What do normal everyday people see in brands? What is brand loyalty and how does that work? Are brands basically a way to let people be lazy by outsourcing their thinking?
Think of it more as a way of identifying with something, and letting others make assumptions about who you are based on what you identify with.
I'm not mathematically inclined, but let's take deep technology as an example, as hopefully we have that as a common thread here on hn.
Note: These are all going to be stereotypes, that goes with branding.
Some people identify themselves as iOS developers. They write Objective-C, and will tell you how it is the best platform with users spending the most dollars, etc. etc. They'll tell you they'd never program for Android because javas is too verbose, the platform is fragmented, etc.etc.
An android dev will tell you that they love open-source (a stretch, but just go with it for now). They believe they are serving the largest market, they have the freedom to build the apps as they like and can do things that can't be done on the competitors platforms.
Then you've got the web people. Maybe a Ruby on Rails dev, they'll talk about the speed of quick iteration cycles, simple MVC code, write-once-run-anywhere (stretch your imagination just a bit).
If we look at these as brands, you start to get a picture of what each of these people might be like outside of just this mode of thinking. You have a stereotype of what that person is, what they believe, how they would behave.
This is essentially what the brand is doing for the person.
If I were identified with Ferrari as a brand, you'd have a very different image of me, and me of myself, than if I identified with Smart cars, or Tesla.
Somebody who shops at safeway identifies with food in a different way than somebody identifies with Trader Joe's, Whole Foods or your local farmers market.
It's basically a short-cut for somebody to label themselves, or project to others what they stand for.
I think not. Brands as I see them are much about experience and expectations. Myself; I am loyal to a handful of brands. Call me a Nike AF1 sneakerhead or a apple fanboy. But what it comes down to for me is the experience that these brands deliver; and I know what to expect from them.
With that said I believe that brands are built over time on customer interaction and the value provided.
I believe, one of the big parts of getting a customer is the trust factor. If you don't trust a vendor, there is no way that you will fork over cash.
So how do we overcome the trust factor. If we are dealing in person, the vendor talks to the potential customer face to face and builds rapport. In this scenario, a new customer is created because they have grown to trust the vendor personally.
If the face the customer is talking to changes, then the trust needs to be re-established. ( eg new management or sales person )
I think a brand works the same way. Instead of growing to trust a person, you grow to trust the company/brand. The initial marketing of the brand is how the potential customer grows to trust the vendor and then after each successful purchase, the trust is reinforced.
it is easy to buy a bottle of coke, because you trust that you will get what you expect at a price you expect, you trust that is what will happen. It is hard to buy a bottle of "john smiths elixir" because you dont know or trust them. john smith has to convince you about himself and the elixir before you will buy ( for the majority of cases )
http://www.economist.com/node/771049