I have just finished reading “For the Culture” by Marcus Collins. It’s not just a book, it’s a manifesto for marketers who actually want to matter.
Let me just start by saying that there’s a major difference between a book that informs you and one that reminds you who you are. Marcus Collins’ For the Culture is the latter.
It’s not a how-to guide or a trend list. It’s a reframing. A soul-check. A challenge to every marketer, creative, strategist, or founder who thinks building a brand is about messaging, targeting, and optimization. It’s not. Brand-building is cultural work. And this book makes that undeniable.
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There is a lot to relearn and rediscover. The below are “just” the main points that I choose to remember, but this book is so rich, you need to read it. You just have to.
Marketing doesn’t move people. Culture does
“Whether it be B2B or B2C, it makes no difference because it is all P2P. And no force influences people more consistently than culture.”
This idea is at the heart of the book. Forget verticals. Forget sales funnels. If you want people to act, or share, or adopt, or love, you have to speak to what matters to them. And that’s never just product features.
As Collins writes: “Because if a product, idea, behavior, or institution is adopted into a community’s cultural practice, not only will people take action, but they will also share it with people who are like themselves.”
Culture spreads sideways. Not top-down. If you’re not part of the cultural conversation, you’re not part of the decision-making process either.
Start with the soul. End with the sale.
“When you communicate with your people, don’t lead with the benefits and features. Instead, preach the gospel about your beliefs and the way you see the world.”
We’ve all heard the advice: “People buy emotions, not features.” But Marcus doesn’t stop there, he urges brands to root everything in belief. In shared ideology. In values people want to live out loud.
“You don’t persuade people through intellect. You do it through their passions.”
It’s not about making people care about your product. It’s about making your product a way for them to express what they already care about.
From Legal Mark to Tribal Mark: The Real Brand Evolution
One of the most powerful frameworks in the book traces how branding has evolved:
Legal mark → Trust mark → Love mark → Identity mark → Tribal mark
Let’s break that down:
- Legal mark: A stamp of ownership. A product from this company. That’s it.
- Trust mark: Over time, consistency builds reliability. The brand earns trust.
- Love mark: Emotional resonance kicks in. Think Nike, Apple, Coca-Cola.
- Identity mark: The brand becomes a reflection of who I am.
- Tribal mark: Now it’s not just about me, it’s about us. The brand signals belonging.
At this level, people aren’t just buying products. They’re joining movements. Carrying symbols. Making identity public. If your brand is still trying to be liked, you’re playing a different game than the ones people are winning.
Communities don’t need to be created, they need to be activated
“We did not create the community. We helped the community come together.” This one’s humbling. And true.
Too many marketers think their job is to build a community from scratch. But most of the time, the community already exists. Maybe loosely. Maybe underground. Maybe unorganized. But it’s there. Your job isn’t to invent connection, it’s to help people recognize each other.
That takes fluency. Respect. And patience.
Cultural Adoption Is a Process. And So Is Cultural Responsibility
Collins outlines four mechanisms for how communities make meaning: Responding. Recontextualizing. Reconciling. Reinforcing.
That’s how people decide what’s legit. They don’t just see an ad and act. They interpret. Compare. Align (or reject) based on whether something feels like them. And this is where many brands go wrong.
Culture, as Eric Hultgren says, is like a car ride:
- You can drive it,
- You can ride shotgun,
- Or you can suck tailpipe.
Let’s be clear: you don’t want to “suck tailpipe.”
- Drive: You shape the conversation with new rituals, stories, or language rooted in deep cultural insight
- Ride shotgun: You’re present and participatory. You’re invited in. You show up with context and care.
- Suck tailpipe: You chase aesthetics without understanding. You copy trends, misread signals, and end up in meme territory, and for all the wrong reasons.
Cultural participation is earned. It starts with appreciation, not appropriation. With listening, not inserting yourself. With asking: “What do people like them do?” Not: “What will make us go viral?”
“In the specific, we find the universal”
Maybe the quote that hit me hardest. We’ve all been told to “broaden the appeal.” But culture doesn’t work that way. Meaning is created in the margins. In the details. In the specific quirks, needs, rituals, and values of a particular group.
Want to go big? Start small. Speak to someone exactly. If it’s real enough, others will feel it too.
TL;DR: Read This Book, and Then Ask Better Questions
This book doesn’t just change how you think about marketing. It changes how you think about people. About identity. About belonging. If you’ve ever believed that brands can do more than sell, that they can matter, then this is your blueprint.
And when you’re done reading, ask yourself:
- Are we pushing a message? Or are we building meaning?
- Are we following culture? Or participating in it with purpose?
- Are we still trying to earn attention? Or have we earned a place in the tribe?
The brands that will win next?
They’re not chasing relevance. They’re creating it; through community, curiosity, and cultural fluency.
Because in the end, culture doesn’t respond to marketing. It responds to meaning