Are brands one thing and products another?

There was for me an interesting discussion on Twitter this morning @gennefer made a comment that RT @davetrott Brand is always emotional (right brain). Product is rational (left brain).”

That is just not correct and I responded to her.

The reason why I persisted with the discussion is that it such a fundamental but broadly held misconception which needs to be addressed and it gave me an opportunity to do so:

Underlying assumptions such as hers is the belief that you can build a brand independently from a product. This is seriously OLD SCHOOL thinking it is steeped in the advertising myth that you can manipulate customers to believe whatever it is that you are telling them.

Brands are the total set of experiences. They include both judgments of the performance of the product as well as the feelings associated with them. These feelings come from every touch point.

In this NEW world we have to understand that the days of thinking that we can separate the belief and feelings the customer has of the product from the product itself are naive.

We also have to understand that what our customers tell their friends is part of the brand.

There is a wonderful old advertising saying that goes “there is no better way to kill a bad product than good advertising” This is even more so today because people tell their friends.

By the way I concede that @gennefer and I may have got lost in the limitations of 140 character conversations, but this served as a spur for a blog post so I took it. ( and the conversation did continue after the screen shot used here)

Posted on January 13, 2010 at 8:52 am by Walter Pike · Permalink
In: Uncategorized
  • http://www.gennefersnowfield.com/ Gennefer Snowfield

    Walter –

    I'm glad you felt compelled to post about this. This is a good discussion to have (although you conveniently left off your side of the conversation and my tweets where I clearly state that the product must ultimately perform, but it is typically emotion that spurs initial purchase whereas performance begets loyalty/ongoing consumption and customer retention).

    As I said in my closing statements, you've missed the point that I was making in support of @davetrott's tweet that brands are emotional and products are rational (http://twitter.com/davetrott/status/7690177331).

    The conflated cultural construct of 'brand' is a lesson in semantics. What people perceive a 'brand' to be is based on an infinite number of factors — from emotions through product performance. Some buy brands to be 'cooler' (Apple might be apt here) or as a symbol of status (BMW or any number of luxury brands)… some buy on price (commodities like detergent)… some buy to keep up with their friends… some buy for a fast processor… and so on.

    The point is that what consumers perceive to be the brand's [intangible] value may not necessarily align with the product's [tangible] value, and I referenced the scenario where consumers often put up with product failings in a beloved brand because of what the brand means to them on an emotional level. So, I maintain my original assertion that the two — brand and product in their purest definitions — *can* be separate. But that doesn't mitigate the fact that the brand must deliver on whatever value proposition is set forth, whether it be emotional or feature-driven, or a combination of the two (the latter of which is obviously ideal).

    In any event, here's to substantive brand communications and experiences.

    Gennefer
    http://www.twitter.com/Gennefer

  • http://walterpike.com Walter Pike

    Hi Gennefer

    Thanks for commenting.

    Brands are not a vague semantic concept. Brands are in fact a very well understood concept, and the simple point is that they are not solely a emotional thing separate from the product at all.

    Whether you discount the rest of the writing on brands or not on the basis that they may be academic, in the generally accepted concept of brand, the customer sees brand as a sum of two components the first are the tangible product features and benefits in other words judgement, the second are the intangible benefits stuff like feelings – these make up the brand.

    You have just confused the concept. Product is a subset of Brand, wholly contained in the concept of Brand.

    In other words it is possible to see a product independent of the emotional component of a brand – but its impossible to see a brand as only the emotional component without the product component.

    It is bad marketing to attempt to inflate the brand by adding expectations that are not inherent in its delivery because immediately that happens you end up with unsatisfied expectations – which is coincidentally a definition of customer dissatisfaction.

    I understand that this is how advertising has worked in the past and is largely why advertising is in the crisis it is. People have been bull – dusted so much they just don't believe anymore.

    BTW as I am sure that you know, and my readers know, this whole conversation is in the public domain, and the pic to illustrate was a screen shot of the power twitter screen which does not thread the conversation. Its not the point anyway – it is no way an attack on you – just on the opinion you expressed.

    I trust that I will see you in my followers, I followed you this morning. Maybe we can take this up at some other time.