Tamsen Webster explains the Red Thread, an organizing idea that connects how people see the world to why they choose brands. She walks through finding a brand's Red Thread using Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks as examples, showing how different customer perspectives drive different brand experiences.
The Red Thread is all about flexibility and adaptability. At the same time, it's about constancy. When might that be helpful? When we're trying to figure out why and how people tie into big brands. I'm Tamsen Webster of TamsenWebster.com, and that's what we're talking about this week on Find the Red Thread. How do you figure out what ties you to a brand and why should you care? Well, I'm gonna argue you should care because it tells you a lot about how to build even tighter connections and how to engage other people who aren't connected to you yet. Now, that all happens because of what the Red Thread represents. It represents this operating system that we have. Explains and makes the connection between how we see the world and what we do in it. It explains why we do what we do the way that we do it. And it's true, as we've talked about before, for both companies and individuals. So we're trying to figure out how companies and individuals connect, we just need to find the red threads of both. Now we've talked before about how to find the red thread of your company. A lot of times it can be helpful to start with the products and services and differentiators That's the actions. And then back up to say, what's the customer goal? What's the perspective that we take on that goal? What's the belief that we have, the idea that we have about that perspective that is uniquely us or really important to us? How does that explain why we represent a change in the marketplace, which then makes those products and services that we figured out first make sense? Figure that piece out. And then we do the same thing for customers. What are they looking for? What's the perspective that they're taking? What's an important perspective for them? What would be a perspective that's resonant for them? What's a belief about that perspective or about that goal that we also share? Which means, what does that mean that they're looking for? What, what would make them change from their current deliverer of that goal? What would make them change to you? Or why is you, why are you a representative of what they're looking for? Now that makes sense. Okay, why do your products and services make sense? And it might even give you opportunities to think about new products and services that would match them even better. So let's take an example that we're probably all familiar with to really look at how this might be the case. Dunkin' Donuts. Now, the Dunkin' Donuts products and services are pretty straightforward. They've got coffee, they've got, you know, some tea, but mostly people know them for coffee, for donuts, and one-handed snacks. Now, why would customers care about that? Well, let's look at it from the coffee perspective first of all. Well, because they want their coffee in the morning, right? Now, what's the Dunkin' Donuts perspective on that that really represents what they— how they look at that morning coffee? And Dunkin' Donuts, I would argue, really represents the perspective that coffee isn't just part of the morning routine, it's on the critical path of that routine. That coffee needs to be delivered the way a customer expects, when a customer expects, in the time a customer expects, in order for the rest of their customer's day to go the way they want it to. Why? Well, that's where the idea comes in, because Dunkin's believes— this is their idea— that coffee is fuel. And because coffee is fuel, that explains why it's on the critical path of the routine and why that's so important to be considered when we're trying to give people their coffee in the morning. Now, all of that taken together represents the change that Dunkin' has in the marketplace, which is a focus on speed and reliability, consistency, so that people know exactly what they're going to get in the time they're going to get it, which leads to all the things that you see in their stores: one-handed foods, hard surfaces that don't, don't suggest and don't encourage people hanging around, drive-throughs, things like that. Now think about how all the places line up with the individuals for whom all of those things make sense. You can picture in your mind, can't you? Somebody wants their morning coffee for whom coffee, because they like Dunkin', believe it's fuel, that nothing can go wrong with getting that coffee in the morning, which is why they value the speed, reliability, and consistency of Dunkin', which is why they really enjoy or at least tolerate the way that Dunkin' operates and moves and looks because it suits their perspective. It suits how they see the world. Now contrast that with somebody who says, "Yeah, I want my morning coffee, but the getting the break of the coffee, the break in a coffee break is just as important as the coffee itself," for whom the experience of that break actually makes them enjoy the coffee more. Well, they're gonna look for a very different experience. They're gonna look for something that provides a break from either their home routine or their office routine. They're gonna look for, "Huh, maybe a third place?" which makes them sound an awful lot like a Starbucks customer. And I would argue that is a Starbucks customer. And that explains why all the things, the products, services, and approaches that Starbucks has makes more sense to their customers. They have squishy chairs that do encourage you to sit around. They play music. They've got snacks that you can linger over and that you can have conversations over. They provide Wi-Fi so you'll stay there and work. See, by understanding the Red Thread of you and the Red Thread of your customers, you can find those opportunities for connection. You can find those opportunities to find the tie, the Red Thread tie that binds people to your brand. I'm Tamsen Webster of TamsenWebster.com. If you're looking to find the Red Thread of you or your company, contact me at TamsenWebster.com/contact or or go to findyourredthread.com.
