MARC PAULENICH LAUNCHES THE New BRAND MODEL TO TURN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION INTO BRAND GROWTH
CEO and brand strategist argues the next era of marketing isn’t about more attention; it’s about more connection.
For decades, marketers have optimized for attention: impressions, clicks, awareness, engagement and conversion. But according to brand strategist and marketing agency CEO Marc Paulenich, the bigger problem facing brands today isn't a lack of attention; it's apathy.
In his new book, Brand Mover: How to Lead Audiences from Apathy to Advocacy, Paulenich introduces a the Brand Movement Model, a practical framework designed to help marketing and business leaders understand where their customers are emotionally, and what it takes to move them forward.
The model maps a progression from apathy to advocacy, challenging the conventional marketing funnel and its emphasis on getting consumers to conversion. Instead, Brand Mover argues that loyalty and long-term growth come from creating meaningful emotional movement that turns customers from indifferent audiences into active advocates.
“The market doesn’t have an attention problem. It has an apathy problem,” said Paulenich. “We have built the loudest marketing machine in history, and people are tuning out. The brands that win won’t be the ones that say more. They’ll be the ones that move people.”
From Attention to Emotional Movement
Brand Mover reframes customer disengagement as a brand signal rather than a consumer failure. Apathy can reveal deeper misalignment between what a brand says, what it does and what customers actually experience.
The Brand Movement Model provides leaders with a way to diagnose that disconnect and identify what needs to change at each stage:
Apathy: The audience is indifferent. The challenge is creating a reason to care.
Awareness: The audience recognizes the brand, but attention alone is not enough.
Alignment: The brand's strategy, story, signals and experience reinforce one another and create emotional connection.
Advocacy: Customers move beyond purchase to actively carry the brand forward – through recommendations, user-generated content, loyalty and public support.
“Awareness is fleeting unless it becomes an emotional connection,” Paulenich said. “And advocacy isn't something you can manufacture by asking people to advocate for you. You have to give them something worth carrying forward.”
A Framework Built in the Real World
Unlike a theoretical marketing model, the Brand Movement Model was developed through real client challenges and more than two decades of agency leadership and brand strategy work. The book draws on examples spanning healthcare, food and beverage, financial services, hospitality, manufacturing and education.
Paulenich is CEO of independent brand transformation agency Hart, where the principles behind Brand Mover have been informed by solving brand and business challenges under real-world pressure. The book's ideas also challenge the growing tendency to measure marketing primarily through short-term performance.
“Brand Mover isn't about creating another marketing checklist,” Paulenich said. “It's about changing the question. Instead of asking, ‘How do we reach people?’ brand movers ask, ‘Why would they come with us?’”
Brand Mover will be available October 27, 2026. For more information, visit MarcPaulenich.com.
About Marc Paulenich
Marc Paulenich is CEO of Hart, one of Ohio’s largest independent marketing and advertising agencies, and a marketing strategist with more than two decades of experience helping organizations turn brand strategy, consumer insights and authentic storytelling into business results. His work spans industries including healthcare, food and beverage, finance, travel and tourism, education and consumer brands. Under his leadership, Hart has more than doubled in revenue and expanded from one office to four locations. Paulenich is the author of Brand Mover: How to Lead Audiences from Apathy to Advocacy (Entrepreneur Press, 2026), a practical framework for building the emotional connection and loyalty that drives sustainable growth.
Media Contact:
Drew Beadling
dbeadling@hartinc.com
5172431006
