Consumer associations with soul branding

Based on feedback to last week's post, here's another link about soulful consumption. In the Winter 2001 issue of Design Management Journal, Jeffrey F. Durgee wrote an article, "Soul Branding: How to do it" that talks about five approaches to emotionally connecting the consumer's associations with a particular brand through:
- One's past,
- One's self,
- The otherworldly,
- Loved ones, and
- Humankind and the planet

Durgee acknowledges Thomas Moore's work in this exploration, and says,

"Most writers about the soul suggest it is an entity closely connected with the individual-- that each of us "has a soul." Soulfulness and spirituality, however, are also associated with forces that are independent of us: "mana," "ch'i" or simply "spirit." Spirituality is also experienced in relationships with loved ones and with general societal concerns, such as the environment and workers' rights, as well as with early, archetypal experiences. Possessions that are old or that reflect important past experiences are felt to have a lot of spirituality or "soul." The soul thrives on time for reflection, conversation, reverie, beauty, and rest. Art, therefore, is very pleasing to the soul, a fact that has obvious importance for product design and aesthetics."