Huge disclaimer: I was not a Bruce Springsteen fan, nor did I intend to put myself in the same category as those folks I met at last week’s concert who literally have followed this rock legend and the E-Street Band for some four decades. Nope, definitely not a huge fan. Just a guy who likes music, data, and has a passing interest in human behavior.

Obviously, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the concert too much: sure, I know the classic hits and if you don’t live under a rock, you do as well. Who doesn’t know at least some lyrics from “Born to Run”, “Rosalita” and “Thunder Road?” The 80s crowd was raised on  “Born in the USA”, and sometimes when I least expect it, the words will pop in my head for “Glory Days.”  I’m not even going to mention “Dancing in the Dark” and the image the MTV video brings to mind (yes, Courteney, I’m talking to YOU!). I was pretty convinced that Bruce Springsteen was one of the throwbacks from the 70s era, when music had a poetic vibe to it. Today, that “vibe” can have a tinge of schmaltz.

Someone standing next to me in line–definitely a long-time fan–found out this was my first concert and proudly exclaimed: “There are two types of people in this world: those who love Bruce Springsteen and those who have never seen his concert.” I nodded, but my skepticism was obvious. Still, I couldn’t help being intrigued by the words I kept hearing. My curiosity was building. What is it, I asked myself, that possesses people to follow this guy and the E-Street band literally across the Earth? What is it that makes the legendary Bruce Springsteen, well, a legend?

Second disclaimer: I am not a marketing person, nor do I claim to have any of the background attributed to experienced salespeople, advertisers, and motivational speakers. But I am a consumer, and I do know good products when I see them  And I can say with pure honesty that in the short span of three hours, I turned from non-believer to a complete, utter, total fan.

So how did this happen? More importantly, how can we bottle this knowledge and use it to our own advantage, for our own products? Here are five takeaways I got from my three-and-a-half hours of watching Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street band perform their hearts out:

1. Market to the Masses
When you stand in line at a Springsteen concert, the people handing out the wristbands make it clear that everyone is equal. There’s no special treatment for showing up early, and there’s even a lottery for the best standing location which enables the 900th person in line to have just as much chance as the first person in line. This is done not only to discourage line squatting, but to emphasize that, win or lose, we are all part of one big collective with the same clear goal in mind.

2. Provide something unique
A Bruce Springsteen concert, as I was told over and over again, is unlike any concert you will ever see. It’s not just the songs–we’ve heard them before–it’s the energy of the audience, the joy of watching creativity taking shape on the stage, and like snowflakes, no two concerts are EVER the same. You don’t know what you’re going to hear, because the set list can change during the concert and improvisation occurs throughout the show. A product that can provide a new experience each time is bound to attract followers both new and old.

3. Create a name brand
The products that are most popular are those that only need one or two words to describe them (Xerox, Ketchup, and Google come immediately to mind). Image is everything. We all know “Elvis.”  How about “Old Blue Eyes?”  One nickname is all you need to promote human bonding. Just ask “The Boss.”

4. Give the audience more than they asked for
Three-and-a-half hours without a break, seriously? And what’s this about walking down the platform to actually meet fans, and then do some crowd surfing? There was absolutely no need to do any of that, and yet it made the crowd feel special–like we mattered and that our presence meant something. Give us more than we expect, and we will love you for it.

5. Have your fans do your marketing for you
I cannot stress this one enough. Word-of-mouth and respected references are critical and have more power than any telemarketing campaign  ever could. Get people to love your product, to evangelize the heck out of what you offer, and you will have droves of followers standing in line (which brings us back to takeaway #1 ).

Of course, there’s more to it than that. There’s the buildup of anticipation, the openness of the consumer to accept the product, and other approaches that we can save for another write-up. For now, I’ll take a break while I listen to some more music from The River.

How about you? Did you ever become a fan of a product without expecting it? What were the features that sold you on it?  I’d be interested to hear these stories.