Why values, human needs and motivations matter in branding

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Why values, human needs and motivations matter in branding

Hobbes, Rousseau, Maslow & Advertising

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In an ocean of commodity markets it is often advertisement - or rather branding -

that can set two identical products apart.




Branding is about the power of storytelling. Before any story can be told, however, we need to have an understanding about the relevant human desires and needs we believe to be true about the people we are going to tell our story to (a.k.a. our “target group”).




What are our convictions about our target group -

or consumers in general?

Or even more general, what is our deep belief

about the “human race”, as a marketer?




Do we think, like Thomas Hobbes, holding that primitive human life is

ultimately "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"?

Humans just want to stuff themselves with material goods selfishly and with

greed, without self-awareness?




Or, do we think like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the Enlightenment philosopher,

holding that mankind is ultimately “free” and “noble”?

Do humans want to be liberated by ideals, noble principles

and activated by good deeds? Are we naturally and innately good?




Our answer to that question can ultimately determine the way we tell our stories

as marketers and professional users of media.




American psychologist Abraham Maslow pioneered an approach to understanding human motivations that he called “Humanistic Psychology”. He believed that every person has a strong desire to reach his or her full potential, which he referred to as “self-actualization”.

This would make Maslow a Rousseau-ite at first glance, right?




Maslow’s insights into human nature allowed him to quickly realize that self-actualization was not the most pressing need for human beings. This led him to create his most famous contribution to psychology, now commonly referred to as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs a.k.a. “The Maslow Pyramid”. After six decades it is still widely used and applied:




Maslow represented the basic levels of human needs in a hierarchy, a pyramid visualization. The needs flow from the most basic survival requirements, such as food, water, and shelter, to the pinnacle, which Maslow called self-actualization.




The lower two levels of the pyramid relate to physical needs, the upper ones are “meta-physical” catering to emotional, intellectual and spiritual motivations.

Maslow said that people act out of feelings caused by needs which have not been satisfied. We are compelled to try and resolve those needs in a certain set order.




As marketers we have a great responsibility because we are not just

shapers of society but we can influence individual behaviour based on

our underlying assumptions about human nature and motivations...




Will we “vulgarize and brutalize” (Bill Bernbach) our target group thinking they are only interested in “shopping and fucking”?

Or will we elevate our target group believing that they have longings for higher purposes?




On the following slides we present real life advertising examples for each approach - corresponding to Maslow’s hierarchy.




Physiological (sex, food, excretion)




Safety (security of health, family, property )




Love/belonging (friendship, family, sexual intimacy)




Esteem (self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect)




Self-actualization (morality, creativity, problem solving, spontaneity)




"All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can

help lift it onto a higher level."- Bill Bernbach, founder of the agency Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB)

Final words:




Headquartered in Budapest with business activities throughout the CEE region - including

Budapest, Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Bucharest - Next Wave Europe is a fast expanding boutique

brand and strategy agency focused on content creation and the social experience.




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Why values, human needs and motivations matter in branding

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basic levels of human

maslow pyramid

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human race

human beings

human nature

primitive human life

therelevant human desires