Why does culture matter to brands and marketing?  Douglas Holt attributes the iconic status (which some brands achieve) to their efforts to address (or the perception) that they address Cultural Stress Points that.  Our team here at Trend Influence were early advocates of Mr. Holt's theory, going so far as to instantiate processes for uncovering these stress points into our primary research methodologies. Holt asserts that cultural resonance differs by countries because stress points tend to be a by product of or a response to situations that are experienced by broad components of the population.  Addressing these culturally resonant topics correctly through either innovation, communications or ideally, both, can result in a brand being catapulted beyond its 'image focused' competitive set of brands to an 'iconic' status.  This status is like a force field that insulates the brand from many market related issues that effect other brands in the competitive set and also acts as a sort of insurance policy for the brand to lean on when it makes mistakes - which all brands inevitably do.  The consumer wants to forgive these brands because they are loved.

When a brand synchs with cultural issues, the consumer naturally gravitates toward it; the result of this relationship is advocacy.  Technically an advocate is a person that is in the pursuit of influencing outcomes. Someone that speaks and acts positively on your behalf and is not compensated in any direct way to do so. 

This chart represents an overview of the various interdependent factors that must be correctly addressed to create advocates. But what it does not address is how we uncover the cultural stress points and issues that we need to understand in order to synch with the consumer?  Coming up next, empathic research techniques.