How do Brands really attract us - The Science of Brand Relationships
Rejo Francis
Leadership|Sales &Marketing|Start Up| Customer Life Cycle |P & L Management | Operational Excellence|Speaker |Blogger
This is an extension of an article on Brand Ladder link to which is given below
We had seen how brand relationship is the pinnacle of the brand ladder. We have also seen how some brands become extremely successful in certain geographies while being not so successful in certain other areas. Brands like LG, OnePlus are some of the brands which immediately comes to mind as brands who are extremely successful in India compared to their success in other countries.
This clearly shows that brand relationships vary according to geographies and various other parameters some of which we will explore:
Very often we relate brand relationships with unique and premium brands. These brands are also exclusive and premium. While this is true from an aspirational point of view this connect that consumers have towards brands can occur across strata. The relationship can vary according to product category effects and consumption effects. It has been found that consumers get connected to brands that are part of their daily routine and help them improve or make their routine easier. This helps explain the great effect products like Bajaj scooters and Hero Honda CD100 bikes had with consumers. While these were products which were priced at the entry level of their category the fact that they made the daily commute easier made these brands strongly connected to the minds of their consumers
2. Age and Gender have a strong effect on the relationships that are developed with brands.
It has been observed that younger people form a stronger relationship with brands that older adults. Even among youngsters the people in the age group of 13 to 19 years are found to create stronger effect-based brand relationships than even youngsters who are in the 20 and above category.
Research has also found that females at a younger age have a more effect related brand association as compared to males and this difference narrows down as they grow up in age.
Even at an older age, females across all age segments were also found to create brand associations which were based on emotional experiences while males tended to get associated with a brand based on the factual experiences.
3. The creation of brand association depends on the activities and associations that brands do in the market.
The best documented example of this are the activities and programs that Maggi did in the market even when its products had to be withdrawn from the markets as per the rulings of testing agencies. Even during this period when the product was not available Maggi continued to be active by
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These ensured that the brand connect continued even during the period when the product wasn’t available, and this led to instant recapturing of market leadership as soon as the product was relaunched though several other products including me too kind of products were also introduced during the period that Maggi wasn’t available.
4. People have been found to change their lifestyle once they get connected to premium brands.
There is this widely documented case called the Diderot effect. The famous French philosopher Denis Diderot lived almost his entire life in poverty but was well known as he was the writer and co-founder of "Encyclopedie", a prominent encyclopedia at that time.
When the Empress of Russia got to know of his financial troubles, she purchased his library at a very substantial sum. With money to spare Diderot purchased a scarlet robe. Once he purchased that he suddenly started noticing the difference of the coat whenever he hung the same in the room with the other items in his room. He went on to to buy a new rug, a better kitchen table, sculptures, new mirror, and a new leather chair. These reactive purchases are what has come to be known as the Diderot effect.
The Diderot Effect states that obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption which leads you to acquire new things. As a result, we end up buying things that our previous selves never needed to feel happy or fulfilled.
5. A strong community helps enhance the brand relationship.
Many brands have extended the relationships into strong community of users. There are communities of several biking brands like Harley Davidson owners' groups, Bullet owners' groups and even Jawa owner’s groups. These communities create a subculture which is very often associated with the product and its usage. In these groups fellow riders develop relationships with others who have similar values and perspectives, and this leads to the consumption becoming a socializing tool and the brand a symbol of that socialization.
In addition to the various cases listed above studies have also shown other reasons for unique and strong brand loyalty like
Strong brand relationships are a way for managers to increase customer loyalty and thereby get marketplace advantage. Managers can also diagnose, build and sustain brand relationships to obtain customer loyalty and competitive advantage.
There are also several levels that a brand relationship and association can lead to which will be for another day. To keep getting more updates on brand relationships do subscribe to this LinkedIn newsletter?Rejo’s Biz Bytes, listen to my various thoughts on life and business on my YT channel Rejo Francis - YouTube or visit my website?https://rejofrancis.com.