Belonging

Photo courtesy of Freddy La7. Original post: https://www.instagram.com/freddyla7/

Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself energized by three completely unrelated things.

A German soccer fan traveling thousands of miles to cheer on his team during the FIFA World Cup.

Millions of people faithfully watching a bald eagle nest on a livestream

And hundreds of attendees stopping for flowers at an opioid response conference.

Different audiences. Different reasons. Different worlds. Yet each reminded me of the same truth about marketing: People aren’t just looking for information. They’re looking for connection. They’re looking for belonging.

Freddy and FIFA

Freddy, a German soccer fan, traveled to the United States to follow his team during the FIFA World Cup. What started as a personal adventure with a few buddies, quickly became something much bigger.

He wasn’t trying to become an influencer. Nobody ever saw his face. He wasn’t creating highly produced content or chasing trends. He was simply sharing his experience as he discovered America through fresh eyes.

His road trip included stops at SEC football stadiums, Buc-ee’s, Bass Pro Shops, Waffle House, and Walmart—all set to a soundtrack of country artist Ella Langley, who invited him and his friends to her concert in Oklahoma.

His authenticity resonated with people. He gained more than 750,000 followers on X before internet trolls eventually pushed him to deactivate his account and continue sharing on Instagram.

People weren’t following Freddy because they wanted soccer updates. They followed because they wanted to experience the adventure alongside him. He made people feel like they were part of the story.

Marketing lesson: Great brands don’t simply attract customers. They create experiences people want to belong to.

The Eagles Landed (on my feed)

Then there’s the Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam.

On paper, it’s difficult to explain the phenomenon. Millions of people tune in to watch a nest where, most days, very little happens except for eating, sleeping and pooping. Sometimes an eagle simply sits on the nest. That’s it.

Yet viewers return every morning. They know the birds by name because they helped name them. They celebrate new eggs. They cheer when eaglets hatch. They worry during storms. They grieve together when nature takes an unexpected turn.

What keeps them coming back isn’t constant excitement. It’s emotional investment.

The Friends of Big Bear Valley gave people a story worth caring about, and over time that story became a shared experience.

Marketing lesson: People don’t return because something exciting happens every day. They return because they feel connected to the journey. Consistency builds trust, and trust builds community.

The Flowers: Small Gestures Leave Lasting Impressions

The third lesson came from a place in our hearts.

Recently, our team at Jet Marketing attended an opioid response conference. The conversations throughout the event centered on incredibly important, but emotionally heavy topics including addiction, recovery, policy, families, and loss.

Knowing attendees would be spending days immersed in difficult discussions, our team wanted to contribute something simple that might brighten the atmosphere. As a small gesture, Jet Marketing provided fresh mums and spent time at our booth connecting with attendees.

People stopped and admired the flowers. The flowers weren’t solving the opioid crisis and weren’t the focus of the conference. But they created moments of humanity.They reminded people that beauty still exists in hard conversations. They sparked conversations between strangers, offered a brief emotional reset and communicated something simple but meaningful: someone cared enough to think about how this space would feel.

Marketing lesson: Sometimes the smallest details create the strongest emotional connections. Not because they’re the point, but because they remind people they’re valued.

As marketers, we spend a great deal of time talking about impressions, clicks, engagement rates and reach. Those numbers matter, but they’re often the outcome, not the objective.

The real objective is creating something people genuinely want to be part of.

Whether it’s cheering in a soccer stadium, refreshing an eagle cam over morning coffee, or pausing to admire flowers in the middle of difficult conversations, people are searching for connection.

The brands that understand this won’t simply earn attention.

They’ll build communities that people remember long after the campaign ends.

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