Author: Successful brands today reach people with an ‘emotional relationship’

“Passion brands” are companies and products that invoke such a strong reaction in consumers that the consumers themselves become the best advertisement for the brand.

Author Jeff Rosenblum joined Thursday’s “The Glenn Beck Radio Program” to talk about friction, passion brands and case studies illustrating the ideas in his recent book, “Friction: Passion Brands in the Age of Disruption.” Every company needs to minimize friction between its products and its customers as well as internal friction, building a passion brand with a focused goal.

Patagonia is one example of a passion brand; as an environmental advocate, the company had friction internally because the products they make inevitably hurt the environment to some extent. To reflect their “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra, Patagonia actually did a campaign telling people not to buy their products because purchasing new things increases your environmental footprint.

Passion brands can be more expensive than other brands because consumers are won over by the message. Not every brand can use the ecological angle that Patagonia has, but the case study helps illustrate why companies need to build their brands and engage with customers.

The fitness company SoulCycle is another example of a passion brand. People become so invested in SoulCycle that they are willing to pay a hefty fee to sit inside on a stationary bike for 45 minutes.

“SoulCycle and other brands have an emotional relationship where people pay more for the product,” Rosenblum explained.

To see more from Glenn, visit his channel on TheBlaze and listen live to “The Glenn Beck Radio Program” with Glenn Beck, Pat Gray, Stu Burguiere and Jeffy Fisher weekdays 9 a.m.–noon ET on TheBlaze Radio Network.