The Power of The “True Why” in Brand Strategy
Key points for using The “True Why” test in brand strategy:
At the core of the brand strategy is the consumer’s deep, underlying, emotional motivation
Discovering this is difficult. But the “True Why” Test provides a series of questions to probe this
The power of the True Why Test can be seen in AirBnB, who built a brand around around it’s key insight: “Belonging”
Fans of Simon Sinek will know his famous adage: “Consumers don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” This is a compelling idea, but it only gets us half of the way there. The other half lies in consumer motivation.
First - The “what” - your product, does of course makes a massive difference. There’s a difference between buying a car that works vs. buying a car that doesn’t. And while consumers are sensitive to your motivations, what’s actually most crucial here isn't your motivations as a brand. It's the motivation of your consumers. And this is what needs to be placed at the core of your brand strategy.
But how can you find that these true consumer motivations?
Here’s a compelling framework: The True Why Test. Think about your favorite brand. If you’re like most consumers, the results aren’t too unexpected. The most popular global brands feature heavily: Apple, Nike, Coke, and AirBnB are all common responses.
But why? Why is this your favorite brand? At first blush, these might seem obvious and superficial. For Apple, maybe it’s, they “have the best tech”. Or for Nike, they “make me feel cool”.
But why are these features important? Here’s where the true why comes in. It’s the “why” behind the “why”. Why does it matter to have the best tech? Why does it matter to feel cool? And this is where we get into uncharted territory.
The true why test forces us to get to this deeper, psychological level of brand analysis. And ultimately, how we can utilize that to develop, craft, and refine a brand strategy.
Brand Strategy and Consumer Motivation
But before we get to the test itself, it’s important to understand it’s role within a brand’s strategy. At the heart of what the brand should deliver is the consumer’s core motivation. The brand must address the deeper, human needs that a customer has which drives their behavior, such as the need for security, accomplishment, self-esteem, belonging, or perhaps family.
This goes beyond the simple, obvious need the product might be solving. Lego, for example, makes toys for kids but the essence of what it delivers is the ability to “creatively pursue mastery”.
This speaks directly to a deep, core, motivation of the consumer. In this way, the brand goes beyond sheer utility and into a deeper, emotional domain that the product on its own doesn’t deliver.
A stellar product imbued with a deeper motivation is a formidable combination. Think about Airbnb. At a basic level, the need is simple and straightforward: a place to stay that isn’t a hotel.
But the key insight that enabled Airbnb to flourish was tapping into a much deeper need that its competitors had overlooked: that sense of belonging.
And this brings us back to the “true why” test.
The True Why Test in Action
Finding the true consumer motivation requires market research and consumer insight. The end goal is to find the ultimate “why” of the consumer. It requires you to ask a series of probing questions until you get to the ‘true’ motivation. Start with the product, and then go deeper.
Consider this “true why” for Airbnb:
Why is this product important? Not only are hotels overpriced – they are generic and unspecial.
Why does that matter? People don’t want to feel like tourists when they visit a new place; they want to see it like the locals do.
Why does this matter? Because they want to have authentic experiences, not manufactured ones. They want to feel they’re genuinely experiencing a place as an insider.
Why does that matter? Because they travel to make their lives richer.
Why does this matter? Because the moments we remember are not the mundane ones in front of a computer or doing laundry, but the ones when we truly feel a part of something, where we belong to something bigger.
Why does that matter? Because we’re all going to die.
Almost every time we do this, the True Why will end with this grim realization. This is no accident, as this is arguably the defining feature of the human condition. But as I tell my students, once you get morbid, you’ve gone a little too far. Go back to your last step and you'll find the best motivator for a consumer to become devoted to your brand.
For AirBnB this was a key insight: fundamentally, people want to belong. This became the focus of their first major rebrand, and directly inspired their tagline: “Belong Anywhere”.
The Power of Consumer-Centric Branding
AirBnB is a great example for the power of consumer-centric branding. While AirBnB is often heralded as an innovative product, the basic idea - a platform that allows users to rent out their homes - wasn’t new at all. HomeAway launched in 2004, and Vrbo started way back in 1995 – when Airbnb’s founder Brian Chesky was 14.
While the existing players chugged along, highlighting their ‘lower than hotel’ prices, Airbnb went deeper. From the very beginning, it wasn’t merely the cheaper option, it was the one that delivered this deeper, psychological intangible: belonging.
In other words, The True Why was baked right into the core of the brand strategy.
As we’ve seen, the brand is ultimately a complex pattern of associations, etched into the mind of the market over countless exposures. This is why the brand strategy is so crucial: it’s the set of organizing principles that forge untold amounts of content, and which ultimately cultivate these associations. As we can also see with the rebranding of Lego and Walmart, understanding these deeper consumer needs is crucial for strengthening the bonds with consumers.
Any given advertisement, on its own, has a transient impact. It’s the consistent theme, radiating from the brand strategy, and consistently displayed, that cultivates these enduring associations.
When these associations reflect the emotional motivations of the consumer, the brand is able to go beyond the simple, functional benefits that it provides. Instead, it endears the brand within the minds and lives of the consumer.
Photo by Eunice Lituañas on Unsplash
About the author
Matt Johnson, PhD is a researcher, writer, and consumer neuroscientist focusing on the application of psychology to branding. He is the author of the best-selling consumer psychology book Blindsight, and Branding That Means Business (Economist Books, Fall 2022). Contact Matt for speaking engagements, opportunities to collaborate, or just to say hello
