Photo by Alex Olshansky

I don’t know what it is about branding these days. Maybe I’m more attuned to it because I started an advertising agency in the last year. Maybe it’s the advent of “personal branding.” Maybe it’s just en vogue. I dunno.

What I do know is that I read a lot about branding. I read books about branding. I read blogs about branding. Well… Read is an overstatement. Have you ever gotten to the point with a particular topic that everything you come across seems like a rehashed amalgamation of something you read years ago? That’s the point I’m at in my relationship with reading about branding. That’s a shame, because I love branding.

Branding is right up my alley. Branding combines a bit of making things pretty and a lot of thinking with the strategic-cortex of the brain. Queue up “My Favorite Things” and call me Julie Andrews. I will reluctantly admit to going so far as to have conversations about branding in public (public, I am truly sorry about this poor behavior).

Let’s just agree that that branding is and it is everywhere. Branding happens to you and your company and your enemies whether there is any conscious thought put into it or not. I recommend putting a lot of thought into it. However, let us not be content to have thought about branding and planned our brands and look back on ourselves as branded individuals and see that it is good and rest thusly.

Over the course of the last two years, I have re-read exactly one book about branding. That book is “Primal Branding” by Patrick Hanlon. Like nearly every book I’ve ever re-read, there are large swaths of it I now skim. However, the tasty morsels are good enough that I can recommend purchasing the book with absolutely no reservations. The last line of that book inspired the title I have chosen for this post. It reads, “I get it. Don’t just build a church; create a religion.”

That line at the end was one hell of a grand finale. Just that one line says a lot about the difference between visual facades that wrap an empty construct and a feeling that would cause one to kill or be killed without hesitation. Time out. This rhetoric is only here to illustrate a point, I don’t advocate violence in branding. As you think about the difference between churches and religions, think about the difference between brands you’re familiar with and brands you’re crazy about. Clearly, there’s a gulf between them, but what?

Hanlon advocates seven specific steps to elevate your brand from church status to religion status. If you can’t find all seven wrapped up in the whole of Sail To Trail, rest assured that they are being forged constantly. Without further ado, the 7 steps to creating a religion.

1. The Creation Story – What is the context that lead to the creation of your company or persona? Provide a backdrop that creates more meaning to the next six steps. Detail the background that cast you into existence… the quest. Did you know that UPS became the largest shipping company on earth after starting as a bike messenger company?
2. The Creed – Okay, core principles time. What do you believe in so strongly that you need to convey to others? Don’t stop at just a mission statement. Think about the passion that drives your endeavors.
3. The Icons – See! Design didn’t even start until Step 3. Logos, colors, and fonts are the obvious things here. Don’t limit it to this. What other sensory inputs expand the experience of your brand. Sailing wouldn’t be the same without the salty taste the mist leaves on your lips and the sound of waves splashing on the bow.
4. The Rituals – What activities surround interactions with you? Is it the way your customers order two shots of espresso topped off with medium roast drip, then tear the tops off of three packets of Splenda with the ends pinched together and pour the granules from all three simultaneously, then stir before pouring in half and half? Or… Is it the excitement derived from checking email for notifications of a new friend request? Think about ever action, no matter how seemingly insignificant, and engineer it to align with the other 6 Steps as much as possible.
5. The Pagans – (my favorite step!) Who are your adversaries? Who are you not and why? Trying to be all things to all people is a death knell. Don’t be shy about who you are not. It is just as important as who you are.
6. The Sacred Words – Can you expand, improve upon, or reverse-engineer industry jargon to make yourself stand out in a positive way? Use common language most of the time, but always have a set of things that only you say.
7. The Leader – Who is the catalyst who faced down the odds to bring their vision into reality? It doesn’t have to be you, but find a visionary in your organization and put them out front. In the early days of the band AC/DC, their famous and talented singer decided to elevate their lead guitar player to the “front man” role. While they sold millions of records prior to Bon Scott’s death, their subsequent albums have gone on to be some of the largest of all-time in any genre. A crucial part of the talent was gone, but the inspirational visionary took them to a new level.

Ignore these steps and you can still have some success. However, there’s something about human psychology that responds to narrative. For brands, that response won’t be as strong if the narrative isn’t completed by attending to all of these steps. It’s great to have The Icons, but without strongly held core beliefs as the underpinnings of your endeavor, those who experience your brand will eventually leave your church to find something more meaningful.

Granted, this is a surface treatment of something that deserves much more attention. Which of these steps are you thinking about implementing next?