Lease or Own

It’s all about ownership in our world. The statement, “you can own that” is frequently uttered to a client. We encourage them to own positions, spaces in the consumer’s mind, even a color.

Just recently I said to a colleague that breast cancer awareness owns the color pink. In my mind when I see pink, I think of breast cancer. I began to contemplate what it is that they own and if in fact they own the color pink. I’m sure Pink, the pop artist, would disagree. So I thought back – what did I think of when I saw pink before breast cancer awareness owned it in my mind? The answer is Rachel, my 12-year old niece. From the time Rachel was two she loved the color pink. Everything had to be pink. She talked about it and whenever I saw pink I thought of Rachel. Prior to my niece, I thought of the Pink Panther and Owens Corning. Rachel has moved onto other colors and frankly, I just don’t see much from Owens Corning. For a period of time when I saw pink I thought… nothing.

I realized that the breast cancer awareness folks don’t actually own pink, rather they are leasing it in my mind. They are leasing it by being incredibly relevant to me, by engaging me and by surprising me. Given recent history my guess is eventually someone or something else will lease that color in my mind, taking their place.

I don’t think the lease / own business is a matter of semantics. To occupy a place in a consumer’s mind takes incredible effort. To keep that place takes even more. Ownership implies entitlement as if it is a foregone conclusion that something will remain there. Leasing is about consistently earning it, making the payment to keep the privilege of staying in someone’s mind.