Share of Heart: The Holy Graal of Every Brand

You must have heard of several “share of” KPIs so far. Market share, share of wallet, share of pocket, mind share…but there is one of those “shares” that must be the final objective of all marketing efforts and personnel, although achieving should be the great trophy of any company or career.

Share of heart is when you find an empathic relation with your fandom so strong, that you win a piece of their “heart”, or, in other terms, you are over the barrier of reasoning for the buying decision.

I’m going to give two examples of my personal share of heart. Coca-Cola is a no brainer in my life. I drink Coke in victory as in tragedy. If unattended or uncontrolled, I can drink a full family portion in a single day. I try not to, but sometimes my anxiety simply won’t let me. If I go grocery shopping, Coke (regular, pls) is on the top of my list. How they achieved that level of thoughtless actions from me? I must say, it isn’t their fault – that goes to my parents. As a little child, I was presented to Coke as a normal drink (but with that lovely, very sweet, cinnamon-caramel taste). Fast forward 40 years, here I am, a fan of the brand, of the drink, of everything merely related.

Another strong example is Nike. See, my childhood was a very spartan one – although my mom struggled to buy me the best education one can have in Brazil (here public schools, unfortunately, are terrible. That only changes in college, we have some of the best public colleges in the world, and they are completely free!), I didn’t have the luxury of having Nike shoes while I was growing up, but I can assure you, there was a naughty level of inspirational growing on my head. On the other hand, once I had enough money to buy Nike, the brand did not fail me. The shoes are amazing, and today even my casual shoes (not sneakers) are Nike SB. If I need shoes, they will ne Nike’s, and that’s that.

So, what these personal examples mean to you? That achieving having share of heart for your studio, brand or game is like a jackpot. People will immediately connect with it and buy whatever you are selling. Examples in the game’s industry? We have plenty: Monument Valley, the FIFA franchise (WTH, they launch a new one every year, exactly like the one before, and still sell millions), any game launched by Devolver, and the list goes on. Have in mind how many bomb expansions Blizzard dropped into WoW before they actually lost significant users. That is pure share of heart.

Like everything, share of heart can be lost. It is the most expensive of all shares, so one gained, treat it like it deserves – as gold. Depending on the number of bad moves with the fandom, you might lose that precious amount of trust. My advice: once you start having traction of share of heart, treat your community as they are part of anything you are doing. Go beyond traditional customer service. Serve them, don’t expect them to serve you – the fandom will buy literally anything you put out there, so the responsibility and pressure is massive. That might be the moment that you can start using statements like “it will be ready when it’s ready” and folks will be ok with it. I truly hope you get there – keep pushing.