With Christmas in the rearview mirror and 2023 on the horizon, new year resolutions are on the brain. Lose weight, save money, make more time for family - do any of these sound familiar? Probably, because they are 3 of the top 10 most common new year’s resolutions. Well this year, we have an idea for a resolution that is sure to improve every aspect of your life. Let’s all resolve to be CURIOUS. 

Now you might be thinking, “why curious?”

If you are thinking that, give yourself a pat on the back because you’re already excelling at your resolution and it’s not even the new year yet! Jokes aside, curiosity is powerful. Curiosity can lead us to seek out truth, care more deeply for others, learn new skills, and discover new things about ourselves.

We’re marketers, so let’s talk about the power of curiosity from a marketing standpoint. Let’s start with a little exercise. 

Humor us for just a second and close your eyes.

Are your eyes closed? Oh good.

Now think of your favorite brand.

What do you like about them? When did they become your favorite? (here we are, being curious again!)

Okay, if you have the answers to those two questions, you can open your eyes. 

What did you learn? 

While we hope that little soul-searching exercise was insightful for you, we do have one key truth to share. It’s a good one so you’ll probably want to take out a pen and write this down… 

Here it is. 

Think about one of the most popular brands in the world - Apple. Apple is a lifestyle brand. They stand for innovation, aspiration, and freedom to create. We guarantee that any hard-core Apple fan has similar core values. Why is this? Because we love brands that see the world the same way we do. In other words, we love brands that share our culture. 

“Culture is the way by which we make meaning.” Dr. Marcus Collins, chief strategy officer at Wieden+Kennedy, proposed that the world’s biggest brands became popular because they figured out how to turn their love group into a culture group. After all, culture is the driving vehicle by which people decide what to buy. 

“Beliefs, artifacts that are meaningful, behaviors that are normative, and the language that they use - that is the alchemy of what we consider peoples’ culture. If we understand their cultural frame, we can understand how they see the world around them, and ultimately then how we can communicate in such a way that what we intend to mean and what we actually mean are congruent.”

Understanding the culture of your target audience is essential because consumers have all the power now. Globalization has made it so that they are the curators. Dr. Collins said it best - “If we can’t understand people, we can’t do our job.” Regardless of Apple’s current popularity, if they decided to stop being curious and seeking to understand their customers, they would become irrelevant. 

Being a BYU student is truly an exercise in curiosity. As of 2021, BYU is home to 1,622 international students and over 100 countries are represented on our campus. Additionally, nearly half of BYU’s student body has lived outside the United States and 65% of students speak a second language. This means that we learn, work, and serve daily with fellow students from a huge variety of cultural backgrounds. From these experiences, we can attest to the power curiosity gives us to strengthen relationships and accelerate learning. 

For those who want to become better versions of themselves, we recommend practicing curiosity. For example, you can…

• Be more observant

• Don’t be afraid to ask “why?” 

• Choose humility over certainty

• Ask lots of questions, no matter how silly they may seem

If we think we have all the answers, we are bound to stumble. So let’s be curious instead. Who knows what you might discover!

For those who are curious about how to better align your brand and culture, we’d love to help!