Theory
Explore some of the core thinking around Brand Intimacy from the impact of emotion on decision making and how intimacy manifests to how we’ve applied these insights into our model and measures.
Emotion Drives Decisions
Neuorscience and behavioral science have proven we make decisions based on emotion. In fact, up to 95 percent of the decisions we make are emotional in nature. Having extensively reviewed the works of Antonio Damasio, Daniel Kahneman, and Jonathan Haidt, we applied their insights into our approach to brand building and our Brand Intimacy methodology, designed to measure the emotional connection between people and brands.
Forms of Intimacy
The faces or forms of intimacy have been further dimensioned by Beverley Golden, a writer and cultural purveyor. She frames these forms as the physical, the emotional, the cognitive, and the experiential form of intimacy. Each of these has specific outcomes such as feeling physical unity, feeling understood and accepted as an individual, feeling understood intellectually, and feeling that you are part of a special group. These nuances are useful tools in understanding the different manifestations of intimacy and how people form deep connections.
Brand Intimacy Model
We have developed our model over 12 years and validated by quantitative research. The model comprises five components including being a user and having a strong emotional connection to the brand. Archetypes and stages are foundational, reflecting the character of intimate brands and the intensity of brand relationships. A Brand Intimacy Quotient score is then assigned to each brand, based on prevalence (the percent of users who are intimate), intensity (where the relationship is on the spectrum of three stages—sharing, bonding, fusing), and character (performance on key archetypes).
Financial Outcomes
Brand Intimacy drives business results. Top intimate brands have consistently outperformed major financial indices across profit, revenue, and stock price. Most recently, we have compared our top intimate brands with Fortune 500 top brands across profit growth and stock performance during 2021 versus 2020. Intimate brands delivered superior results to the tune of 88 percent more profit and 12 percent higher EOY stock prices. Our data has also consistently proven that customers are willing to pay more for intimate brands and are less willing to live without them.