Involvement: Key 4 to a memorable brand

People remember experiences better when they feel directly involved. Hands-on participation and personal engagement lead to deeper understanding and lasting memories.

Think about it: watching someone ride a bike won’t teach you to balance, but once you’ve done it yourself, the skill stays with you forever. Similarly, reading about a destination is never as impactful as visiting it in person, and purchasing a product online doesn’t compare to touching and testing it in-store.

The science is complex, but the concept is simple: activities that invite active participation stimulate more areas of the brain and create more neural connections, enhancing understanding and retention.

For example, an immersive brand activation engages more sensory pathways than watching an online ad. It offers richer, multi-layered experiences which help customers form a more complete picture of your brand. Involving stakeholders heightens their focus, triggering emotional responses and activating reward systems—both crucial for memory formation.

Involvement hinges on three components: interest (is it relevant to me?), motivation (what’s in it for me?), and participation (what can I do?). Brands can blend these variables to create different levels of involvement for audiences, from passive engagement to active participation, each offering increasing levels of impact and memorability.

Address the audience: Use personal and inclusive language to turn passive consumption into active engagement. This subtle shift makes the reader feel like a participant in the action or conversation.

Mirror reality: Present scenarios that reflect people’s real experiences. When audiences can identify with the situation, their brains respond as if they were experiencing it themselves, deepening emotional involvement.

Appeal to a cause: Tap into the audience's core values by aligning your brand with causes they care about. This fosters a sense of personal investment in the outcome, drawing them in.

Encourage interaction: Promote participation through gamification, community-building, or micro-moments that reward engagement. Whether the reward is tangible or emotional, it increases a user’s motivation and involvement.

Create ownership: Give users control over the experience by allowing them to shape the outcomes and benefit from the results. Customisation, crowdsourcing, or shared profit models give stakeholders a genuine sense of ownership—the ultimate form of involvement.

Involvement has been radically transformed by technology. AR, VR, AI, and the way we interact with the internet have shifted control from organisations to users. The business models brands run on are in flux.

Gone are the days when brands defined the experience and people were passive ‘consumers’ to be ‘converted’. Brands are no longer simply providers of products; they’re curators of experiences shaped by customer involvement. Success will require a genuine transformation in how companies behave, what they create, and the stories they tell to make people feel truly connected.