The attraction of cultural magnetism: How brands like New Balance, Delta Airlines, Michelob ULTRA, and Wendy’s are building lasting connections with their core consumers

Michael Sussman and Amy Winger

Brands hold values that connect people emotionally, and they create virtual spaces and real-world places for those people to gather, which presents a unique opportunity for modern brands to live in people's daily experiences in unique and meaningful ways.

Brands have never been more important than they are today. Consequently, brands are under more pressure than ever before. Age, religion, and geography are boundaries that no longer hold a monopoly over defining communities — brands have risen into that echelon to play the role of uniter.

Brands hold values that connect people emotionally, and they create virtual spaces and real-world places for those people to gather. This presents a unique opportunity for modern brands to live in people's daily lives in unique and meaningful ways. To achieve this, marketers must shift the way they assess brand health.

The gears...

WARC subscribers can sign in to keep reading

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands