Needs & "Desire Brands"

At some stage in your high school learning you probably came across Maslow's hierarchy of needs ...
On a basic level, the pyramid outlines the basic emotional and physical needs that humans go through in order from bottom to top. Obviously there is a lot more to it than that and I'm not really giving Maslow and his influence on countless psychological theories enough credit but for now that crude explanation will do.

You see... I've been thinking a lot about needs of late and how we as consumers find balance between what we need, and what we want. In my mind I create a flat line. On the far left end of the line you have rational thought, on the opposite right, emotional. This imaginary line rules every decision anyone makes, the only difference are the variables (money, responsibility, morality, and and infinite amount more) that shift your slider along that line before you ultimately settle on a decision.

Read through Maslow again and then check out the following video. These are peeps that are pretty much sliding backwards down the scale not just in the short term but some of them are blowing large amounts of cash they can't afford to spend which will directly affect their long term lifestyle... for a pair of overpriced Kanye West Nike's.

Waiting for Yeezys from kwest on Vimeo.

Whilst these kids capture a subculture on the extreme right hand side of the line, there's no denying their irrational behaviour is reflected in all of us. Walking through malls we're all victims of our own desires. We cut and sacrifice pieces of the bottom of our pyramid in order to boost a few levels ("esteem" maybe?). What is worrying about this is that we're cheating the system. Thanks to the new commercial consumer culture we live in, either Maslow is defunct or consumers are building new levels of esteem without proper foundations which are perilously fragile and easy to knock down. The buyers remorse... escalating levels of debt... the evidence is there.

Buying In raises the thought about rational VS rationale thinking. For me, this is one of the most distilled ways to explain our irrational behavior. Is our thought process based on REASON? Or have you created (rationalised!) EXCUSES to convince yourself to act?

Here's another way I break it down...

The impact of this swing cannot be mishandled by marketers because you can imagine the propositions for each being worlds apart. A good place to start is working out whether your brand or product is based on benefits (rational) or desire (rationale). You see, the rational minds will be open to being sold on benefits, whilst the rationale mind is closed because they've been seduced by something already. You might have the best sneaker in the world in your eyes, but you try convincing the kids in that video not to buy the Yeezy's in favour of yours. It's not gonna happen. That's not saying you should give up trying to win over someone who's already in love... it just means you have to work harder to create a level of desire in your brand/product that will drive them to create excuses as to why they need you in their life.

I'm afraid the answer to that million dollar question is beyond me. Desire, as a philosophy, remains one of our greatest mysteries and that's because there is no focus groups or shopper surveys or science behind irrational thinking. There is no 5 step guide on Google on how to get into the pants of your consumers. There are however, in my mind, a few things you might be able to do...

• Know your audience.
• Know that this audience might not be the one who will eventually embrace your product.
• Be ok with that.
• Live in your audience's culture.
• What makes them want to be a part of it in the first place?
  
• Acknowledge what needs they'd be willing to sacrifice and for what.
  
• Try to experience what your audience desires.
  
• If your brand/product does not fall within these things, don't panic.
• Understand why and then take a hard look at yourself and return to first bullet point.
  

What other ways can something move from nothing to a "desire brand"? Or maybe a better question - similar to the debate about "making" viral marketing - is... "can desire even be manufactured in the first place?"