Your Choice of Brand Exposes You
In his book called “Emotional Branding : How Successful Brands Gain the Irrational Edge”, Daryl Travis takes a look at the emotional side of business and explains that a brand name is an emotional symbol.
In order to tap into the methodology needed to make this emotional connection between brand and customer requires a little intuitive thinking.
Cars are a perfect example of how the myth of a brand works on the buying public. Why are there so many makes and models of cars if all we’re interested in is getting from one place to the next? While price indeed is a factor, there is still something else at work here.
How do you feel about a Cadallaic or Acura? Why does a Jeep scream adventure or a Porsche precision? Each form of transportation we choose really does say something about us because of the emotional connection we make with that brand.
Geography Brands Us
The idea of emotional branding even includes geography (city, state, province, country, region etc.). We are often branded by others based upon the State we live in.I’m branded a “Californian” and handled appropriatly according to how people see Californians to be. I am seen as an American when I travel to different countries and treated one way or the other based upon their prejudice.The very same would apply to cities. As an example, while chit-chatting with an attentive, talkative cashier in a pricey, elite boutique in San Francisco, we let it be known we were semi-locals from the “East Bay” (Oakland area). The clerk’s nose immediately ascended and the friendly small talk stopped.
Class Distinction and Branding
This notion of associating tangible products with intangible emotions reminds me of what Paul Fussell stated in his 1983 publication “Class, A Guide Through the American Status System”. In it he describes that while the idea of class distinction may be seen by some as an adverse comment on American life, it is nonetheless present whether we care to admit it or not.
The use of class distinction is a universal concept. Regardless of the culture, there are those with more power and more money than others. Even admist the rich, there are more class distinctions.
“Social class” cannot really be defined. It is much like the concept of what constitutes something as “obscene”. Like Justice Potter Stewart, we as individuals can’t exactly draw the line, “but we know it when we see it”. Class distinction is not just determined by wealth but more importantly by the whole image an individual reveals about themselves.
There Is No Escape – You Can Not Hide
Everything in our life divulges information about who we really are. From the clothes we wear, the car we drive, where we live, where we work, and even how we talk. Actually, a business which assists students with their reading proficiency promoted this very idea when they developed the slogan: “People judge us by the words we use.” Maybe you’ve heard of it: “Hooked On Phonics”.
You are familiar with the saying: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” However, it could be said that the insurance industry earns huge profits by “judging covers”. As to opening us up and browsing our pages to find out what we are all about, they’re not the least bit interested. At first, it does look like that their proceedure of measuring risk is prejudicial. If you’re a 32 year old male, living in a rural area your car insurance will be lower than if you were an 18 year old living in the city. If the city you live in has 150,000 people or more living there you will pay higher premiums than if you lived in a city of just 10,000. Owning a Volks Wagen would ensure lower insurance rates than if you owned a Rolls Royce. Insurance companies are in business to make a profit. Using factual and accurate statistical data they are ensured in attaining those profits.
Insurance companies are not alone. You also use branding as a means of meeting your own expectations and guiding your behavior. Since you have an opinion (if you don’t you must be dead) you are biased. If at the grociery store you reject peaches with bruises in favor of non-bruised peaches you are practicing segregation and discrimination. To be acurate, you have a assumption that soft spots on fruit are bad. It is who you are that determines what you do and what products you bring home all based on category thinking.
Branding also has the same function, designed to promote expectations and hopefully, positive behavior such as purchasing. The brand Porche declares “Precision Engineering”. Budweiser promotes its brand myth by stating: “Where there’s life, there’s Bud”. In essence, “Without bud you have no life”. The brand creates a myth designed to resonate with their target market. Marketing is all about connecting you with the myth in the hopes of directing your behavior.
The simple conclusion to all of this is: What we do, and what we have are all inseparable from who we are.
