Just what I've ALWAYS wanted

In an ideal world every Christmas present would be like that 12” vinyl in the John Lewis ad.

A moment of connection, a lifelong memory.

Real life isn’t always like that, is it?

Of course, you think about the person you’re buying for. Their likes and dislikes, what you’ve given them before, anything you know they want.

But then you have to go and find something.

That’s when all your good intentions can end up in tatters at the side of the road.

Say you want to stay on safe, familiar ground. Which could come across as dull and predictable.

Or you decide to be adventurous. But then they might not like it and the gift goes unused.

Maybe it’s all about wanting to work it out on your own, to be in control. But the area could be new to you and you’re going to have to ask for help.

Or you love the whole browsing experience, the freedom, even though it can get overwhelming.

Maybe you want something sophisticated, that’s the key. But it’s all relative and this could end up being more about you than him or her.

Or you know you’re going to need some guidance, but there’s a queue for that one sales assistant.

Or you decide to go for this year’s No.1 present, which has sold out.

Or you’re really prepared to put in the time, visit different sites and shops, become a temporary expert, get ChatGPT to do a spreadsheet. And still you can’t make up your mind.

As you move round that Need Map, I don’t know which of these vignettes feels most like you. It depends what you want from the experience. Expected reward minus expected pain.

But what I do know is if I was trying to position a Christmas retail brand to you, I’d want to choose which need of yours I was there to serve.

Because that’s me, that’s what I do.

Funny how I seem to have spent the year looking at this point from different angles.

How brands are memories rebuilt in the moment.

How meaning makes memory and we humans attach meaning to everything.

How it’s best to target broad to a common need.

How you can’t necessarily resolve the tension in a need, but you can ease it temporarily.

How the job is to connect your target’s motivations to what your brand means to them.

And say you’re a teenage boy with a dad around 50 who used to go clubbing a lot in the 90’s.

And you’ve never really given him a decent present, because you can never think what to get him.

In fact, you and your dad don’t talk that much, it’s more of a doing-things-together kind of thing, when you’re not arguing about getting home safely.

So you have this idea of getting him the vinyl of a big dance anthem from back in the day, when he was just like you.

Because you want to give him something that says what you can’t.

The power of love, the power of positioning.

Happy Christmas, everyone.