16-year-olds can run around with Gucci bags, suburban Des Moines housewives can sport Versace sunglasses, and real estate agents can drive Mercedes, how can the rich differentiate themselves?

The answer is easy. All the wealthy have to do is take out their checkbooks.

The result is that upscale is being scaled up as millionaires and billionaires take out their checkbooks and, instead of driving Mercedes 600 Series, Range Rovers, or Jaguars like the rest of us, today the truly rich slap down $600,000 for a new Maybach.

And it doesn’t stop there.

Says travel blogger Randy Petersen, “The country has gotten wealthier, luxury has gotten more luxurious. Until maybe 30 years ago just flying was considered a luxury. Today most people view it more akin to Greyhound. One of the biggest changes is that people don’t get excited about First Class, where you sit for twenty minutes watching two hundred of the unwashed trounce back to the Coach seats. Real luxury is private jets, today there are five or six private jet companies. If you’re flying commercial airlines, you’re just flying with the rest of us.”

The real rubber will meet the road when the housewife from suburban Chicago can no longer afford to buy her Louis Vuitton or even her Louis Vuitton knock-off on Sixth Avenue in New York City. That’s when the rest of us will understand the true meaning of status and the true status of despair.

In the early 20th century, companies pushed products from their factories out onto store shelves. Later, thanks to radio and television advertising that reached 80% of the population, marketers were able to pull customers into stores in search of their products.

In today’s world media is fragmented, markets are fragmented. Skews of race, sexual orientation, work life, digital experience, marriage and child status, plus other sociological forces crosscut markets even further. We have microtrends, micromarkets and micro meals. Only in rare cases can products (like oil and toilet paper) claim to be ubiquitous and necessary. These days consumers choose from miles of aisles of cars, clothing, electronic equipment, food, beverage and staples. To push is dangerous. To pull is difficult. We are engaged in a revolutionary new marketing model not driven by manufacturers or their marketing partners.

In fact, it’s not enough to consider consumer push or pull strategies. Because today, the consumer picks.

This new pick economy manifests itself with runaway success stories. Consumers pick new entertainment acts on television shows like American Idol. Starbucks lets customers pick from thousands of coffee iterations. VW lets drivers pick their own colors and accessories on the web. Coldstone Creamery lets customers create their own ice cream concoction. Second Life lets you construct an avatar, picking body and facial features (even features of the opposite sex). Cell phones let you pick ring tones. Medical websites guide you through your pick of treatment options. Sites like Wikipedia let people pick a subject and even define it. Google, CNN, Yahoo! and other news sources let you pick and sort information. People can even design their own pet dogs, as Doodles, Buggs and Pomapoos demonstrate.

The democritization of consumerism and the Internet go hand in hand. People vote heavily on the things they prefer, and are moved to share their views with others on music, fashion, cars—even personal finances. Peer to peer commentary is commonplace, if not downright obligatory. Websites like consumerist.com, digg.com, and blogs like gizmodo.com, scobleizer.com (and hundreds more) keep people attuned to the ins and outs and muck ups of public commerce, go googoo over some new place or thing, or have a bitch session about any subject that leaps to mind.

Online outlets like shopbop.com, drugstore.com, zappos.com, eluxury.com let consumers splurge online, picking and sorting from online retail bins. While consumers hop from category to category, an interesting challenge is posed for product designers who want to stand out.

Pull-down text menus, as just one example, don’t permit sensory/emotional impressions at all. It’s discriminatory (or even random) choice in sans serif.

Products can be shown side by side their hardiest competitor. This naked comparison—while seemingly always the case on store shelves, becomes startlingly brazen online and never serves MOR designs well.

Choices breed indecision. The more choices, the more to compare/contrast, the more to think about, the more likely consumer brain freeze. Some customers tune out and click off, others scurry elsewhere.

Arguably, consumers have always been able to pick and choose. Perhaps it has only been marketer ego and control freaking that allowed concepts like push and pull to exist in the first place. What the new pick model infers is loss of influence. If marketing departments once assumed they could determine purchase decisions through mass manufacturing, mass awareness and “understanding” their consumer, today those methods are ubiquitous, commoditized and even repugnant. The consumer has taken the lead, and it’s time to look for new ways to make a difference.

So how can you help consumers pick you? Opportunities lie ahead for designers in the new pick economy.

Pick esthetics. The Dyson vacuum, the Michael Graves teapot, the Philippe Starck sippy cup, OXO kitchen utensils, Ikea water glasses (for 89¢), and dozens of other examples, have spread juicy design through all categories. (The only thing left, it seems, is the laundry tub.) With so many consumers grazing online, the instant eye candy of a well-designed product creates huge appeal.

Pick tingle. An eye-popping new bottle shape. A clever package design. An exciting new taste. These are not superfluous gimmicks, but are obligatory parts of today’s design mix. The 150-story Chicago Spire designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, currently under construction (and taller than the Sears Tower). Chanel’s $240 million store along Tokyo’s Ginza strip designed by Peter Marino. Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate in Chicago. These are not just artful architectural wonders, but splashes of sense-tingling spectacle. Think fuseproject’s Perfume09 container, Studio Job tables and chairs, Buro Vormkrijgers OVERDOSE lighting, or Spanish designer Jaime Hayon’s cobalt blue furniture. Treeodesign paper boxes and Orikaso cups fold into origamic utility. Dominic Crinson’s ceramic tiles printed with digitally manipulated photographs. And remember the first time you watched the newly reinvented Mini Cooper roll down the street?

Pick buzz. Damien Hirst’s head banging “For the Love of God” is an 18th century skull cast in platinum and covered with 8,601 diamonds. It sold for $100 million dollars. Stefan Sagmeister hand-cut type into his own skin with a razor blade (with help from a stalwart assistant) to produce his (in)famous Detroit AIGA poster. Spencer Tunick lays naked people on the street then shoots the photograph. Spectacle sells.

Pick green. Save the earth and save yourself. Products that help—or at least don’t harm—our environment are experiencing a demand burst. Even the $100,000 Tesla that goes from 0-60 in four seconds (possibly the hottest-looking car on the planet) is not gas-powered, but 100% electric. Recycled paper, fabrics, locally grown foods, and biosensitive processes are being chosen over less sustainable counterparts. Ecophab® is a fabric created from recycled plastic water bottles and just two years ago was almost discontinued due to lack of demand. Places like thisintothat and Alchemy Architects turn “used” objects into reused and fabulous. Ecomaniacs abound.

Pick multiple use. Chilewich Plynyl® floor surfaces transformed into table place mats. Holland Electro’s wireless sound transmitters masquerade as objects d’art. Robert Stadler’s mirror design receives glowing SMS mobile phone messages.

Pick joy. There is nothing like the delight of buying something you think you’ll love and continuing to love it after purchase. Not just those labels, pockets and other add-ins you discover after your purchase. But durables as well: the aptly-engineered Toro lawnmower that starts on the first pull. The bed you can’t wait to climb back into.

Pick simple. Ease of use has become a huge differentiator. (Remember the VCR no one could program? Nevermore.) 80% of iPhone owners use ten or more features. Why? Because friendly menu design helps find them. Chipotle menus are also deliberately simple to help customers create their own burrito fast, easy. Even banks are trying to simplify the design of their loan forms.

Pick downsized. America is buying smaller, smarter. Smaller cars, smaller more bite-size foodstuffs, smaller debt. The great new cars are not ego-sized Hummers and SUVs, they are eco-friendly Toyotas. At the same time, expectations are growing for getting more than what you pay for. Ikea, for example, offers big design often for $10 and less. Target’s slogan nails it with “Expect more. Pay less”.

Pick me. No matter what your product or service category, the consumer’s real demand right now is the ability to choose for themselves. Don’t stand in the way. Instead, encourage dialogue, think of more ways to be amazing, wow yourself. That way, you not only have a better chance of standing out. You have a better chance of being the one who is picked.

THIS ARTICLE PREVIOUSLY APPEARED IN ADVERTISING AGE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Reality. People won’t be wondering, What can I buy now? Instead, they’ll be asking themselves, What can I afford? With the exception of high-end consumers, from gas to bread every purchase will approximate a considered purchase.

Sustainability. Enhanced awareness of our impact on the earth (and the earth’s impact on us) will make us aware and even hyper-aware of what we eat, what we wear, where we live and how we act in relation to our environment. How we are able to protect or at least not harm the environment will be come important.

Simplicity. We are too busy today for klunky complication. Intuitive design works. Things that ask us to take our valuable time to figure them out don’t. And don’t ask me for my email address again. Ever.

Sanctuary. We are being deluged by inputs, complexities and decisions. There is no resting place for the senses, for the mind, heart or soul. We seek a resting place. A moment for the self. A healing.

Whether you’re shopping for blue jeans, the new iPhone, Reeboks, or a Coke, it’s not just about having a phone, shoes or something to drink—and it hasn’t been for a long time. Jeans, athletic shoes, television sets, MP3 players, even automobiles today are functionally are all pretty much the same. They all work and they’re all pretty easy to come by.

Products today are differentiated by something else—an ability to create desire thanks to a constellation of points that make you feel you’re a part of that “with it” brand community. When you feel you’re part of the community of people who wear Coach or Gucci or Jimmy Choo, for example, you prefer those brands above all others.

That feeling of community is created by something called the primal code. This code is a pattern as simple as binary code, and just as powerful.

There are seven pieces of primal code that, when together, form an almost irresistible belief system and consumer bond.

It starts with the story of how a product or company started. Apple computers started in a garage, Abercrombie & Fitch began as a sporting outfitter, Burberry started in WW1 trenches, U2 is from Dublin.

The second piece of code is the creed. What is the product about? HP is invent. BMW is the ultimate driving machine. Apple thinks different. Nike tells us to “Just do it.”.

Icons are the third piece: concentrations of meaning we recognize as belonging to that brand. The Nike swoosh. The Chanel C. The Levi’s back pocket. Scent and taste are also icons. In fact, icons inform any and all of the senses. According to a recent Fast Company article, Le Meridien Hotels is currently undergoing a revamp of its hotels–and the over 50 points of contact with its guest experience.

Rituals are also code. Netflix reinvented the way we rent movies. Starbucks transported the rite of morning coffee from home to their “third place”.

Communities also have their own vocabulary, a set of words known by those who belong inside those in the community–and gibberish to those who are not. Think about the first time you had to frame the words, iced grande skinny decaf latte.

When all seven pieces of primal code are attached to a product or service, they create a belief system that attracts people who want to share those same beliefs. And people who believe, belong.

Power brands like Starbucks, Nike, Apple, and Oprah seize imaginations with incredible emotional power. People want to belong to these brands, are excited by them and prefer them above other choices.

They also enhance your entire experience. Think about it. You don’t just say you’re getting coffee, you say you’re going to Starbucks. You don’t just go buy furniture, you go to Ikea. You don’t listen to music, you grab songs from iTunes and listen on your iPod.

These brands radiate with primal code and are followed by millions of people who share not just their products, but their beliefs. They belong to us, and we belong to them. We become part of a great (and often global) community. We smile at others we see carrying a white Starbucks cup, wear ear pods for their Nano, or are emblazoned with North Face gear. We are members of the same tribe.

The next time you’re wandering through the mall, think about the stores you find yourself drifting towards. They probably have some or all seven pieces of primal code. Better get out your wallet.

By 2016, this 2.5 square mile complex should house 50,000 people (all waste will be fully recycled). The city will be a testing ground and research facility where people will work on next-generation energy technologies. Solar thermal arrays will provide energy needed for air conditioning under Arabia’s baking sun.

The question is not how well this city runs in terms of energy efficiency, but how the human element responds to living inside an ecocultural bubble. Will Masdar City become a city of the future or, like the Bauhaus-inspired Paris slums where riots and eternal restlessness occur, become another failed social experiment?

At least we know residents will be getting happy on sun-enriched Vitamin D.

Their failing in part (and they are not the only ones who will eventually be on the list) is in paying attention to “the deal” which is necessary but short-term, while failing to give equal time to “the brand” which is also necessary and long-term.

Brands, of course, are belief systems. The failing of these brands is that after experiencing success, they failed to keep energizing their belief system. The result? Customers found something else to believe in.

K-Mart customers went to Target. Yahoo! Customers went to Google. Circuit City customers defaulted to Best Buy. Dodge customers found Toyota. And so forth.

Part of the problem is fundamental: the push/pull infighting between sales and marketing departments. Neither realize their relationship is symbiotic. Neither can exist without the other. If you make quarterly sales forecasts by providing discounts, bargains, best prices and value propositions based on “deals” that continually borrow from the brand bank, eventually you find yourself bankrupt. And it’s not just a metaphor.

On the other hand, if you fill the marketplace with ethereal “branding” while the competition pummels you with price points, you will also fail.

The solution is balance.

What we call Primal Branding helps resolve this conflict between the sales and marketing departments by providing executable points for both.

Understanding how your brand functions as a belief system helps you identify functional and actionable rallying points. What we call the primal code are seven points of differentiation that help you design and continually re-engineer your brand to constantly excite and inspire your public.

It starts with the story of how a product or company started. Apple computers started in a garage, Abercrombie & Fitch began as a sporting outfitter, Burberry started in WW1 trenches, U2 is from Dublin.

The second piece of code is the creed. What is the product about? BMW is the ultimate driving machine. Apple thinks different. Nike tells us to “Just do it.”.

Icons are the third piece: concentrations of meaning we recognize as belonging to that brand. The Nike swoosh. The Chanel C. The Levi’s back pocket. Product design, like the Apple iPhone, is iconic. Store experiences are iconic. Scent and taste are also icons. In fact, icons can inform any of the senses.

Rituals are also code. iPods reinvented the way we listen to music. Starbucks transported the rite of morning coffee from home kitchen to the Starbucks corner.

Communities also have their own vocabulary, Think iPod. Think iced grande skinny decaf latte.

There is also a group who don’t like us and never will. Mac vs. PC. Democrats vs. Republicans. Chevy vs. Ford.

Finally, there is a leader. The person who set out with a new product, service or idea to recreate the world according to their own point of view.

When all seven pieces of primal code are attached to a product, they create a belief system that attracts people who want to share those same beliefs. And people who believe, belong.

Power brands like Starbucks, Nike, Apple, and Oprah have been able to capture these points through terrific gut instinct, by hiring smart people, being incredible lucky, and spending millions of dollars in support.

Those brands seize imaginations with incredible emotional power. People want to belong to these brands, are excited by them and prefer them above other choices.

Brands like these can even dominate the category experience. Think about it. You don’t just say you’re getting coffee, you say you’re going to Starbucks. You don’t go to buy furniture, you went to Ikea. You don’t listen to music, you listen to your iPod.

These brands radiate with primal code. And they are followed by millions of people who share not just their products, but their beliefs. They belong to us, and we belong to them. We become part of a great (and global) community. We smile at others we see carrying a white Starbucks cup, wear ear pods for their Nano, or are emblazoned with North Face gear. We are members of the same tribe.

The failing of failing brands like K-Mart, Circuit City, Old Navy and others on the termination list is that while they may have introduced new technologies (like Yahoo! and Vonage) they failed to re-engage and spark their consumers imaginations, which is where all brands (and, for that matter, their sense of having gotten a “deal”).
The fact that we can’t recall the creation story for K-Mart, Circuit City, Old Navy, for example, declares there was never ever any foundation for those brands. (Dodge, founded by John and Horace Dodge, has other issues.)

While the creed for Old Navy, K-Mart and Circuit City was the offer to buy good merchandise at affordable prices, that claim is ubiquitous and hardly differentiating. In the end, they have been eclipsed by better merchandisers at Hollister, Aeropostale, Target and Best Buy.

In a world where quantity and quality are assured, brands of the future will be those able to surround themselves with communities of people who prefer them above other options.

The failure of brands like Gateway, Motorola, Vonage and others in the dead zone is that they failed the essential mission of all brands: to constantly excite, inspire and provide continuing rounds of desire for their brand community.

The opportunity in the short time is for management to recalibrate, and swiftly kick-start their brands all over again. Will they seize that opportunity, or will they simply shrug their shoulders, check off the boxes and let marketing by rote seize the day? We’ll know by the end of the year.