After my introduction to XM Radio's Muzak station on my way to JFK Thursday morning followed by the ritualistic airport security strip-down and boarding cattle call, at long last I sunk into my window seat, 'The Crying of Lot 49' on my lap.
There was an aura on the plane that was just altogether wrong for an early-morning business flight. Everyone was energized and seemed to be signaling to each other with subtle looks and gestures, communicating in a silent, sublime language I did not know. Clearly I was on the outside of some inside joke making its way around the cabin.
When the woman seated next to me arrived, she was kind enough to ask if the carry-on she stowed beneath the seats in front of us was bothering me. The question, I feared, was the part of the cabin-wide inside joke being perpetrate on me. Clearly she was in on it.
Then began the perplexing parade. One after another, people boarded, paused by our aisle in deference to the woman next to me, and then proceeded in perfect single file to their assigned seats. There were hugs and handshakes, smiles and giggles, all peppered with intimate pleasantries exchanged in Italian.
When at last we pushed back, the kind woman next to me dozed off while reading ‘The New York Times.’ I promptly turned on my reading lamp, opened my book, and fell fast asleep for the next hour.
It was not until I awoke that I took notice of something familiar in my aisle-mate's face. Though I had never seen it as I was seeing it now - bespectacled and in profile - I was seated next to a dozing Lidia Bastianich!
There was no inside joke. Rather, I was the outsider seated amidst a tribe of chefs and the tribal leader was right next to me.
The account planner in me was shocked into vigilance, my flight transformed into a clinical testing environment. I was both test subject and object.
The objective of the study: To observe the effect celebrities (branded people) have on the behavior and attitudes of their fans (their brand loyalists).
Observations:
1. Lidia’s presence spontaneously caused me to evaluate my physical appearance.
- I was dressed in what I’ve come to call my 'agency uniform - jacket and dress shirt over blue jeans. I consciously deemed my attire appropriate for the occasion.
- I was deeply satisfied when I noticed the specular highlights in my shoes.
- I happen to be wearing French cuffs and I was conscious of a desire that Lidia would take notice of, but not comment on this fashion detail.
- When I went to the men’s room, I noticed that the left side of my collar was awry, and was relieved that Lidia was seated to my right.
- I was unshaven, but unconcerned as I felt this made me look more European.
2. Under normal circumstances I might be between 30% - 50% propensed to engage in conversation with someone seated next to me on a flight. Lidia’s presence in the next seat increased my propensity to 100%.
3. My conversation was singular in its purpose: to convince Lidia that I had a personal connection to her, to demonstrate to this branded person that I was brand loyal.
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In the aggregate, this behavior is attributable to a single need on the part of the test subject: to convince the tribe leader that he was worthy of tribal membership.
After I introduced myself, our conversation focused almost exclusively on my tribal credentials: how my wife - Italian and Irish I made a point of emphasizing - had introduced both my me and my son to ‘Lidia’s Italy; my wife’s family of five children, serious cooks all; the fights she and her siblings have had over gravy and tomato sauce; the picture I have of my son making his first tomato sauce at the age of four. Clearly, this was my rite of passage and I didn’t want to screw it up.
The experience left me thinking about the idea of ‘earned brand membership’ and how important this idea is to a brand. It is this that an iPod more than an MP3 player, a Rolex (or Swatch) more than a time piece, Starbucks more than coffee, a Hugo Boss sweater more than a garment to guard against cold. Put another way, it is tribal membership that makes a product into a brand.
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