People buy into cultures, not brands yet, we focus so much of our efforts on building brands. Being in design, I see this nearly everyday. Normally, the client wants a brand image that satisfies their vision of the brand, not the customers. Can a brand stand on it’s own merits without  a culture infused by it’s patrons?

Good or bad, intentionally or unintentionally, Starbucks has a culture around it’s brand image but they didn’t design it. The culture was designed by the customers, not Starbucks corporate (full disclosure: I’m drinking Starbucks coffee as I type this). Culture takes time and it is this “third place” culture which has propelled Starbucks from a small chain to grande in relatively short order.

Apple also has a culture, but it’s not about the products, it’s about the ideology that goes into them. (full disclosure: I’m typing this on MacBook Pro) The reason people wait two days in line for an iPhone is because they know that the user experience is Apple’s number one consideration. They put the customers needs first along with beautiful design. No other PC manufacturer (or “insert product category here”) has come close to developing a fanatical culture like Apple’s.

I recently flew Virgin America from San Francisco to DC. It was my first time flying Virgin America and I was blown away. I could tell they had a well-defined culture in place starting from their website, kiosk check-in, and flight crew, not to mention the cool lighting in the cabin, video on-demand on the back of the seats, and Absinth-based cocktails. Yes, some of these are product “features”, but they help reveal the ideology behind the brand that resonates with people like me. I’m actively looking for an excuse to fly VA again!

When you can get customers to say: “Hey, I wanna’ be a part of that”, then keep doing whatever it is you’re doing, because you’re doing something right.

Remember the movie Short Circuit from the mid-80’s? An experimental robot (#5) gets electrocuted and becomes “intelligent”. It escapes from the Army base where it was designed and instead of destroying everything in its path, it looks for “inputs”. “Number 5 needs more inpuuuuts!”

Often times we focus on inputs. We read far more than we write. We watch far more YouTube videos than we upload. And we read more tweets than we post. Most of us probably fall into the 80/20 camp—80% inputs, 20% outputs (or worse!).

What if we all were to up or outputs by 10%, so 70/30? Or more?

If we focused on what we output rather than what we consume, then we are better participants, right? Think about the areas in your life were you can up your participation by 10%. Your blog, your school, your business, your social network, your friends, and your family.

If you want to make a difference, maybe you can focus more on your outputs while being more selective about your inputs?

My wife and I have this on-going joke about the baggers in conventional grocery stores and how they get all flustered when you bring in your own reusable bags. This afternoon we brought in two bags from Whole Foods and were anxious to see how the baggers at the conventional grocery store handled this little complication.

Note: I’ve realized that you really have to make sure you get your reusable bags on the conveyer belt before your groceries. If not, you will pay the price as 80% of your groceries will be already bagged in plastic by the time you finish unloading your cart.

This time I watched in a little more depth. First off I noticed how the baggers (yes, we had two) had to wait for the groceries to pile up after the scanning. I guess they needed to analyze which items would go in first, last, etc. There seemed to be a bit of dialogue between the two baggers and some confusion as to which items go in which bags. It was obvious that this was not something they were accustomed to.

Finally, the bagging was complete. We had two Whole Foods bags and about 10 plastic bags (they couldn’t get it all to fit which is fine). We thanked them and left the store.

Upon our parking lot inspection, we noticed that an entire reusable bag was devoted to a pack of english muffins, a loaf of bread, and a package of sourdough rolls. The other bag was packed much better, but was still under utilized. This is when I began to think about the culture of reusable bags and why Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods can fit my entire cart into two bags.

I don’t blame the baggers, they are just doing what they are taught—best practices I presume? By why do these conventional stores seem to not care how many bags they use? We had a number of bags with only two items in them—what a waste.

These stores have made the mistake of putting speed (efficiency) above quality (think bagging Tetris). The culture of the stores is to blame. The mantra is to bag fast and don’t smash the bread. Why not bag slowly and make it easier on the customer. (I have my own qualms with plastic bags: like the apples sprawled all over my trunk, or the milk that falls over, the environmental impact, etc…) But seriously, who wants to go back-and-forth to their car 10 times to grab 50 plastic bags of groceries?

Anyway, this post is not about plastic bags, it’s about the culture of über-efficiency in lieu of quality. Plastic bags are convenient for the grocery stores because the workers can bag faster and handle more customers. For the corporations, this saves money on labor costs as they can hire fewer workers.

For the consumer, it means dealing with recycling, reusing, or storing. It means loose apples rolling around the trunk. It’s no longer the stores problem.

I really appreciate the care that goes into bagging at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. They rubber band the egg cartons and clamshell berry containers because they don’t want you to be disappointed when you get home.

And, most importantly, they have never smashed my bread!