Brands

[poliphilo]

One of the things I've learned from doing marketing surveys is how little attention I pay to brands. For me toothpaste is toothpaste and washing-up liquid is washing-up liquid and an ink-jet printer is an ink-jet printer. When they ask- for example- what kind of air-freshener  I'm using I have to go and look. As often as not the answer is store's own brand. The only brands I have loyalty to are those where a quirky product has become synonymous with the name it's marketed under (especially if I remember it from childhood.)  I'm thinking of  Marmite and Lucozade and Mars Bars. The idea that one might "love" a particular brand and despise the half dozen others that are offering approximately the same generic service or experience strikes me as inherently ridiculous. Coke or Pepsi? I've never been able to tell the difference.

The survey I just completed was asking if my perception of certain brands would improve if they were associated with musicians I like (or can tolerate). The short answer is "No". The more nuanced answer is my perception of the musicians would take a dive. It's like Nietzsche said about pits and how they gaze back into you. There's a price to pay for taking the advertiser's shilling. Your coolness rubs off on the product and its uncoolness rubs off on you. 

Comments

[craftyailz.livejournal.com]

You could have asked me - and that would have saved the clock that you knocked off and broke while checking the brand of air freshener. :-))

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I didn't like to bother you....