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People buy why, not what
Why comes first
The why is not a profit, which is always a result. It is the cause, the belief, the reason the organization exists and the reason anyone gets out of bed in the morning. Most companies communicate from the outside in, starting with the clearest thing, what they make, and ending on the fuzziest. Inspired leaders and organizations of any size and in any industry go from the inside out.
Compare two Apple pitches. One goes: we make great computers, they are beautifully designed and simple to use, want to buy one? The other goes: everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo and thinking differently, we do it by making beautifully designed, simple products, and we just happen to make great computers. Only the order of the information changed.
Apple versus the rest
That order explains why people buy a computer, an MP3 player, a phone, and a DVR from Apple, though Apple is structurally just another computer company. Gateway made flat-screen monitors for years and then launched flat-screen TVs, and nobody bought one. Dell launched MP3 players and PDAs of good quality, and nobody bought one of those either.
The same applies to hiring. People hired only because they can do the job work for the money, while people who share the belief work with blood and sweat and tears.
How did Apple sell without showing products?
In 1997, soon after Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the company ran its Think Different campaign, created with the agency TBWA\Chiat\Day. The television spot, which began with the line Here's to the crazy ones, showed black-and-white footage of figures such as Albert Einstein and Muhammad Ali. It did not show a single computer. The campaign won an Emmy for outstanding commercial.
Why do brand extensions often fail?
Marketing researchers David Aaker and Kevin Keller studied brand extensions in a 1990 paper in the Journal of Marketing. They found that consumers accepted a new product more readily when it seemed to fit the brand's existing identity and quality reputation. Poor perceived fit weakened evaluations of the extension. Their work helped make fit a central test in brand strategy.
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