I’m moving across the country at the end of August. As you could imagine there’s a ton of mixed emotions involved. As I slowly align my life’s initiatives and meticulously plot out my departure, I find myself making a mental “Things To Do or Buy – Before I Leave” list. On this list are some understandable things like “Eat a Matt’s Juicy Lucy” one more time. “Buy a t-shirt from the Electric Fetus. Renew my MPR membership and most importantly – buy 2 new Minnesota Twins baseball hats.

On a road trip out to San Francisco in 2008 we met up with a few friends (all from Minneapolis) and set out into the city record shopping and hanging out for the day. One of my friends had brought along his San Francisco native girlfriend when she noticed that all 4 of us were wearing different variations of a Minnesota Twins baseball hat. Upon realizing this we all collectively chuckled and shrugged it off, she gave us a look as though we were all nutty. What causes this team/brand/state/loyalty? Where does it come from? Is it a learned action from our parents or peers?

Marketers can spend their entire lives trying to garner such fierce consumer loyalty. My best guess is that it comes from a few main factors:

- Either it’s bestowed upon us by our parents or elders (If I ever purchase a truck you can bet your bank it’s going to be a Ford). All thanks to my family tradition, we’re a Ford truck family. It’s as simple as that.

- The brand or item is tied to positive emotions such as spending time with your grandparents at a ball game or eating that particular brand or item during the holidays. (read: Lutefisk)

-  Sporting a particular team or city sends a signal out to others in a crowd “Is there anyone else here from this locale? Do you relate to where I hail from?” If someone does recognize your team logo or something from where you’re from, you know that you’d have an immediate commonality in which to converse with – if not only slightly larger than if they were a complete stranger from another state.

This sense of place, and unspoken provincialism can be a very powerful tool when marketing anything. After all, deep down, you can’t really ever change where you came from. Oh and by the way, Go Twins!

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