Technology is a trap. A crutch. The shiny new object in the room. And while many people think it could be the answer to their prayers, we guarantee that it could also be your biggest detriment. A lot of companies that concentrate all their efforts in the area of technology seem to take the human element out of the equation. But the focus of business is not—and never should be—technology. Rather, it always has been, and always will be, about people. Living, breathing human beings with hopes and dreams, pet peeves, and a whole bunch of emotional baggage.

You will quickly discover that there are no social media how–tos in this book. There are no Twitter strategies, Facebook doodads, or MySpace thingamajigs. Sure, we'll touch on how technology can be used to create long-term, sustainable, profitable movements, but if you're looking for something completely technology-focused, then put down this book and go pick up the latest issue of Wired.

You should also know that while there is a company out there in the world named Brains on Fire, this book isn't named after it. Nothing is named after our company. Brains on Fire is named after what we do—ignite the passion within employees and customers—which is really where brains on fire happen. This book is therefore a celebration and tribute to the courage, vision, and enthusiasm of those companies and organizations we have had the honor to serve, because they are a true reflection of what Brains on Fire stands for. It is our hope that you can learn what our customers have taught us within these pages and, in doing so, open hearts and minds to new ways of strengthening the connections between people and companies. Our customers are Brains on Fire. Their employees are Brains on Fire, and their customers are Brains on Fire. They are an extraordinary, energized, empowered community. Far from ordinary consumers or target markets, these amazing individuals have learned to channel their passion to bring about positive, real change in people's lives.

And so the torch gets passed. The love grows. And the world is better for it.

Because—as any number of books before this one told you—the landscape has changed. Before the rise of the Internet, companies could at least operate under the illusion that they controlled their messaging and could tell the public what to think about them. However, if you're a company today that still thinks that, then there's a lot more delusion than illusion going on.

It comes down to trust. And people don't trust your company; people trust people. People they know. People whose opinions and recommendations they seek out and have faith in.

People don't buy your company, product, or service first, they buy people first.

One question that we get a lot is "Well, how does this 'movement' thing apply to B2B?" We tell them that it's no longer a B2B, or even a B2C world; it's a P2P, as in person-to-person. Because your company is made up of people.

Another reason you should care about this book is because we live in a world where companies are fighting for their lives. No, don't worry; this isn't the part where we talk about the crappy economy or how you're a commodity or how the rise of the digital world has made your competition a lot fiercer. But when you're fighting for your life, you're a lot more willing to listen—to your customers and to your employees. Listen for advice on how to become a part of something that's bigger than you. That's where movements start: by listening.

No, we're not going to pull out the dictionary. We're just going to let you know that—for the purposes of what's ahead—we have developed our own working definition of what a movement is: A movement elevates and empowers people to unite a community around a common cause, passion, company, brand, or organization.

So let's take it a step further, since we're talking about sustainable movements here: A sustainable movement happens when customers and employees share their passion for a business or cause and become a self-perpetuating force for excitement, ideas, communication, and growth.

Your ultimate goal should be to ignite something so powerful that if your marketing and PR departments or, God forbid, even your entire company got hit by a bus, your fans would pick up the banner and march forward with it. Something like that takes many forms, and one might be your fans creating their own PR and marketing messages and picking up where you left off.

Let's get something straight: We have come neither to praise traditional advertising, nor to bury it. It's not dead. It's not going away. So don't think that we're going to go into a tirade about how traditional advertising is broken, and you shouldn't be using it.

But allow us this sidebar: It's really intriguing to see, in 2010, the nostalgia that's being passed around about the way things used to be in the advertising world. The popular television cable drama Mad Men is all about the martini lunches and the thrill of the pitch back in the 1960s, Madison Avenue in its heyday. And there's something to be said about that: the good old days, trying to recapture the glory and thrill of the big, glitzy ad campaign.

Even today, the ad industry celebrates those fading stars of the old times, and when they do, they are acknowledging that those days are over. Sure, there are shining spots even in today's advertising. The ad rags call them out, and we all gather around and applaud, until we forget about it 20 minutes later because so few of them are memorable anymore. That brochure you designed is really just pretty trash, because that's where it's going to end up 10 seconds after someone looks at it. You're just creating more campaigns. And while campaigns try like hell, it's really hard to make a campaign into a movement. There's a big difference between the two.

Movement is also a word that's being thrown around a lot these days, especially by marketing folks. But if it feels, looks, and smells like an advertising campaign, then guess what: It's an ad campaign. Not a cultural movement or any other kind. Ads are a tool. Movements are the workshop. You have to understand the tactics before it makes any sense to implement. And when you start to look at your marketing challenges in the context of a movement, your world starts to change.

Jamie Plesser—who works in Marketing Strategy and Commu-nication for retail giant Best Buy—said the following about the concept: An idea "has to be strategically sound and insight driven to get through our corporate organization. If I had come through with a litany of tactics and things that we wanted to do, I would not have gotten very far."

So to get in the right frame of mind, set the stage, and push you out of your comfort zone a bit, let's compare campaigns and movements.

Ah, the media buy. Pulling the plan together. Analyzing the data for the best demos. Looking at the ratings and placing your bet on where you'll get the most bang for your buck. You know what we're talking about, advertising types. Those typical TV media buys are four weeks long. And so you have an entire month to worry about whether you made the right decision with your client's money.

But let's back up even more than that, and say that your client has asked you to develop a new ad campaign. So your shop swings into action. The creative juices flow, the machine gets cranked up once again, and you pump out the concepts. Then, the thrill of the pitch. It's game day, and your A team brings out the big guns. The glamour. The oohs and aahs from the client (hopefully). You shoot and edit the TV spots, get the print ads ready for production, cut the radio spots. And then, the blessed launch day comes. Everything rolls out. Sometimes, even smoothly.

But sooner or later, your four weeks are up, and either you dump more cash into more media buys, or you go back to the drawing board and reinvent the wheel. We know that's not a bad proposition for ad agencies—since it just means more money in their pockets, not to mention the media buy markups—but do you have any idea what the average return on investment is for traditional advertising? Take a deep breath, because according to Copernicus Marketing Consulting and Research, the average ROI of TV advertising campaigns is 1–4 percent.

We don't know about you, but that's not exactly what we would call successful. Of course, there are shining spots out there that exceed that 4 percent and get really fantastic results, but you've got about the same chance at that as you do getting hit by a meteor.

So, to sum it up: Campaigns are designed to be finite. Start and stop. Beginning and end. Got it?

Different people use different words to describe a movement, but one overarching idea is always in place: A movement is sustainable. Rob Morris, president and co-founder of Love146—an organization you'll learn more about later that is out to end child-sex slavery and exploitation—defines a movement in the following way: "A movement is not something that happens in a year. It's something that continues to build [over time]."

Scott Monty, the head of social media for Ford Motor Company, agrees: "A movement is something that is growing. It's something [with which] people can identify and get behind, that kind of picks up its own momentum." Movements have a beginning. But the great ones—the powerful ones, the ones that end up changing the world and lives and even companies—go on and on and on. There is no end. Religion. Social change. Political change. You get the idea. There is no looming expiration date on a movement because it gains momentum as it goes. One kindred spirit attracts another, and another. All with different ideas and talents, but all for a common goal. So the groundswell begins. The roots take hold. It's the difference between a four-week ad buy and a 365-day-per-year engagement. Which one sounds better to you?

Another advantage that movements have over campaigns is that movements are people-powered. If you strip the humanity out of a movement, all you have is an empty shell. Empty shells don't move. For example, when you advertise on TV you're basically sponsoring the entertainment. So it's kind of like your message is sponsoring more messages. But how about sponsoring people's lives? That grows. A 30-second TV spot can't grow; it's dead after 30 seconds.

So change your mind-set. Don't create; ignite. And you'll see the differences. Not only in the way you approach your process, but in the results that it generates—like long-term sustainability—which makes your marketing dollar go so much further these days.

In his book The Culting of Brands, author Douglas Atkin examines how the majority of brand managers (and ad agencies, for that matter) still speak in the language from the heyday of Madison Avenue way back in the 1960s. Atkin explains that this vocabulary stems from a command-control culture that imitates military speak. "They have campaigns, they target customers, they go for market domination, they launch an attack on competitors, they penetrate markets, and capture market share," Atkin reveals.

What a wake-up call. Do you really think people want to be targets? To have something launched to fight for their attention? No wonder the world is so wary of marketers! These terms are so ingrained in advertising publications, marketing classes, and our everyday lives that we don't even realize what we're saying and the mind frame in which we constantly put ourselves by using these words. This creates a daily situation wherein we—the marketers—are trying to defeat our customers. And what does that even mean? That they finally surrender to our constant attacks? That we succeed in brainwashing them and making them our captives? That we control their every move? Yeah, right.

While campaign words are rooted in conflict, movement words are rooted in drawing people together. Movements use words like passion. We talk about "kindred spirits" who raise their hands to become "evangelists." These people are "loud and proud" and provide others with "inspiration." And yes, there's even that big old scary L word: love. Oh, there are words we use in movements that aren't all mushy and lovey-dovey. Because movements also exist to fight an injustice. So yes, there are struggles and conflicts to be mindful of.

When we begin to change our vocabulary, we begin to change the way we think. Customers know that they're "targets," and nobody wants to be a target. They'll even go out of their way to avoid your message.

But maybe the problem is bigger than that. Since even words like marketing and branding mean so many different things to so many different people, maybe it's time to circle the wagons and change our own culture before we try to go out preaching it to potential clients. What if you didn't think about marketing at people and instead about talking with them? What if you didn't try to sell people something they didn't need so they can fit into your customer base and instead tried to figure out how you can fit into their lives in a useful, meaningful way?

Is that really a stretch? Some might think so. But if you can step back and think about actually adding value to people's lives, then a whole new world opens up. And you quit being a marketer ... and start being a person.

Though estimates vary, it's been found that the average person is bombarded with somewhere between a few hundred and a few thousand advertising messages per day. Print. Outdoor. Online ads. TV. Radio. Text messages. Blah. Blah. Blah. And that's what 99.99999 percent of those ads are: blah. We're doing a great job as a society of blocking out those ads. Are there some we remember and talk about? Of course. But that percentage is so incredibly small compared with number of ads we're exposed to that the odds of your message sticking with someone are very, very slim. We're bored with them. They are something that we have learned to endure between breaks in our favorite TV shows (okay, not if you have a DVR), articles in our favorite magazines, and pop-ups on our favorite web sites.

And as hard as marketers try to inject emotion and depth into their ads, they're still just ads. It's really hard to get someone to care deeply about a 30-second spot. Because the vehicle is empty.

By their very definition, movements are born out of passion. Passion to unite and passion for change. There's nothing dry and emotionally detached about something in which you believe deeply. Because when you believe in something, you give yourself over to it. The desire to be a part of something bigger than yourself is hardwired into just about everyone's DNA. Think about the groups that people readily join and support: Religion. Sports teams. Even brands.

A former colleague at Brains on Fire was a huge Clemson University football fan. We should preface this by saying that not only did he not play for the football team at any time; he didn't even attend college at Clemson. But during football season—without fail—he'd come into work on Monday and say things like "Man, we really sucked this weekend" or "Did you see the game? We were awesome!" Do you notice that one word he uses? For you English geeks, it's the first-person plural pronoun: "we." Not "they" or "those guys" or "the Clemson football team." It's "we." As in "us." As in "we're in this thing together."

The dedicated football fan believes in—and therefore experiences the joys and pains of—something bigger than himself. That's passion. That's a willingness to sacrifice time and money and attention. That's the belief that Clemson's success is his success, and his success is Clemson's.

Movements sustain and grow this passion. A campaign can get people excited, but that burst of energy is hard to sustain. As Rob Morris from Love146 puts it, "A movement is not a spasm of passion." Because a movement moves—far beyond the initial hype.

Remember the good old days when marketers could influence and reach just about everybody with television, print, radio, and outdoor boards? Yes, we have that new-fangled Internet with the sponsored blogs and banners and pop-ups and paid-search results, but it's really just a modernization of the old ways. It's a 2.0 version of pushing out the messages of the command-and-control culture.

Advertising isn't going away, and we're certainly not attempting to bad-mouth a $500 billion industry. But we need to be very, very clear about the purpose of advertising: it's for awareness. If you have a new company, a new product, or a new service, you want people to know it exists. You want to make them aware.

So if you have the cash, you buy that Super Bowl spot and expose millions of eyeballs to your new baby. You make them aware (though you can't make them care) that you exist. The problem is that there's no credibility there. According to a 2009 Yankelovich Study, we live in a world where 76 percent of people believe that companies lie in ads, and people's trust that businesses will do the right thing has dropped from 58 percent in 2008 to a dismal 38 percent in 2009 (2009 Edelman Trust Barometer). We're betting that those figures don't take most marketers to their happy place.

But really, why would your audience believe that you are the best, or the most cost-effective, or have the greatest inventory? They don't know you. They probably don't have any experience with you. You're just another talking head in a sea of talking heads. It's like a stranger coming up to you at a bar and proclaiming that they are really smart, they get a lot of dates, and they make a lot of money. You have no idea if they are telling the truth. Sure, they are trying to make you aware that they believe those things about themselves, but if you don't know them, why should you trust them?

The conversation is lacking credibility.

Like it or not, your life is a marketing medium. Sure, it's the clothes you wear. The music you listen to. The car you drive. Your belief system. Even the words that come out of your mouth. But you yourself are a vessel. A vehicle that carries your hopes, thoughts, dreams, and especially your experiences.

This is where word of mouth comes into play. Now let's make one thing clear from the start: word of mouth has been around forever. The first caveman probably told the second caveman where the best hunting grounds were. However, the marketing world has really seen a heightened emergence of this trend in the past five years or so. That is, they've been trying to figure out how to harness that very powerful thing that happens when someone you know and trust makes a recommendation to you.

And while the purpose of advertising is driving awareness, word of mouth is where credibility comes into play. When you trust someone, you label them as "credible" in your world. So when they tell you something—especially something with which they have a personal experience—you believe them. It influences your purchasing decisions, your own opinions—and your life.

Is credibility better than awareness? It depends on the person you ask. But they both serve a very important role. The trick is figuring out the balance. How do they work hand in hand? What's the right mix in a world where awareness is a commodity, and trust is a rarity?

Not too long ago, a kindred spirit, John Moore from the Brand Autopsy Marketing Practice, wrote and spoke about the idea of which came first: marketing worthy of word of mouth, or word-of-mouth marketing. It's got great nuggets of the whole creation-versus-natural-evolution argument in it. But to take that idea a step further for the selfish purposes of comparing campaigns and movements: Campaigns are part of the creationist theory. In other words, "Let's create something cool so people will talk about it."

This idea is often applied to the company, product, or service side of things in that—and we just love hearing this—they are desperately trying to create the next big thing (as in the next Google, iPod, TiVo, etc.) because if they do, then everyone will talk about them, right? It's true. People will talk about your supercool product. But what are the chances of that product being created and reaching the success of Apple's iPod?

The other one we hear quite often is the "killer" theory. It seems there are legions of companies out there that are trying to kill and replace the market leaders. But all they seem to do is look like copycats. Face it: You're late to the game. And if you spend all your R&D, time, and energy obsessing over the market leader, you're screwed before you even come to market—because you're focused on what you're not, instead of on what you are. And you can't build a product—or an identity—on what you lack. So stop trying to "kill" anything, and instead, nurture and grow your own idea into something the likes of which has never before been seen. Soon enough, you'll be the one that everyone else is trying to kill.

And people don't just think that creating the next big product will get others to talk about them. They also think that if they create the next noteworthy, entertaining, amazing ad campaign, then people will talk about it. Enter the march of the Super Bowl hoopla.

A 30-second TV spot during the 2009 Super Bowl set advertisers back a cool $3 million, according to CBS News. The big ad shops tend to get more excited about making a name for themselves than about making money for their clients, so the ads have become the show within the show for the Super Bowl. And then we all sit around the next day discussing rank and tearing them apart. For one day. Then the world moves on, and we quickly forget just about all of what we've seen. And we certainly can't seem to remember what most of the ads were for.

But a lot of marketers think, "If I could just create the next great ad campaign, then everything will be great." And good luck with that. It's the creationist theory hard at work.

Movements move. Actually, let us rephrase that: Movements move organically. Because, again, movements are made up of people. And when you hand the keys to the people who are truly passionate about that movement—you know the ones: the loud and proud, the evangelists, the quiet leaders—then I guarantee you that you'll ignite a movement.

Let's make sure to say this, though: No movement that we've ever helped ignite has gone according to plan. We learn along the way. But always, always, always, when we let people take the lead, they exceeded our expectations and ended up taking the movement to places that we could have never even imagined (and we have pretty big imaginations around here). Your employees and customers are so much closer to that product or service than you are. Sure, you know the book stuff: the demos, the numbers, the competition, the best time to put something on sale, or change out the lines. But very few marketers actually live it—and we're not talking about doing your job and working 80-hour weeks. We mean living and breathing and participating in your customer's lives.

So why not ask them to lead the way, to be the ones who help you succeed? Why not let them show you when and where and why your company needs to evolve?

Don't throw a party and just expect people to show up. There are thousands of marketing "parties" out there, and more being thrown everyday, especially online. Companies are screaming at the public: "Hey! You there! Come over here to my party. And while you're at it, talk about me. Aren't I great? I'm the best, right? Man, I'm so awesome! Wow. It ain't easy being this fantastic, but I try. I try."

Would you stick around at a party with that guy for very long? We wouldn't, either. We all know that advertising adopts the push mentality; it's pushing messages on all of us in an aggressive form of one-way communication. Throwing a party and expecting people to show up is the push mentality disguised in sheep's clothing.

Your company isn't what you say it is or want it to be; it's the stories that people tell about it. It's what your customer's friends, family, and neighbors say about you, based on what they heard from their friends, family, and neighbors.

Movements recruit by word of mouth, when like-minded people working together for a common cause look for other like-minded people. Think about this as you go about your day; how many times does a trusted friend or associate recommend a product, service, or idea to you? And more importantly, how many times do you act on those recommendations verses the number of times you take action on a media message? It's a no-brainer: Either you're talking about yourself and getting lost in the sea of messages, or your customers are talking about you.

Campaigns have a beginning and an end. There are periods when we throw the light switch on, create the latest campaign, change that tag line like we just love to do, and buy those media placements. Then, when the well is dry, we turn the light switch off, wait for the next round of money to be found in the upcoming quarter's budget, and do it all over again. And again. And again. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. It's been going on for half a century, and it's really hard for a lot of marketers out there to question something that has created a multibillion dollar industry—and, you know, stuffs money in their pockets as well.

Stay with us here. Let's set the stage: There is no zero on the movement volume dial. Sometimes the people in the movement are really loud, and sometimes there's just a soft, constant buzz happening, but it never turns off, dies out, or fades away into nothingness.

And the great thing about the movement volume dial (stay with me, all you This is Spinal Tap fans) is that this dial goes to 11. And that's what you want for your movement—the people who are "one louder." Sure, the 10s are great. They actively promote your company. They are loyal. They are even evangelists. But the 11s are the ones some might consider the crazies. You know them: You think they love your company just a little too much; maybe they're a little too obsessed with that product. They can't help telling everyone they know how much they love your service.

We're here to tell you that you should embrace the 11s. Throw your arms wide open and love them. Open up and show them what your company is all about—the good and the bad. We all have a tendency to keep the 11s at arm's length. But why would you want to do that? Yes, they might need a little more attention, and they may be a tad high maintenance. But they sacrifice their time and money for you, and that's better than any ad campaign you could ever create.

The mind-set under which we've all operated for decades goes hand in hand with the aforementioned war vocabulary. As marketers, we are always trying to get people to do things: Pay attention to our messages. Buy our products and services. We even try to get them to join our community or talk about us. It's us, the marketing department, against them, the customer.

Former director of communications for Fiskars Brands and longtime Brains on Fire client Suzanne Fanning recently sent us a piece of brilliance. When we asked her about how companies should "use" their customer ambassadors, she replied that companies shouldn't be looking to "use" anybody. All the rules of friendship, Fanning said, should apply to your relationship with your biggest fans. You don't try to get your friends to do things for you. You might ask them to help you, but it's definitely not a one-sided relationship. Friends don't expect anything from one another. You don't talk badly about them behind their backs. Friends are honest with one another. Friends value one another for who they are and what they stand for—it's the reason they're friends in the first place.

So when we start thinking of our biggest fans as our friends, we're able to step back and look at them completely differently. And fandom isn't a one-way street. Just because you have fans doesn't mean you shouldn't be fans of theirs. Love, after all, is a circular transaction, and the cool thing about it is that love always makes its way back to those who give it. It works in relationships, and it works in business. Wait a minute. Strike that. It works in relationships. Period. Business would not be business without relationships. So the quickest path to growth is to shower the people—the customers—you love with love. It's really the only way to meaningful growth and success. You love them. They love you. They spread the love. The love comes back. And the whole thing just keeps going and going.

There is no us versus them. There is just us. When you stand shoulder to shoulder with your customers and they stand shoulder to shoulder with you, the struggle ends. The war is over, and everyone wins. We're all in this together. Your customer's success is your success, and your success is your customer's. When you realize that, you start to think about how you can best work together instead of figuring out the most effective way to work against one another. You're reframing the conversation in the most fundamental way.

There's a constant debate going on inside companies about who should own the word-of-mouth practices, both inside and outside corporate walls. Is the marketing or public relations department more suited for it? What department should the ambassador program fit in? Who should be the champion for the customers?

And the debate rages on.

The answer is simple: whoever cares the most. It could be someone in the research department for all we care. But for a movement to work inside an organization, you have to have at least one person who has the courage it takes to get things done. To push decisions through. To fight when the time is right and explain when it's needed. To champion the cause and lead the way through the bureaucratic red tape. All it takes is one believer. One champion. Just one.

Even if you think it belongs in the marketing department, someone in the marketing department has to be a believer.

Angela Daniels is a lead ambassador for the Fiskateers, a movement ignited for and by Fiskars Brands, the company that makes the iconic orange-handled scissors: "My father-in-law owns a business. I talked to him about what the Fiskateers do. He hears the words but I think it's very hard for a traditional company to give up control. There is something that makes it so difficult for people to allow their fans to be fans."

So now that we've gotten some of the blocking and tackling out of the way—now that we're all on the same page, and you've got the information you need—let's charge forward into an explanation of how you can actually ignite a movement.

One last thing: Take off your marketing hat. Seriously. It's ruining you. Well, at least sometimes it is. Because when we bring marketing into a relationship, we damage it. Nobody wants to be "marketed to." A great way to look at this is through the eyes of Justine Foo, a PhD of Neuroscience who contributes to the insight development of the movements at Brains on Fire: "The role of traditional branding is to influence behavior. The difference with movements is to inspire behavior." So don't try to influence; get out of that business. Now is the time to inspire. People don't want to be influenced. There's a negative connotation associated with that, like you're trying to control their minds and actions. But people long to be inspired. And inspiring them to action is a win-win.

So it's really, really important to remember to take off our marketing hats and just be people thinking about how to relate to other people in an honest, open, transparent way. Would you show up at some random person's house and scream from the doorstep that they should buy your stuff? Not likely.

Watching the Twitter stream on a daily basis, we see link after link after link teaching us how to be better marketers: "Twitter dos and don'ts," "How companies can use Facebook," "Why your company should be using social media." And while there are some great points (among all the junk), we are forgetting how to act as people. We, as marketers, are hypermarketing to other marketers. And it's too much.

So take the marketing hat off. And guess what? You don't even have to put a people hat on—because you are one. A person. An individual. A customer. A fan. A human who has all kinds of relationships. And when you start thinking like that, all the marketing mumbo jumbo will kick in and support it. But lead with the humanness. Lead with unmarketing. Because that will far outweigh and outlast the latest Twitter marketing topic. Every. Single. Time.

BRAINS ON FIRE