Tribes

Per usual, or maybe a little earlier than usual, I got down there two flight of sets from my apartment, opened the common door, put my headphones on, and left the building.

I walked past the bus stop, where the 520 bus was coming to a stop. I stopped at the crossing, waiting for it to turn green. As I waited, a mass of people got down from the bus and joined me. Some crossed the road while the light was still red. Which is fine, I do that some times if I’m running late and there’s no traffic. Some stood and waited along with me. One person stopped to my right. I looked down and noticed his footwear.

He was wearing Xero Shoes. It’s the first time I have seen someone wearing these out in the wild, other than me. And I felt this immediate sense of camaraderie. I felt like I should stop him and ask, do you feel the same way as I do about the barefoot movement, how do you feel about the shoe, do you have any other Xero shoes?

I did not ask him any of this though.

The light turned green. He started walking, as did I. I followed him down the escalators, till we got down to the platform.

We want to belong. All of us. We want to belong in tribes, in the midst of our people.

Even without meaning to, we get drawn into tribes based on the choices we make, regarding what we buy, what we wear, what we use, and what it says about us.

Without explicitly meaning to, we join tribes.

Marketers can and do use this. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. As I said, we are looking for tribes to join, to become bigger than the individual.

What we buy, wear or use, is a conscious decision, our choice, and that matters.