In the words of the great philosopher (JayZ)…
” I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man.”
We all have a clear idea what branding is…but how does it work?
If someone pays 140 dollars for Nike, when a similar thing from another Chinese sweatshop, with a different name on it costs 20 dollars, with no 7x performance improvement for the user, then something else is being purchased – identifying yourself with the attributes of the product.
But what are the attributes – an attribute is something conferred upon, rather than intrinsic to, something. An attribute is not quite a property “of” something. The locus of evaluation is external. The sneakers didn’t make Michael Jordan, “Jordan.” “Coolth by Association. ” “In other words, Michael Jordon is cool. MJ wears Nikes. Therefore, when I wear Nikes, I am cool, too.” Phil Friedman
When you wear Air Jordans, you “represent”- not a global corporation, but a gifted athlete you’d wish to be like. Only you don’t have his work ethic, dedication, height, speed of thought, or movement…and he gets his shoes for free.
A friendly Irish “budget” airline had customer service with the consistency of warm doggie doo do for many years. Until, one day, some brightspark at the company figured there was no cost/benefit in shrieking at people like cattle (very catholic Ireland though). The point here is customers and crew accepted/expected ground staff going batshit at “extra baggage” as a “cost” of the cheap airfare.
Seeing as we are on the subject of punching tickets and branding. I was working for a large corporation a few years ago with the reputation of being a preferred equipment supplier to the Jewish holocaust. On the wall was a shiny timeline of the company’s greatest feats – that particular number seemed to have disappeared. Re-branding works too!
Branding is a tool you use to deliver the consistent experience your customer expects. You build “expectation” through advertising “consistent quality.”
Branding is a heuristic – a mental shortcut or shorthand. I will go farther, following Kahneman and Dan Ariely. In a world of “unlimited” choices – decisions are often made in advance of thinking.
Make choice easy – Brand Yourself Early!
To be continued in the next batastic episode…
