In this Endeavor Masterclass Endeavor Mentor Arturo Nuñez shares his expertise on the role storytelling plays in marketing and the impact diverse brand culture can have on consumers.

“It starts with love,” Nuñez opens his Masterclass with a glimpse into who he is. Not just his credentials as the Ex-CMO of NuBank, VP of Marketing at Nike and more, but also his passions, his motivations, his personal goals. He’s collected thousands of vinyls, he describes himself as a book addict, he shares some of his favorite ads. His vocation as a marketer is clear in the stories he tells. 

Nuñez’s introduction reflects his methodology in building brands. Marketing is storytelling. If you can connect with your audience emotionally, then you have established yourself in their minds. Create your culture and then connect it with the culture of your customer base.

“As business leaders we want to take our companies to that next level from good to great. A good product and experience aren’t enough, you need to connect.”

Cultural Connection

Cultural connection builds love for your brand. “Diversity is more than just good business. It’s not a [gesture]. It is connecting with your base to drive brand love”, Nuñez says. He points out that the Apple sticker is mainstream “fashion” for cars and that tattoos of the Nike logo were seen regularly during his time there. Things that “don’t make any sense”.

During his time with NuBank, Nuñez led a marketing campaign that identified customers based on region and their emotional hotspots with their finances. Marketing then addressed how NuBank could help. “Product is irrelevant to marketing. That cultural connection can always be injected”.

Ask yourself, how does your brand identity fit into the lives of your base? Your brand’s history, goals, mission, can all be made relevant to your consumers to create a mutual cultural identity with them. Apple stickers make sense on cars because the Apple culture is about tech fascination that is not limited to their products. Nike tattoos make sense because the Nike culture is about inspiration and people use tattoos as a reminder of what drives them, so why not Nike?

Why not your brand?

Experience and Reputation

No great company ever treated its brand as an afterthought. “Actually, it’s the great differentiator”, Nuñez explains. Howard Shultz was told Starbucks would fail in China because of the popularity of tea there. Nevertheless, Starbucks found success because they understood they were selling the Starbucks experience. “Now they drink tea and Starbucks”, Nuñez chuckles. Customer experience is quintessential to success and smart leaders know that the product experience is often defined by branding.

He reminds the audience of what they already know as business leaders but tend to forget, “A brand is a collection of perceptions in the minds of the customers.” Customer perceptions are defined both by their experiences and the storytelling. Branding is the latter and influences the former. If your company’s reputation isn’t where you want it to be, check the experience.

Know Your Strengths

Nuñez proposes the following equation: Promise + Experience = Relationship with your base. Nuñez advises leaning on your company’s strengths to create a promise that you can create a consistent experience with.

•         Set the bar higher on yourself than on the promise you make. This way you can consistently exceed expectations.
•         Nerd out! Showing enthusiasm for your business will inject customers with confidence in you.

Combine these two points to surprise and delight your base – two emotions they will associate with your brand for years to come.

Brand Mission

Your brand mission is how you put yourself in a place of service to your customers. It should be actionable, goal-oriented and leverage your strengths. “Who you want to be, consistently. How you want to show up for your customers, consistently”, as Nuñez puts it.

There exists a sweet spot between the things we love and the things we are good at. If you can define this sweet spot then you have your list of strengths to curate the promise, the mission. To execute Nuñez says, “Be diligent, be consistent, be relevant, be aware of your customer, and find the sweet spot.”

Closing

Arturo Nuñez elicited his years of expertise from the highest level to offer branding solutions that could apply to any company size. He discussed how to apply these lessons to your specific situation in detail during a presentation rife with examples, quips, and great storytelling.

“Every great marketer is at their core a storyteller”. If his presentation is anything to go by, Nuñez certainly lives up to the mantle.

If you’d like to see the Masterclass in full, you can see it here. 

This Endeavor Masterclass Recap was written by Endeavor Staff member Marcos Rosler.