Why Brands Should Define Their ‘Polarity Statement’

I saw a clip of Zach Galifianakis speaking with Conan O’Brien.

He was sharing his concern, or fear, of AI because it’s made by “math-minded people”.

The implication here being that a small number of math-minded people are making decisions that effect society as a whole, and they may not be considering all the ramifications.

Perhaps an overgeneralization, but an interesting thought nonetheless.

It got me thinking that businesses are often run by profit-minded people who are looking to cut costs, maximize profits, and scale infinitely.

We see that play out with things such as subscription pricing, dynamic pricing, closed or semi-closed product ecosystems, planned obsolescence (throttling down older models when a new model comes out), and so on.

They also make decisions so that the brand appeals to as large of a consumer base as possible, at the optimal price-point, doesn’t offend anyone, and have them keep coming back for as long as possible.

I call this the ‘everything for everyone’ approach, and it’s very profit minded. But my argument is that this mindset actually hurts the business in the longrun.

Sure, it may work for a while, temporary uptick in the stock price, but eventually you will dilute your brand and turn away your core target consumers.

You stop being cool, you lose meaning or relevancy, a new competitor comes out and overtakes you, and your stock takes a nose dive.

Brands like Nike and Lululemon come to mind.

I see the swoosh on babies and grandmothers and hoodlums, athletes, college students, dictators… what even is the brand anymore?

If you try to be everything to everyone, you will be nothing to nobody.

💡 Instead, brands focused on longevity should define their polarity statement (often referred to as brand positioning, point-of-view branding, anti-positioning, brand manifesto…).

Essentially, have a strong point of view and don’t try to be everything for everyone.

Instead, say we are for these people, and not those people.

If your messaging or ad offends people, good, that wasn’t meant for those people. Don’t apologize for what you are.

By having this approach, you will create a stronger values alignment and brand recall with your target consumers, and turn away consumers who were never your target consumers in the first place.