The Love / Respect Axis

The bottom left finds you in the Low Respect and Low Love quadrant. This is the positioning of classic commodities. Public Utilities, low value transactions. Essential to our lives but going nowhere. Zero brand heat.

Now, move across to the bottom right quadrant to Low Respect and High Love. This is the land of fads, trends and infatuations. Last month’s gotta-haves. Next month’s has-beens. Hairstyles and Pop Stars. You can have a lot of fun down here but you won’t get Loyalty Beyond Reason.

The High Respect and Low Love quadrant in the top left of the axis is where most major brands are stuck. Functional benefits, solid performance, and always fixed on those "e-r" words. Newer, brighter, stronger, bolder and worst of all, cheaper. Needed but not desired.

High Respect and High Love is the place to be. The top right of the top right hand quadrant. This is Lovemark territory.

Only here, stretching for high love and resting on high respect, is where deep emotional connections are made.

Remember only the customer can decide Lovemark status. And they’ll only do it for brands that are up there in the top right, where the sun always shines.