How do you become a mentor brand?
I ran my 30th marathon in Philadelphia two weeks ago. While most runners stick to their race day plans and routines, I decided to try something new. Breaking the ‘never try something new on race day’ rule, I ran my fastest marathon ever.
The radical change? I ran with Coach Bennett from the Nike Running Club guiding me through my EarPods instead of my usual music playlist. If you are familiar with Nike’s Running Club, you know Coach Bennett. He is a great coach, and that day in Philly, he was my running mentor. He kept me entertained, focused, and motivated to do my best.
Not bad, considering I just wanted to have fun and finish in a decent time. But that’s the thing with mentors; they help us be the best version of ourselves.
I’m a runner, and Nike is my mentor.
I don’t run with Nike shoes (I like Mizuno), and I don’t run with Nike equipment. Nike is my mentor because they help me become a better runner when and how it matters. The NRC app tracks my runs, monitors my shoe mileage, and offers guided runs, acting like a personal coach. Nike doesn’t push sales or claim credit for my achievements; it’s all about making me feel like an athlete.
Nike is my mentor, and I trust Nike to help me become a better runner. That’s why I decided to listen to Coach Bennett in Philadelphia. And that’s a lot of trust, believe me.
Nike is not alone, though, other brands have chosen to be a Mentor brand for its heroes: Patagonia, Red Bull, Airbnb, Apple, Dove, REI, Houdini, charity:water, or Zero to mention just a few.
Mentor brands understand that they are not the protagonists; their audiences are the real heroes of the brand’s story.
But what is a mentor brand exactly?
Mentor brands aim to foster a deeper, more personal relationship with the brand’s audience.
Mentor brands create meaningful connections with their audience by offering guidance, support, and valuable insights. Instead of promoting their own accomplishments, these brands prioritize understanding and addressing the needs, challenges, and aspirations of their audience.
Mentor brands recognize that the true value lies in the growth and achievements of those they serve — their hero.
This approach often involves storytelling that aligns with the audience’s journey, acknowledging their struggles, providing solutions, and celebrating their successes.
It also aligns the brand and audience at a cultural level. There is an affinity between the values, beliefs, and attitudes that sustain the architecture of the brand’s purpose and those of the hero.
You can see this manifested in the case of Patagonia, where the love for the outdoors, environmental stewardship, and ethical consumerism are values and beliefs held by both the mentor and the hero.
How to mentor your hero.
There are wonderful examples of mentor brands to will inspire any of us to become one.
I like REI’s brand strategy: Because they believe that a life outdoors is a life well-lived (moral of the brand’s story) their purpose is to to awaken a lifelong love of the outdoors, for all.
They mentor their hero first and foremost by offering a lifelong membership to the coop. But they do much more; just visit their website to see the full range of services and experiences they offer their hero.
Danone is another great example.
Because they believe that a healthy body needs healthy food (the moral of the brand’s story) their purpose is to bring health through food to as many people as possible.
They mentor their hero with stories, education, programs, and partnerships that promote the growth of healthy food and knowledge of healthy diets.
Zero is a personal favorite because they have been mentoring me for 14 months on my healthier lifestyle journey.
Because they believe that building healthy habits is the key to living better, and longer lives, (the moral of the brand’s story) their purpose is to extend the lifespan and health span of the human race.
They mentor me by bringing awareness to my choices around sleeping, exercise, and, of course, eating. It’s been transformative to have the scientific support and guidance of the Zero brand.
Finally, I would like to share how charity:water mentors its hero.
This is also close to my heart because my family has been making monthly donations to charity: water for more than 10 years now.
Because they believe that trust creates communities (the moral of the brand’s story), their purpose is to reinvent charity with radical transparency.
What’s interesting about charity:water’s brand is that its hero is not the people with new access to clean water; the hero is the donor.
The donor’s need is to make a difference, and charity:water mentors their hero to know that she does.
Let me just summarize this point: How brands mentor their hero changes from brand to brand:
REI uses a membership to build a lifelong relationship.
Zero uses an app to facilitate learning and habit-building practices. Charity:water uses a business model to provide peace of mind, and
Danone uses an alignment with a way of conducting its business (B-corp) to inspire its heroes.
But they all rely on storytelling to communicate with their hero, and that’s the important takeaway.
All these brands mentor your hero by creating a relationship with them and building trust.
A transaction-focused brand could never become a Mentor Brand. If you exchange goods, services, or experiences for money without building meaningful relationships, you will be replaced, forgotten, or both.
How do you become a mentor brand?
Every good story needs a moral. Your brand does too.
What is the transformational lesson your brand has learned about life that you wish other people could learn too?
This lesson was transformative for the founder of your brand, and it will be transformative for your hero as well.
Once your hero learns the lesson in her own skin, she will be transformed too.
Since you have been through this journey yourself (the hero’s journey) you know the challenges, obstacles, and doubts your hero will encounter during her journey.
You become a mentor brand when you use storytelling to empower your hero to overcome the challenges she will face in her journey to become a better version of herself.
Nike, Patagonia, Zero, charity:water, they all understand that mentorship takes time, and they invest in developing a relationship, to gain our trust and facilitate the transformation they inspire (and mentor) us to achieve.
You become a mentor brand when your brand consistently demonstrates the key qualities of a mentor:
- Understanding and addressing audience needs: Regularly engaging with your audience to understand their challenges, aspirations, and pain points. Tailoring your content and offerings to directly address those needs in a meaningful and helpful way.
- Providing valuable guidance and support: Offering actionable advice, resources, and tools that empower your audience to overcome challenges and achieve their goals. Sharing your own experiences, both successes and failures, to provide insights and inspiration.
- Building trust and loyalty through authenticity: Demonstrating a genuine interest in the well-being and success of your audience.
Cultivating a community around your brand where people feel supported and valued. - Focusing on empowering and inspiring: Celebrating the achievements of your audience and encouraging their continued growth.
Sharing stories of resilience, overcoming obstacles, and achieving dreams. Creating a positive and uplifting atmosphere that motivates and inspires.
Mentor Storytelling is a brand strategy commitment to building meaningful connections and providing ongoing value to the audience.
I believe any brand can become a Mentor Brand, and most of them should.
The Real Hero can help you identify your brand’s hero.
We are a brand strategy studio that helps companies become epic brands.
We believe in the transformative power of stories to create purpose-driven, hero-centric, and culture-shaping brands.
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