Branding & Style

I once bought a puffy Tommy Hilfiger jacket that cost $500 (which was a lot of money back in the late 90s) simply because I thought it made me look really cool. I did that a lot back when I was in High School, do things that I thought looked cool that is.

Which brings me to the time that I sat atop a very large hill sitting on my GT Snowracer (link here: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/stiga-gt-snowracer-0826099p.html). 

It was a crisp and clear night and the moon hung high in the sky casting its light that reflected on the icy hill. As a 17-year-old young man, I was more or less too large to be using the sled, the hill was too steep and way too icy, and I was wearing that very expensive, yet very cool jacket. 

So, as I tipped myself over the ledge of the hill and immediately started careening down the mini-mountain, slamming into small saplings, busting through bushes, and ultimately the side of a horse stable, I thought to myself maybe, just maybe, it had been a bad idea.

Turns out it was a bad idea. My new fancy coat was all beat up and had holes in it. Puffs of goose down flew around me, highlighted by the light of the moon.

Having a limited budget to spend now on a new coat that didn't have holes in it, I opted in for a less expensive snowboarding jacket (funny enough, was built for sliding downhills).

Now, 20+ years later, I still own the snowboarding jacket, and apart from the odd loose stitch here and there, it's holding up extremely well. The $500 jacket, well that went in the trash years ago.

The point is that brands have their story. The Tommy jacket, that had a more stylish, upscale story. The snowboarding jacket, however, had a much longer tale to tell that included me falling off several small cliffs, a chair lift, and tumbling down multiple mountains.

Knowing your brand is key to how you develop and position your products. Whether the end-user decides to listen, well that's as they say, another story.