Each day, we hear the word “love” spoken in many different forms and in many different contexts. Southwest Airlines speaks of “Luv” with airline vouchers, customer service and their NYSE stock symbol, “LUV.” For Subaru, “love” means being more than a car company. “The Subaru Love Promise” is their vision to “show love and respect to all people at every interaction with Subaru.” According to the NetBase Brand Passion Report: Global 2017, the top 10 Global Love List All Star brands are: 1) Facebook, 2) Amazon, 3) eBay, 4) Apple, 5) Snap, 6) Disney, 7) Pokemon (Go), 8) Etsy, 9) Netflix, and 10) Sony.  

These companies appear to share a common trait with their consumers – a deep intensity of passion and feeling. In a sense, our lives (or for that matter this very moment) would not be complete without experiencing one or more of these brands. When we are with these brands, we feel safe, inspired, young, motivated, successful, fulfilled and happy. For millions around the globe, their lives would be incomplete if the brand’s products and services were made unavailable (even for a short time). 

From this perspective, we come to understand why we react so very strongly when our “love brands” let us down. The Southwest flight being canceled. Facebook selling our (what we thought was private) personal information. Amazon missing a home delivery. Apple not supporting older iPhones causing you to upgrade. Disney’s 1.5 hour line wait for Space Mountain. And Netflix not keeping reruns of “Friends” in their streaming content. We get upset. We feel betrayed. We vow never to go back, and cancel the subscription once and for all.  

But to no avail; we are “in love.” And it will take more than a canceled flight, long line or the loss of a favorite show for us to “cheat” on our brands and seek out another love of our lives. For love is everlasting and the most powerful force in the world. Love is what makes life meaningful. Love is the most powerful marketing campaign ever imagined. Right?

For the ancient Greeks there were basically four types of love: Agape — Unconditional Love; Eros — Romantic Love; Philia — Affectionate Love; and Philautia — Self-Love. Today, it would appear that love spans the spectrum from “I love pizza,” to “I Iove those that love me,” to “I love those that are like me,” to “I can’t imagine my life without ‘blank’ (fill in the blank with God, a person, an institution, product, or service).  

We love many things, and many people. Many times we know why, and many times we have no clue as to the reason why we love and do not love someone or something. Sometimes our love is fickle. Sometimes our love is steadfast and true. We just know inherently we are meant to love others and to love ourselves.

What does love have to do with it? Everything.

Until Next Friday,