Innovation | Branding | Experiences

Tap into
what’s
primal & powerful.

We help brands connect by aligning them with deep truths about human desire.

With the Reiss Model of Human Motivation, we analyze the 16 desires that color consumer preference and drive decision-making. And we make them work hard for your brand.

Bank on the truth.

Drawing on consumer data, we identify your audience’s guiding desires and fears, using both to define what your brand is for—and what it’s against.

Curious which desires best align with your brand? Get started with our free Primal Brand Canvas.

16hardwired
desires

Social Contact
Vengeance
Honor
Idealism
Physicality
Romance
Family
Order
Sustenance
Acceptance
Tranquility
Saving
Power
Curiosity
Independence
Prestige

The wheel of fortune.

Each desire is a synthesis of motive, fear and pleasure—giving way to verbal and visual codes that connect with consumers.

Explore All 16 Desires

Idealism

Motive

Desire to improve society

Associated Fear

Corruption

Intrinsic Feeling

Fairness and compassion

Move them to the core,
move the needle. center-left-box

With desires, you can get more out of the audience data and insights you have, giving way to experiences that resonate with them now—and compel them tomorrow.

Assess the intel you already have and leave with a winning strategy in our one-day, high-intensity Primal Desires Workshop.
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Our work with Desires is inspired by the theory of motivation from the late Dr. Steven Reiss, an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at The Ohio State University.

Continue exploring desires thinking in A Strategy Named Desire.

Or for a deeper dive into each of the 16 desires, read part one, part two, part three and part four.