Spike,

Well said. I wish I had written this. I believe you capture the essence of differentiation.

While nearly impossible to differentiate one business's services and products from another, it is far simpler to differentiate based on our (or someone else's) experiences with that business.

When a business achieves the "we" and works diligently to engage and enhance the "we," it is on its way to great success.

Lewis

Unlike the way we refer to "our" sports teams, most people will never say 'we' with respect to a corporation. But someone who's wearing your logo-shirt, drinking coffee from your logo-mug, or toting lunch in your logo-bag is giving you an implicit 'we' in terms of their willingness to be associated with your company. (Not that I'm advocating that everyone run out and invest in logo-ware for their customers,but when I was running user groups,we always took it as a good sign when the majority of attendees showed up on Day 2 with the shirt we gave them.)

Lewis - thanks for the kudos and for weighing in.

Maureen - I think you'd be surprised about how many people use the terminology "we" - but more so referring to a group of the same kind of people (kindred spirits) who use that product. I'm talking about the community of customers. Mac users, Bob Schneider fans, Unreal Tournament 2004 (a video game) players, etc. These are brands that embrace their loyal fans - and where the "we" mentality is born.

Great thoughts. I also have to wonder what the flip side of that is. If a consumer who identifies with a company, what does that mean for that same consumer's relationship with that company's competitors? Think "Apple vs. Microsoft."

Spike it's the Third Saturday in October, so 'we' have a big game against the Vols this weekend, but I'm glad I took the time out to read this post because you've captured the feeling of community that sports fans feel that I've been trying to post about. Why companies aren't trying to emulate this feeling of passionate involvement is beyond me. Actually I have a pretty good idea that it goes back to the 'too much work' excuse.

Getting the customer's money in hand is all that counts, right?

We got to post with you. You just demonstrated where "we" started because now we are dynamically connected through this small thread, where each individual now makes up a group, which will also be a part of the bigger scope on the web. Small world, hm! and fun to keep making it safe to communicate & solve problems we encounter. I bought groceries last night at Trader Joes & asked the check out guy what he thought of myspace. He brightened up & said we made $7,000.00 in 15 weeks selling his new album. I am not a fan of myspace but the way he lit up from just ringing up groceries made my day & I wanted to buy his album & be a part of his fan club. It was just a small survey but the more we connect the more we can market a lot of solutions to continue working on our products to connect to more "we's". Kathy Smith

very well said piece of wisdom.

I had written a small post on this some days back. Please do read.

http://puranijeansaurguitar.blogspot.com/2006/10/when-is-company-successful.html

Love it.

My daughter is obsessed with Pokemon. You made me think of how that phenomenon occurs. How can companies translate that kind of fanatacism to a customer base? Sure kids glom on to fads but Pokemon has been around a long time and my daughter is only 5 and has just now become a fanatic.

Apple has that kind of fan base. I personally love Listerine (that's a whole other story). What do you think?

as a mac fan since years (you know when you are a fan of something, you are into since years) i think at microsoft as pure evil. have you ever heard of a microsoft fan or seen somebody with the microsoft logo sticker on the helmet?
ok, just kidding, in reality i just think that their operating system is few years back from mac one. but it's rather clear that fans are fans and if the BRAND does not make silly mistakes, you are caught forever (or at least for several years)

Spike- Great post! I was born and raised as an Alabama football fan. I've now lived in California since I was 16 (a long time) and I still say "we" when referring to the team.

I agree with you 100% on this topic- building "we" is critical to success. Breaking down the "us/them" barriers is just as critical.

Maureen- Exactly! At our July sales meeting this summer, I gave all of our attendees (sales reps, company folks and international distributors) special Masi t-shirts. The meeting was 3 days long and I smiled from ear to ear each day when I saw the t-shirts in the audience. It made my day/s.

Nice post!

Even when we disagree with you, though this is not the case here, we at MarketingProfs agree with you--or is that us?

So how does a company start to develop a "we" mentality?

This with scare the hell outta most of CMOs out there, but start small and specific, and it will grow from there.

Mack,

Roll Tide, except when you play the Gators. I bleed orange and blue. Last week was painful.

Lewis

I like Kathy's observation about the web being the mechanism to create a new sense of "we" for smaller communities. Most of the "we" products we can think of our major consumer brands. For those of us who market products and services for IT and developers, the "we" stuff tends to be less visible. Our products and brands aren't iconic, etc. Which is why I love user groups, since they bring together your most loyal customers,and a real sense of community forms(even if it only lasts one week a year). The ability to communicate informally, in realtime, via web communities will definitely foster "us" communities. (And, of course, "them" communities as well.)

Back to the sports "we" that Spike started with. Did everyone catch the news that a casket company in Michigan is now selling urns and caskets with the logos of major league baseball teams on them?

Here's a link to my post on this phenomenon. Hope it's considered kosher to include this -
http://www.opinionatedmarketers.com/2006/10/playing-ball-in-great-beyond.html

Great thoughts, Maureen (and I did see the sports caskets story - doh!)

Yes, the internet is a great catalyst to bring people together. But let's be sure and remember that 80%(ish) of word of mouth happens off line. So how can we continue that community once people log off? There are MANY ways you can Fascinate, Inspire, Reward and Engage those kindred spirits...and it doesn't have to cost a lot of money.

Good site. Thanks!