• by Arturo Nava , Columnist, April 30, 2015

In life, there are three types of people: givers, takers and matchers. Givers help others without expecting anything in return, takers take and don’t give back and matchers give back when they receive. 

In the marketplace, there are also giver, taker and matcher brands.

Giver brands help genuinely enhance people's lives. They help people lead a healthier, wealthier, easier and/or happier life. These are brands with a heart that show they care by providing exceptional value to customers without a catch, without gimmicks or scams. They are like a caring friend that you know will always be there for you and you don’t have to be worried about whether they’ll stab you in the back. 

Giver brands truly matter to their customers because what moves people is how you make them feel and that goes for brands, too. People feel grateful to brands that truly enhance their lives because they know they genuinely have their best interest at heart.

On the other hand, taker brands make you feel like you have been taken advantage of after you experience them. How many times did you feel ripped off by cell phone carriers when they would not roll over data that you had paid for but didn’t use in a given month? How did you feel after you learned about the potential health risks of aspartame in the beverage you have been drinking for years?

So it is no wonder that giver brands are at the top of the success ladder. Look no further than Whole Foods, Apple, Southwest Airlines, Uber, Chipotle, Airbnb, and Amazon. All giver brands.

How does your brand make your customer feel? 

If your brand makes customers feel grateful and matters to them, congratulations; you have built a giver brand and are ahead of the curve! If not, your brand might be a taker brand and needs to shift its mindset, actions and maybe its products and services before today’s empowered consumers forces you to do so. 

There is nowhere to hide in today’s world not even for the most powerful companies in the world. One of the biggest food companies in the world just pledged to remove dyes from one of their flagship food products after a massive consumer petition and uproar over the potential negative health impact of these dyes, which had been banned in Europe but not in the U.S.

Taker brands risk being taken down by consumers who become advocates for their demise with amplified voices on social media. These brands are vulnerable to losing their business to strong giver competitors. 

The opportunity to build a brand that matters to Hispanics

Hispanics are courted by countless brands as a key target market, spending billions of dollars to win us over. However, viewing the Hispanic market only as a prize to be won can drive brands to adopt a taker mentality that can be disastrous in the long term. 

On the other hand, giver brands that demonstrate that they genuinely care for our community and make us feel great will be handsomely rewarded with our business and loyalty. 

There is a tremendous business opportunity to embrace the giver brand win/win thinking in a number of industries but particularly in the food and beverage industry. There is a big health crisis in our community and a significant part of the problem lies in our food choices.

Hispanics face higher risks of cardiovascular diseases vs. non-Hispanics and are almost twice as likely to have diabetes as whites (NDIC). According to an NPR/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health poll, diabetes is the number #1 health problem for Hispanic families. 

I can’t think of a better opportunity for food and beverage brands to fully embrace the giver mindset by helping address this Hispanic health crisis by offering healthier products and increasing our awareness of the importance of healthy eating. They will help us lead longer, healthier lives, they will make us feel grateful for how they are enhancing our lives and, in the process, they’ll become brands that truly matter to us.