Brand writers often use the term “love” to describe the brand relationship. Brands aspire to build a strong love with their customers. However, love can be very volatile and requires a great deal of commitment. Often neither the brand nor the customer want this level of commitment. So perhaps focus instead, on the lesser (more practical) relationship “friendship”  

Brand relationships are then about building friendships.

Just like our friends, brands are chosen to be part of our lives and shape our experiences.

Friendships come in many forms and are reciprocal, and. As people have many different types of friends, they will also choose to have many different brands.  People’s friends play different roles; brands can try to adopt some of these roles.

New York Times Bestselling author Tom Rath in his book Vital Friends, The People You Can't Afford to Live Without,  introduced eight friendship roles that shape people’s home and work lives. The roles are

Builder,

Companion,

Connector,

Collaborator,

Energizer,

Mind Opener,

Navigator,

Champion.

Typically brands want to play the Companion role in people’s lives.

A Companion is intertwined in all aspects of a person’s life, but with this comes a lot of responsibility that some of the other roles don’t have. It’s often too much for a brand to fulfil.

Roles that are perhaps better suited for brands include Connector, Collaborator, Energizer, and Mind Opener. These roles address tangible needs and activities that people can look beyond another person to fulfil and still feel genuine.

Creating brand relationships like friendships requires maintenance. There are rules to follow in friendship, and when the rules are broken, people will feel hurt and may leave. Close brand relationships have great benefits, but also put an organisation in a potentially vulnerable position.

Harley-Davidson has embodied what it means to cultivate a community and to form a friendship with individual consumers. Strong brands form friendships with consumers and can play a number of roles in people’s lives. Harley-Davidson plays several friend roles: It acts as a Connector by bringing like-minded people together, a Mind Opener by inspiring people to try new things, and a Collaborator by accompanying people in activities. For HD  the danger is in playing Companion – a friend who will eventually disappoint.

Brand managers may discover they need to form and maintain special kinds of friendships.

The following are questions which should be asked:

Does the brand build trust with the customer through every action?

Are you enabling your “friends” the opportunities to interact with and to influence the brand?  Friends need to belong

Are you offering ways for friends to identify and express themselves through the brand?

Are there shared activities between the brand and friends?  Friendships are created and bolstered through shared events and activities.  Websites provide a good opportunity vehicle for this.

Can your friends meet each other to talk about their shared interests and experiences realted to the brand?  It doesn’t have to be all about the brand – friends have other interests that when shared may also strengthen the relationship.

Does the brand grow and change with its friends?  Long-term friendships requires brands to accommodate customers as they grow and develop.

Brands need to play multiple friend roles.

While the Companion role is what many brands will aspire to. There are four other friendship roles that brands are well suited for. Playing one or more of these friendship roles, not just Companion or love roles, ensures that brands can continue to grow their business while enjoying an emotional relationship with customers.