FlyingFoxes.co.uk

Lessons from TEXAS… (in 2 mins)

In marketing, one of the most powerful strategies is building a tribe, a loyal group of people united by shared values, identity or purpose. When a brand successfully tapped into a community’s sense of belonging, their message doesn’t just spread it becomes a movement.

1980s Texas had a problem, litter. Young male locals across the state would quite happily dump their rubbish out of their vehicles as they drove around. And no amount of generic anti-littering, campaign pleas from the Texas Department of Transport changed things.  Appealing to civic duty or environmental responsibility fell on deaf ears.

In trying to appeal to everyone, their message wasn’t resonating with anyone. So they focused on the audience they wanted to engage, what connected them.

The answer was Texas; pride in being a Texan connected all the young men.  They weren’t just from Texas, they were Texan! 

So the department of transport created a campaign that literally made littering an insult to the Texan identity – and the phrase “don’t mess with Texas” was born. It wasn’t just an environmental message, it was a battlecry.  It reframed littering not as a bad habit but as an attack on Texas itself.  

Using cultural icons like Willie Nelson or Chuck Norris, they reinforced the message the real Texans don’t trash their home state, only non-Texans would do that.

And to a young Texan, that was the ultimate insult.

At its peak, the members of the tribe went far further than stopping littering, they defended the campaign, spread the word and made it part of their identity – they became the campaign. “Don’t mess with Texas” is not just a slogan it’s part of Texas culture appearing on everything for a bumper sticker to T-shirts.

In the first year alone roadside littering dropped by 29% over the next decade it was down by 72%. 

SO WHAT? 

Don’t mess with Texas wasn’t a litter campaign it was a movement about pride in Texas.

They built and engaged a tribe. 

The first question has to be who are we actually trying to engage?  Speaking to everyone, rarely works.

And then, what matters most to this group, what are their values, their identity, what drives them and most importantly unifies them. This is about identity, not just behaviour.

A simple and easy to understand rallying cry doesn’t hurt either – Make poverty history, Full stop…

But it doesn’t need to be a campaign; the same is true at a brand level, companies like Lego and Rapha found and engaged their audiences in ways that move beyond the norm. by leverage the sense of connected identity.