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Jerry Garcia on Great Branding

“Our audience is like people who like licorice,” Jerry Garcia said. “Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice.”

This is the secret to all great brands. If you try to make everyone happy, you end up with bland paste.

If you THRILL a core group of people and earn their PASSION, your brand will thrive through the support of these die-hard fans.

Great example: Axe boy’s perfume (or whatever the category is called) has an outrageous claim that annoys many people — “use our spray and hot women will have sex with you.” Completely unappealing. Except to the boys who spend $2.5 billion dollars on the stuff (more here).

Lesson: If your brand isn’t turning off somebody, it’s not enthralling anyone either.

P.S. This is the first blog post ever to tie Jerry Garcia to Axe.

P.P.S. I did stop using Axe because all the young babes hanging around me started to annoy my wife.

P.P.P.S For those who prefer patchouli, here’s a classic show:

 

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