You can’t make someone care about your brand.

My friend’s 13 year old son, Stephen, is a smart kid, but he can’t be bothered with learning mathematics or history. What consumes his attention for hours in a day is learning to build a city in Minecraft. While his teachers would prefer he focus on his studies, he finds this pursuit personally meaningful.

Stephen’s story reminds me that you can’t force someone to learn. Ultimately, learning is voluntary, something that one chooses to do because it has meaning.

It is the same for communications. You can’t make someone pay attention or care about your brand message.

When it comes to teaching or communicating, sparking someone’s interest or engagement has to happen on their terms.

Likewise, Stephen’s teachers could have better luck gaining his attention if they were to link mathematics and history to his passion for Minecraft.

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I am founder of Aegis, a relational design firm. We help create emotionally-intelligent brands and organisations.