Branding and the Increasing Value of Human Touch

It always fascinates me to see product, service and marketing innovations emerge that bolster our ability to get the ‘bear hug’ we seek from consumers. Take Ms. Dewey for example. (www.msdewey.com) A search engine with a personality. Designed to interact, entertain and inform, Ms. Dewey 'humanizes' the search engine experience.

I think there's much more to Ms. Dewey than pages of links. I think she's a sign of things to come as we continue the pursuit of strong relationships with our customers. Let's look at the obvious: Now more than ever we connect with each other electronically. There is less face-to-face human interaction than that of a decade ago. For some, entire work days go by without an in-person experience. This has upped the value of human contact. The result? Consumers are responding more and more to the human connectivity strong brands transmit.

If you define a brand as the personification of a product, service or organization you see where I'm coming from. On some level we humans are always looking to make connections. When we make them we are moved in some way. In this case Ms. Dewey softens the pixels and for a second makes you believe you’re not alone at being alone. Where will Ms. Dewey pop up next? How about your ATM, a vending machine or a gasoline pump? She will be welcome at those cold, sharp places that separate you from your money and deny any sense of an attempt at human contact.

Bring your customer closer. Make your offerings magnetic to human touch with a sense of human touch.