Is brand loyalty for the stupid or lazy?

[tycho]

I saw a company memo talking about brand loyalty and it got me thinking about what it is.

I think brand loyalty is blindly going back to a product without thinking about the alternatives. If you go back to the product after considering alternatives, this isn't brand loyalty, this is a superior product isn't it?

Does anyone think brand loyalty is anything else?

Are you loyal to any products?

>> Edited by tycho on Friday 18th November 11:01

[timmy30]

It can be that a consumer is aware of the alternatives but believes that a particular brand is superior, either through experience or by being told so.

For example I'm 'Brand Loyal' to Andrex toilet paper.

The adverts tell me it's soft etc, and once I experienced the alternative when I bought some supermarket stuff which was like wiping my arse with sandpaper and my finger went through on the wiping stroke and I got a shitty finger.

Hence through experience and advertising I have become brand loyal to Andrex bogroll.

[lazyitus]

It certainly aint for me.

[ewenm]

Ah, but if told that another paper is superior to Andrex would you try it or not? For example, Charmin may be superior to Andrex. If you don't even try it then you're "brand-loyal" to Andrex. If you do try it, form your own opinion (using the shitty finger test perhaps) and then return to Andrex or switch, you're a discerning customer.

[Cotty]

timmy30 said:

For example I'm 'Brand Loyal' to Andrex toilet paper. The adverts tell me it's soft etc, and once I experienced the alternative when I bought some supermarket stuff which was like wiping my arse with sandpaper and my finger went through on the wiping stroke and I got a shitty finger.

WAY too much information

[bga]

IMO much of brand loyalty is managing your expectations based on prior experience. These days my loyalty is primarily to service - if I get good service somewhere then I will return. If you don't have the time or inclination to look for the best deal or product then you can hedge your bets a bit based on what you have had before.

For me, the price of the product or service is important - I castigate my father in law for only ever driving Volvo's - he won't even try anything else. £25k burning a hole in his pocket for a weekend car & he wouldn't buy anything other than a C70. If I part with a reasonable amount of money I do feel bad if I don't try a number of products before committing.

[morebeanz]

Brand loyalty is the premium that a competitive product has to be superior by for a customer to leave the incumbant product, or the premium price that that product can sell for over an equivalent product. I think the latter is how we all judge it, and in my opinion is for stupid/lazy consumers, the former is a natural hurdle...

[timmy30]

ewenm said:

Ah, but if told that another paper is superior to Andrex would you try it or not? For example, Charmin may be superior to Andrex. If you don't even try it then you're "brand-loyal" to Andrex. If you do try it, form your own opinion (using the shitty finger test perhaps) and then return to Andrex or switch, you're a discerning customer.

in that case I can choose from two superior brands, but I'd need to belive that Charmin really has a substantial arsewipage advantage over Andrex, it would need to be significant enough to counter the risk ( of a shitty figer ) inherent in switching brand.......

.....what significant feature could be offered? Andrew is 'soft, strong, and very very long' see I even know the ad tag line. Charmin just seems to be some play on the phrase 'does a bear shit in the woods' very droll.......I don't care about the bear, I care about my backside.

>> Edited by timmy30 on Friday 18th November 11:12

[LRdriver II]

timmy30 said:

It can be that a consumer is aware of the alternatives but believes that a particular brand is superior, either through experience or by being told so. For example I'm 'Brand Loyal' to Andrex toilet paper. The adverts tell me it's soft etc, and once I experienced the alternative when I bought some supermarket stuff which was like wiping my arse with sandpaper and my finger went through on the wiping stroke and I got a shitty finger. Hence through experience and advertising I have become brand loyal to Andrex bogroll.

I hadn't quite anticipated the posting to go THAT in-depth (as opposed to timmys finger) when I started reading that...gross but hilarious

[silversun]

Funnily enough, I had this conversation with my Dad about loyalty with banks. He's been with Barclays for about 250 years and has ALL his financial products from them, which horrified me when I found out. He thinks I'm not being loyal by changing my loan and credit card every now and again to get better rates but when I explained that nowadays a lot of people do that and that the banks couldn't give a stuff about loyal customers he started to see my point, especially when I told him how much he could save in interest by shopping around.

[Cotty]

tycho said:

Are you loyal to any products?

Lots

Heinze tomato ketchup
HP Sauce
Sainsburys
Carling larger
HSBC
Racing Green Clothes shop
T M Lewins ties
M&S socks & Boxers
Lloyd Grossman curry sauces
Dolmio pasta sauce
Pistonheads

Forgot a couple

Lynx shower gel & Deo
King Of Shaves gel




>> Edited by Cotty on Friday 18th November 11:16

[LuS1fer]

I've never been brand-loyal myself. Looking at my antecedents, I'm a complete slut. However, sometimes ou see a style which really does grab you. When I bought a Civic Type R, it was far superior in looks to anything else in my view (I know lots disagree but I think it's a very neat and understated design) and the subsequent ownership experience reinforced the good vibes (as you want it to do). That in itself would drive me to consider another Honda.

Nevertheless, I still went on to buy a Mazda. I think some are slaves to buying the same badge due to perceived status. You just know the type of people who would never be seen dead in anything that wasn't a BMW but you equally get the types who might not be brand loyal but are status loyal so a BMW might be replaced with an Audi for example. However, for many, if you've bought a car you like, it has performed as you wished and the dealer is ace, why screw it up as long as they do another car you like.

[beano500]

tycho said:

Does anyone think brand loyalty is anything else? Are you loyal to any products?

Brand loyalty has meaning on high worth or specialist items. A make of car, for example - it's probably because you feel an affinity for the philosophy of the design or something similar, or because you have found a good relationship with a particular dealer. It can be any number of things, but whatever it is that motivates you is perceived as "brand loyalty".

Brand loyalty on a tin of beans is just inertia though. You're not motivated in monetary terms to seek better value for money, because there is a consistency, a known qualty, about the purchase.

In some situations, I can only think of savings and investments at the moment, brand loyalty is actually an anathema. You don't "put all your eggs in one basket".

I'm no marketing expert but the idea of "creating" brand loyalty looks to me like total poppybolloxcockspeak for something really simple: "Let's sell another one."

>> Edited by beano500 on Friday 18th November 11:17

[simpo two]

Going back to the Andrex story, brand loyalty also makes for convenience. If you know that you like Andrex and are perfectly happy with it - well, Charmin might be slightly better, but then again it might be worse so you'd have a whole roll of stuff you didn't like as much. So it's about making a selection, then sticking with it because you like it and feel comfortable with it.

Bog paper is a basic example. If you extend it to cars, it becomes more complicated as image, service etc affect it too.

[eharding]

timmy30 said:

.....the wiping stroke.....

He's even got a formal name for it.

[ewenm]

Maybe you need to sample Charmin (for example) without commiting to a full set of rolls. Perhaps this can be acheived by timing your "evacuations" for when you're somewhere else (relatives, friends,...) and so sampling another brand...

[tycho]

Cotty said:

tycho said: Are you loyal to any products? Lots Heinze tomato ketchup HP Sauce Sainsburys Carling larger HSBC Racing Green Clothes shop T M Lewins ties M&S socks & Boxers Lloyd Grossman curry sauces Dolmio pasta sauce Pistonheads

I think I would agree with lots of these items, I would be "brand loyal" for cheap items, but I tend to over analyse the more expensive items like TV's, cars etc and I suspect most people would do the same.

[Jaglover]

beano500 said:

Brand loyalty has meaning on high worth or specialist items. A make of car, for example - it's probably because you feel an affinity for the philosophy of the design or something similar, or because you have found a good relationship with a particular dealer. It can be any number of things, but whatever it is that motivates you is perceived as "brand loyalty". Brand loyalty on a tin of beans is just inertia though. You're not motivated in monetary terms to seek better value for money, because there is a consistency, a known qualty, about the purchase.

[Cotty]

beano500 said:

Brand loyalty on a tin of beans is just inertia though. You're not motivated in monetary terms to seek better value for money, because there is a consistency, a known qualty, about the purchase.

Branston have just brought out there own baked beans. If you have previously bought Heinz baked beans would you try the new range to see if it tates better or do you just carry on buying heinz without trying the new brand, if you dont try the new brand, that to me is brand loyalty.

Then again it could just be apathy

[simpo two]

OK, so who's got a BEKO television then, eh?