It kind of freak me out the idea that ‘what I see it’s not necessarily what I get’ despite the fact I was promised to get exactly what I see. When it comes to advertising promises, marketers are trying to ‘buy’ you with that ‘huge cunning brand appeal’, our everyday ubiquitous brands shouting at us. One can barely walk a few yards without stumbling onto one them.
Seth Godin wrote an interesting post called ‘Would we miss you?’, where he cited another post from John Moore speaking about the unlikely sudden disappearance of Pizza Hut? Who would miss who?
Seriously, which one of them would we miss, if any at all? Right now from the top of my head, I would say SUBWAY, since there is one just around the corner from where I live, it’s reasonably cheap, the manager is a good man, it’s quick and it’s not a BigMac, ooopps! Somewhere in a tiny little town in the North of England, lo, there lies a SUBWAY!
I was just thinking about the whole brand appeal and how after while we get used to them. Cleverly devised to entice; we buy and scrap them, we love and hate them. A sudden thought crossed my mind, “If I hate MacDonald’s, why do I keep coming back?” Does any body have an answer to that?
The fact is that we don’t really leave in a ‘wysiwyg’ world, so which one can we trust? Which brands really add value to our daily existence in such a way we would badly miss them if they suddenly disappeared?
5 responses so far ↓
Rita Vasileva // April 9, 2008 at 9:46 am |
I can say that I don’t miss brands but I miss memories connected with them. I’ve been living in Soviet Union and in Russia. And as you know there wasn’t a broad range of goods in the USSR so I remember and miss most of them. But I miss them like my childhood memory because I’m sure if I try them now I won’t like them.
prwirelessch // April 9, 2008 at 8:16 pm |
Thanks for that Rita, it is a great insight, it shows us how brands can influence us depending on the kind of place, time and the environment we live.
Nina // April 10, 2008 at 12:38 am |
I would really miss Lancome Primordiale Optimum (anti-wrinkle cream), so I hope it won’t dissapear so quick…
I was growing in communist ’s Poland, and I have also lived in Russia in the mid 1980’s, so exactly like Rita I remember most of the brands. True, there have been only few of them, but still sentiment left.
Cillian Naughton // April 12, 2008 at 5:34 pm |
Although we probably all think we would miss these brands, when they actually do disappear we forget about them pretty quick. companies actually use this as a marketing tool.
Cadburys will often re release bars of chocolate and create a campaign around its nostalgia…..
I guess we could call it Nostalgic Marketing.
Lukman // April 13, 2008 at 7:43 pm |
Ya, Subway is more than just a Brand, but also provide good food and innovate its services. And like you said they also reach customer in remote area.