Branding & Burning Man Lesson #4: Connect: Let Go Your Ego

Accountants. Doctors. College Professors. College Kids. Yuppies. Hippies. They were all there. They all looked exactly the same. So much for differentiation, right? Actually, the consistency of similarities was the key differentiator. From all walks of life and philosophical bents, people interacted. They interacted freely without prejudice and without expectation. They only goal was to connect and share.

This seems to be a hard concept for some people to wrap their minds around—even harder for brand gurus. At Burning Man the focus was outside of self and within self at the same time. Now, you gotta stick with me on this point. The reward came in connecting with everything…more than just people. In fact, the people were kinda annoying sometimes. Yeah, I said it. But the point was not to necessarily connect person-to-person. The point, as I saw it, was to simply connect. Connect with the art. Connect with the elements. Connect with the stress. Connect with the isolation. Even connect with the vastness of nothing. To accomplish this, the ego had to be checked at the front gate…

…sidebar: Within 30 seconds of driving through the front gate, I witnessed male and female nudity…This is why the connection must exist beyond people. You cannot attend thinking it’s “Girls Gone Wild: Black Rock City Edition.”

Brands need to check egos as well. Sometimes a brand is developed by one of the aforementioned gurus with a certain value or connector in mind. Marketing dollars are poured in and results only trickle out. Where is the connection? Like Burning Man, the connection needs to come from multiple points. Avoid the obvious. The obvious touch point (like the nudity at Burning Man) is usually less compelling.

Gurus need not apply, and here is why: Gurus like to make it about them. Look at the awards on my wall. Look at the profits in my company. Look at the fancy office with a lot of glass and metal. Gurus want you to connect with them and not them with you. If I had that attitude at Burning Man, then I would have missed out on all the cool art. I would have only looked for things that I knew would appeal to me. I wanted the similar differences that surrounded me to make me think. When I was able to enjoy that connection, it no longer was about me or you or them. It was about the freedom of the connection. Hey, money people, don’t you want the market to have a strong connection to your brand? Then stop making it about you. It’s very freeing.

Additional Chapters

Intro

Arrive

Trust

Experience

Connect

Give (coming soon)

Protect (coming soon)

Educate (coming soon)

Go (coming soon)

Final Thoughts (coming soon)

Branding & Burning Man Lesson #3: Experience: Maximize Every Rotation

Okay, I only had four days to fully experience Burning Man. As I mentioned previously, I hit the ground running and didn’t waste a single minute. After the long drive, I knew I was going to be ready to stretch my legs, hop on my bike, and get to it.

Now, a lot of stuff goes on at Burning Man. It is quite hedonistic to say the least. Sins of the flesh abound, but Burning Man is not a free love orgy. It is about removing the barriers of everyday life that keep a person tied to the expectations of others—at times, the expectations of our own doing.

Expectations keep us from experiencing some of life’s simple and purest pleasures. Expectations keep us from maximizing each rotation of the earth. The earth rotates every 24 hours. In general, that breaks down to 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work, and 8 hours of other stuff (play, chores, commuting, appointments, etc). At Burning Man that allocation is allowed to adjust. That really changes the experience.

Brands are created based on one set of expectations but are experienced based on another set. Internal expectations (even if based on stellar research) generally shape the brand’s initial incarnation; however, the marketplace is quick to make modifications. The marketplace wants to maximize its experience with the brand. Why shouldn’t they? They bought it. The marketplace does not want to be

told that the brand is best experienced 8 hours here, 8 hours over there, and 8 hours way over there. The end user wants to be just that…the end user. That is to say, they want to experience the brand as it best suits them.

So take a look at the Burning Man experience…let the end user feel like they only have a finite amount of time with the brand. Let them determine how it is best experienced. Let them decide how each rotation will be spent.

Next thing you know, the end user will be deeply connected to the brand. It’s about them; it’s not about you. Your ego will survive.

Additional Chapters

Intro

Arrive

Trust

Experience

Connect

Give (coming soon)

Protect (coming soon)

Educate (coming soon)

Go (coming soon)

Final Thoughts (coming soon)

Branding & Burning Man Lesson #2: Trust: Fire Purifies. Fear Paralyzes.

It is hot and dry on the playa. I mean really hot and really dry. I do not know how much water (okay, not enough water, but ample amounts of Rock Star and alcohol) I consumed, but I do not remember going pee the whole time I was there. I just kept sweating. Heat is a constant at Burning Man. I mean, the event ends with a blaze of fire. The burning of the man was cool, but there was another purposeful fire out on the playa—the burning of the Temple of Forgiveness.

The Temple was a wooden structure that people visited to let “things” go—issues, pains, opinions, losses, ideals, fears, etc. The idea was to write your “thing” down and place it at the Temple. Later in the week, the Temple was burned and your “thing” was burned with it…allowing you to move forward with a fresh start.

Visiting the Temple was powerful. There were people crying, laughing,

connecting. I placed my own “thing” on the Temple. It felt good. It was a burden that kept me frozen. I was afraid to share it with people. I was afraid to expose it. I was afraid.

The Temple was just a wooden structure. There was nothing magical about it. The magic was in the process. I had to trust the process. I had to acknowledge that fire purifies and fear paralyzes. This is true for a person and true for a brand.

Fire Purifies.

Some people don’t like to set fire to their “things” and I content that some brands try to avoid fire as well. A brand will be built and launched. The market will interact with the brand and imperfections will surface. A smart brand manager will use the fire of the marketplace to continue to refine and purify the brand. The market--the user--is a brand’s fire. Trust that the users know how to best purify your brand. After all, the market is ultimately the definer of a brand.

Fear Paralyzes.

Some people are frozen in time as a result of their “things.” Brand suffer the same fate. I have even seen an unnatural fear to launch a brand based on the assumed market response. If that is the case, there are two options: 1) internal fire and purification, or 2) external fire and purification. Either way, paralysis is not helpful.

The heat of Burning Man provided a lot of trust opportunities. As I trusted more people, the playa, myself, I came to enjoy the experience more and more. Look at every fire that is available and seek to purify the brand. I was there for a limited amount of time, just as brands have a limited lifespan, and I wanted to maximize my experience. I knew trust was going to play a key role in that. And what an experience it was…

Additional Chapters

Intro

Arrive

Trust

Expereince

Connect

Give (coming soon)

Protect (coming soon)

Educate (coming soon)

Go (coming soon)

Final Thoughts (coming soon)

Branding & Burning Man Lesson #1: Arrive: Come Home. Come Live. Come Enjoy.

So the 10 hour drive was the beginning of the adventure. The top was completely off the Jeep and it rained the night before the journey. Actually, it was still raining the morning of the trip. No worries. It's about adventure. On the drive to Black Rock City, it rained most of the way to Sacramento, was 108 degrees in Sacramento, rained and hailed through the mountains into Nevada, and then there was the dust of the playa. Perfect. All this was necessary. It was all part of the experience. My experience. Remove any one element and the experience would be different from the start.

This leads me to think about brands. Where do they come from (or do sound smart, from where do they come)? Burning Man is about arriving and experiencing. Can brands be built and understood the same way?

Come Home.

You have to consider the playa "home" while at Burning Man. It is your environment--your new 90201 or Kansas or Harper Valley. Brands must be built so people can "own" them, bask in them, turn them into a home. They need to be inviting regardless of the journey to get there. In fact, the more difficult the journey (rain, heat, hail, dust), the more refuge the brand must provide. Refuge does not mean shelter. Refuge means safety and acceptance. A brand must meet the personal need of the explorer.

Come Live.

So maybe I did something wrong when I arrived at the Devil's Bunghole. I set up camp (made myself at home) and instantly jumped on my bike to experience the playa. I was told that I needed to take it slow and acclimate to the ways of the playa. I wanted to go and go fast. So I did. Brands have to be livable. They have to be ready for people to jump in without fully acclimating to the brand.

Come Enjoy.

That first night rocked. There were art cars, lots of FREE booze, friendly (very friendly) people, and multi-sensory stimulation. Everywhere I looked I was seeing something cool. I was fully enveloped in Burning Man. I know that a particular brand is generally designed to meet a particular need. But I think brands can fully envelop a person. I should be able to find enjoyment on multiple levels. This is very important as a person first interacts with a brand: I bought brand X for this purpose, but look at how it has positively impacted this other area of my life. Burning Man was full of positive unintended consequences.

Come Home. Come Live. Come Enjoy. Each were important as I first arrived at Burning Man. It is also important to note that I had my own set of expectation of what would occur when I arrived on the playa. I had my own definition of home, live, and enjoy. It was up to Burning Man to meet, fail to meet, or exceed my expectations. This is more than a Burning Man or branding philosophy...this is a way to approach life. Assimilating these lessons in other areas requires a lot of trust, but that's a story for another day.

Additional Chapters

Intro

Arrive

Trust

Experience

Connect

Give (coming soon)

Protect (coming soon)

Educate (coming soon)

Go (coming soon)

Final Thoughts (coming soon)

The Best Lesson of Branding was Learned at Burning Man

Ever been to Burning Man? It is crazy. It is an event in the middle of nowhere (a place I call the Devil's Bunghole...no offense Burning Man gods). Every year upwards of 40,000 "Burners" converge on the ancient lakebed and build Black Rock City. For about week, a city--which has a larger population than my hometown--exists and hedonism ensues. The coolest thing about Burning Man is the absolute lack of commerce. Everything (other than ice and coffee) is exchanged via gifting. No commerce, no formal government. Nothing exists in that godforsaken lakebed outside of Black Rock City. But during the period of time Black Rock City exists, it is freaking amazing. I went in 2007 for just four or five days (I honestly cannot remember) to experience the Green Man (the theme for 2007).

So how did I learn about branding in an environment where commerce and commercialism are seriously frowned upon? Well, I contend that you can learn a lot about one thing by studying its opposite. Over the next few weeks I am going to discuss the ways in which Burning Man and Branding (personal and product) are aligned. The hippies at Burning Man are gonna hate this. The suits in the corner office are gonna hate this. Hell, I will probably even hate it. Sometimes the truth is inflammatory (intentional Burning Man pun). I can say truth because it is true to me. I will support my claims with pithy anecdotes and some facts...

The important thing is to start a discussion and introduce a new way of thinking about branding, about oneself, about commerce, about the Devil's Bunghole known as the playa. Here's a taste of what I'll discuss:

• Arrive: Come Home. Come Live. Come Enjoy.
  
• Trust: Fire Purifies. Fear Paralyzes.
  
• Experience: Maximize Every Rotation.
  
• Connect: Let Go Your Ego.
  
• Give: Free Your Mine.
  
• Protect: The Ideal is not Impossible.
  
• Educate: Learn it. Live it. Teach it.
  
• Go: New Meaning to Home, Life, Enjoyment.
  

While you wait, do me a favor. Think about how you would behave if you were accustomed to living in a capitalistic environment and were suddenly thrown into the Devil's Bunghole. Would you enjoy the freedom or freak out due to the lack of structure?