BRANDS
Brands represent more than a factual, rational connection to the product or service.
They go beyond the boundaries of reason and extend into emotion. In 2003 researchers conducted a laboratory experiment based on the famous Pepsi challenge.
A long running blind taste test where respondents were shown to prefer the taste of Pepsi to that of its rival Coke.
When asked to taste both without tasters knowing which brand was which preference for the Pepsi taste scored higher than that for Coke.
Yet when tasters were told before hand which one was coke and which one was Pepsi, guess what happened?
Three quarters of the tasters declared their preference for Coca-Cola.
Logical? REASONABLE? No way. But who said brands were about logic and rationality? through magnetic brain scans, researchers found that the awareness of Coke as the drink they were tasting stimulated a part of the brain that had little to do with taste and lot to do with memory and self image.
Quite literally, the COKE brand triggered a behavior and responses way beyond anything to do with the drink in the can.
Does an average person in the street really care that much about a soft drink? Consider this.
In 1985,Coke decided to introduce a sweeter formula, called ‘NEW COKE’, to replace its tried and tested recipe. One would have expected consumers to greet the news with interest .
Instead ,public outrage at the very idea of changing Coke’s formula became subject of national debate.
Less than 90 days after New coke’s multi million dollar launch, it was pulled of f the shelves, Television programmes were interrupted to bring viewers the news, and in the US SENATE, no less ,democratic senator
David Pryor described it as ‘ a meaningful moment in US history’. Coke’s capitulation was seen as a victory against those who wanted to destroy a national institution .
All that for a can of drink, Are you kidding? Well, for the sake of emphasis, let me repeat: it has not much to do with taste and a lot to do with the brand.
But what about other purchases where taste isn’t involved?
Surely when we buy items such as cars, computers and clothes we’re a little more logical and rational?
Don’t we rely on facts and figures to inform our purchasing habits?
The truth is, we might think that we buy goods and services only on the basis of data and information, but we’d be wrong. We are overloaded with information.
We are given conflicting opinions from even the most distinguished experts on an almost daily basis.
Our homes are recipients of several hundred television and radio channels, the internet is heading rapidly to somewhere in the region of 50 billion web pages and our news agent will have a choice of over 8000 magazines titles with which to tempt us.
In our fast paced, hectic, stress filled lives how can we make any kind of logical decision about anything? We can’t. Is depression caused by a chemical imbalance or is it about life management? Is a high fat diet bad, or should we actually eat more protein?
How much liquid should we drink everyday, and does it have to be water? Is global warming a reality or just rumor or opinion from alarmists?
Can u trust any information? With scandals of such a big and successful company and giant Sat yam still ringing our ears can a business be relied upon to provide true accounts of its product or service?
At the end of the day, the frustration, confusion and mistrust people experience has led to the one single source of decision making that can be relied upon: people’s own feeling about the issue it won’t just depend on the latest research report or the peer group recommendation.
It won’t even be done at a totally conscious level.
But one thing is certain .The brand – whatever it is wherever its from- will be a major factor in decision making process.
The brand is a centre stage. It’s the all singing, all dancing set of emotional characteristics that play with your senses- repeated ,replicated, duplicated and pushed at you, determined to carve a niche, find a place, open a filing cabinet and create a spot, however tiny it may be, in the part of our neutral network we’ve come to know as long term memory.
That’s why a brand resides in the mind not in the factory or showroom.
In the society today it’s the brand, the whole brand and nothing but brand, in the 21st century, just about everything is a brand!
And if you want to survive in business or stand any chance of growing your company to the dizzy heights of some corporate better build a strong brand, becoz without a strong brand you are dead in the water.
Building a strong brand requires careful planning and a great deal of long term investment.
At the heart of a successful brand is a great product or service,backed by creatively designed and executed marketing.
Brands represent more than a factual, rational connection to the product or service.
They go beyond the boundaries of reason and extend into emotion. In 2003 researchers conducted a laboratory experiment based on the famous Pepsi challenge.
A long running blind taste test where respondents were shown to prefer the taste of Pepsi to that of its rival Coke.
When asked to taste both without tasters knowing which brand was which preference for the Pepsi taste scored higher than that for Coke.
Yet when tasters were told before hand which one was coke and which one was Pepsi, guess what happened?
Three quarters of the tasters declared their preference for Coca-Cola.
Logical? REASONABLE? No way. But who said brands were about logic and rationality? through magnetic brain scans, researchers found that the awareness of Coke as the drink they were tasting stimulated a part of the brain that had little to do with taste and lot to do with memory and self image.
Quite literally, the COKE brand triggered a behavior and responses way beyond anything to do with the drink in the can.
Does an average person in the street really care that much about a soft drink? Consider this.
In 1985,Coke decided to introduce a sweeter formula, called ‘NEW COKE’, to replace its tried and tested recipe. One would have expected consumers to greet the news with interest .
Instead ,public outrage at the very idea of changing Coke’s formula became subject of national debate.
Less than 90 days after New coke’s multi million dollar launch, it was pulled of f the shelves, Television programmes were interrupted to bring viewers the news, and in the US SENATE, no less ,democratic senator
David Pryor described it as ‘ a meaningful moment in US history’. Coke’s capitulation was seen as a victory against those who wanted to destroy a national institution .
All that for a can of drink, Are you kidding? Well, for the sake of emphasis, let me repeat: it has not much to do with taste and a lot to do with the brand.
But what about other purchases where taste isn’t involved?
Surely when we buy items such as cars, computers and clothes we’re a little more logical and rational?
Don’t we rely on facts and figures to inform our purchasing habits?
The truth is, we might think that we buy goods and services only on the basis of data and information, but we’d be wrong. We are overloaded with information.
We are given conflicting opinions from even the most distinguished experts on an almost daily basis.
Our homes are recipients of several hundred television and radio channels, the internet is heading rapidly to somewhere in the region of 50 billion web pages and our news agent will have a choice of over 8000 magazines titles with which to tempt us.
In our fast paced, hectic, stress filled lives how can we make any kind of logical decision about anything? We can’t. Is depression caused by a chemical imbalance or is it about life management? Is a high fat diet bad, or should we actually eat more protein?
How much liquid should we drink everyday, and does it have to be water? Is global warming a reality or just rumor or opinion from alarmists?
Can u trust any information? With scandals of such a big and successful company and giant Sat yam still ringing our ears can a business be relied upon to provide true accounts of its product or service?
At the end of the day, the frustration, confusion and mistrust people experience has led to the one single source of decision making that can be relied upon: people’s own feeling about the issue it won’t just depend on the latest research report or the peer group recommendation.
It won’t even be done at a totally conscious level.
But one thing is certain .The brand – whatever it is wherever its from- will be a major factor in decision making process.
The brand is a centre stage. It’s the all singing, all dancing set of emotional characteristics that play with your senses- repeated ,replicated, duplicated and pushed at you, determined to carve a niche, find a place, open a filing cabinet and create a spot, however tiny it may be, in the part of our neutral network we’ve come to know as long term memory.
That’s why a brand resides in the mind not in the factory or showroom.
In the society today it’s the brand, the whole brand and nothing but brand, in the 21st century, just about everything is a brand!
And if you want to survive in business or stand any chance of growing your company to the dizzy heights of some corporate better build a strong brand, becoz without a strong brand you are dead in the water.
Building a strong brand requires careful planning and a great deal of long term investment.
At the heart of a successful brand is a great product or service,backed by creatively designed and executed marketing.