Branding Secrets.The allure of a secret is a strong one. After all, who doesn’t want in on a good secret? A secret can be great for your brand because it adds to your mystique. Secrets are alluring, intriguing and fascinating.
To show our point, here’s a little secret about secrets.
In, L.A., a city where very little remains hidden from the likes of paparazzi and crazed fans, one restaurant thrives on secrets. The name of the restaurant is Crustacean and it’s famous for its garlic crab dish. We would tell you how that dish is made, but like everyone else, we have no idea. The dish is made inside a “secret kitchen” that’s built inside the restaurant’s main kitchen, where only the founding family’s relatives are permitted.
In between deal making and celebrity gossip, you know what every patron is talking about? The one thing they can’t have. Access.
Crustacean can teach us a great deal about branding “secrets” – continually make your audience, whether your consumers or prospects eager to learn more. Eager to be in on the secret.
Think secret’s are a schtick, a gimmick that some businesses use, but not something foundational enough to build a brand on? Think again. Think of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola recipe is so well guarded that it is rumored that there isn’t a single person on the planet that knows the whole recipe. Talk about building mythology! KFC’s secret blend of herbs and spices has a similar effect for KFC.
The challenge with building a brand around secrets, around mystique, is that the mystique ends when the chase is gone. Once a secret is let out of the bag, that’s it, it cannot be put back into the bag. In a world of Youtube, TMZ, and social media, keeping a secret is harder than ever. Just ask Hillary Clinton.
Your secret must be kept at all cost, or else the jig is up. And on that note, we’ll end our jig here.
