Give Them Badges
Posted on 07. Apr, 2010 by jtheim
One of my favorite lines from the classic film Blazing Saddles is when the Mexican bandit proclaims “badges, we don’t need no stinking badges”. But in real life, we do need badges. Badges help to shape who we are and how we want to be perceived in the public sphere.
People want to belong….belong to an idea, a vision, a story, a culture, a cause. Here’s the important thing for marketers, we want the world to know that we belong. Bumper stickers, T-shirts, clothing labels, the coffee we drink, and the smart phone we carry…all say something about us.
Give them a badge. If you have a story – something people want to belong to – make it easy for them to identify themselves with your story. This is the real genius behind Tom’s Shoes. But, it is also why Apple was able to sell more than 300,000 iPads on the first day. For Apple users, there has never been a bigger or better badge than the new iPad. It screams, “I am Apple”. It is uniquely visible when carried around, when used in public places or when an email is sent with a signature that reads, “sent form my iPad”.
