What Makes a Brand “Marriage Material”?

Brands are more than products—they’re personalities with unique traits and flaws. Brands fail when they focus solely on the bottom line and lose sight of who they are or whom they serve. Success depends on knowing your audience and connecting authentically.

A brand becomes marriage material by building lasting connections through shared values and genuine behavior. We create that emotional bond, turning brands from memorable to indispensable.

Emotional Resonance: The Key to Tying the Knot

Our human-centric approach helps brands uncover their true character and emotional appeal. It’s a process that allows brands to identify their value by forcing it to examine: Who am I? What do I offer? Am I “The One”?

Our process focuses on the brand’s communication and behavior, by asking:

To Brands: How do your actions show your purpose?

To Its Audience: What do you need to trust me?

Alyssa Ure, Founder

I have more than 25 years of experience leading integrated, strategic communications programs involving vision, positioning, messaging, narrative, brand, and storytelling. I provide advice, guidance, communications, and creative to C-suite executives, helping them develop a deeper understanding of their business value and purpose. I work by way of impact, elevating reputation and brand, and have partnered closely with Fortune 500 consumer and technology brands, including Hewlett-Packard, Intel, MTV, Safeway, and Wells Fargo.

The Path to Emotional Resonance: In Imagery

Listening

Like fingerprints or handwriting, no two voices are alike. When clients come to us, it’s because they want to be heard, or they need amplification because other voices are drowning theirs. To ensure a brand’s message feels relevant and impactful, first we listen to an organization’s pain points and synthesize their challenges when they struggle to articulate them; and second, we prioritize attunement to the consumer’s needs.

Sometimes we can’t understand people because we’re not listening or listening well. Sometimes we understand them, but we’re not listening at the right level. We may hear the facts, for example, but miss the feelings. Strategic listening allows for understanding the context, emotions, and underlying message to gain valuable insights and make informed decisions. It's driven by a specific objective, whether gathering information for decision-making, building relationships or understanding customer needs.

Subtracting

Picasso said, “It took me my whole life to learn to draw like a child.” Utilizing the work of Leidy Klotz, we ask clients: Is everything necessary? Can it be simpler? Can the brand be better known, better understood with less?

Pablo Picasso’s Bull Series reduced complex forms to their basic elements, illustratating how truth or essence is revealed through distillation and abstraction.

Reframing

Often clients are stuck in patterns, embedded in ways it’s “always” been done. We employ a “drawing upside down” approach—shifting perspectives to uncover new solutions and insights. This left brain/right brain technique encourages fresh thinking and reveals unseen opportunities.

Anne Miltenburg’s Brand the Change has proposed changing the name of Netherland’s Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of Peace and Justice. Such a reframe would greatly influence the products and services the ministry and the military would provide, attract more diverse talent and require different partnerships—not just with other armies but also with NGOs and social enterprises. A reframe of this magnitude opens up an entire world of possibilities.

Expressing

Wieden+Kennedy’s “Just Do It” campaign for Nike has had such a profound impact because of what the tag doesn’t say. It assumes pain is part of the equation and as such, it expresses to its customer, “I see you. I’ve got you.” It’s what consumers want to hear—and even more, what they want to feel.

Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions organizes emotions into key channels to identify which feelings are present. The Martec Group adapted this model for market research, distilling emotions into four core properties—Enjoyment, Interest, Commitment, and Passion. This framework, called the Emotion Landscape, maps and highlights the most prominent customer emotions, helping organizations better understand and connect with their audiences.