Like me, do you get the feeling that our world view is a mosaic of different brand filters? Let’s consider a scenario:
Anamika meets Rajiv for the first time on their first date. Rajiv takes her to a coffee shop mentioning how he loves the ambience there. As they sit down, Rajiv places his cell phone on the table. Anamika checks the time on her watch and fishes for her cell phone from her bag and calls up a friend. Meanwhile Rajiv is checking out the menu stretching out his legs with his boots on. He steals a glance at Anamika looking cute in her pink top and jeans. Wearing his faded jeans and his favourite black shirt, Rajiv feels pretty comfortable on his first date with her.
Anything out of the place? Maybe not at first glance. Take a look again.
Anamika meets Rajiv for the first time on their first date. Rajiv takes her to a Cafe Coffee Day coffee shop mentioning how he loves the ambience there. As they sit down, Rajiv places his cell phone on the table, a Nokia N92. Anamika checks the time on her Titan Raga watch and fishes for her cell phone, a Motorzr from her Gucci bag and calls up a friend. Meanwhile Rajiv is checking out the menu stretching out his legs with his Woodlands boots on. He steals a glance at Anamika looking cute in her MNG spaghetti top and Levi's jeans. Wearing his faded Red Tab jeans and his favourite black Diesel shirt, Rajiv feels pretty comfortable on his first date with her.
The point is this. Have you ever had the feeling you were trying to possess things you didn’t really need based on promises that are intangible at best? That someone else was creating wants you didn’t have before? Welcome to the surreptitious world of brand marketing. I am talking about brands that have made us want to possess things we didn’t need based on what they said those things will do to us. “Eat this and you will stay slim”, “wear that and you will be the hottest thing around”, “spray this and you will be irresistible”.
That is not to say all brands are ‘evil’. A brand is a promise. A promise of either physical, emotional or(and) psychological benefit(s). And there are many brands out there that have lived up to their promises. What I am talking about is those brands that have told us we cannot be what we want to be if we do not use their products/services. A brand that tells a girl she cannot be an air-hostess if she doesn’t use their fairness cream, a brand that tells boys they are losers till they start using that brand of deodorant…..you get the idea.
We are all beautiful people and we do not need some brand to tell us we are not good enough. We are free people. Free to make choices…free to question things. We are all free people and we are all curious as hell!!
Curiosity is one of the most basic instincts amongst us humans. We all have wondered where babies come from, if the face on the moon is indeed that of an old man and if the big bang was for real. Each of us continuously questions the status quo and why it needs to be that way. It’s an exciting journey, one on which WE choose our thoughts and our wants, not someone else.
6 comments:
Humans have the need of being appreciated by fellow human beings. This need was developed over millennia of evolution, where having power (physical or psychological) over fellow human beings increased a human's chances of survival.
As you may know, our needs are shaped into wants by our nurture. For e.g., the need of thirst in a village boy in Kerala may manifest itself as the want for coconut water, while the same need in an American teenager may manifest itself as the want for Coke.
All the brand examples mentioned by you in your post are the wants shaped by our nurture that fulfill our need for appreciation from fellow human beings.
Perfect...did i contradict it?...No
The point is this...let me decide upon my need or want and the desire to be appreciated.
I have an issue only with those brands which say that I'm not good enough unless I use their product.
hey ravikant.. it's what you call 'brain-d washing' ( pun intended ;) )
Branding (and in a broader sense advertising) is manipulation of human psychology.
Some of us may not be as insecure as others and hence resist the idea of a brand that tries to identify and manipulate these insecurities. Many others fall for it.
Advertising gurus will probably be the first to testify that such ads are meant to make you feel insecure and run for the product. Ergo: Brand ads such as the one you have quoted exist because humans with insecurities still exist.
You summed it really well at the end when you said that people are free and have a right to choose on their own volition.
But I sense that the article was written from the perspective of a consumer. Lets have a look at end from the other side of the glass: Think of yourself, as a Brand Manager/Creative Designer.
Lets take the Cafe Coffee Day example. Before CCD started off, one could easily get a cup of coffee for Rs 2/3 at the omnipresent shanti sagar hotels. And yet CCD choose to sell basically the same coffee at 10 times the rate of the competition!! There is a lot of creativity and brain racking involved in trying to convince the "intelligent" people to buy things at a higher rate. Whats the fun in selling a Rs 2 item for Rs 2. Any nitwit can do it. Your creativity is challenged when you have to sell the same thing for Rs 20!! The satisfaction you get when you manage to do it successfully is second to none.
I am not supporting the big brands here but all I am saying is that appreciate creativity and ability when you see it! :)
I am not talking in favour of branding and its interpretation by youth, but interestingly i happened to meet a branding guru while doing some work for my org and i ended up asking why it attracts so much attention.
Underneath all the hype, there are a couple of good points that he brought about and which i would like to share with us-
a) Consistency in quality. You know the level of CCD, comfort. You also know that 28 waist in Levi's is 28, if it fails quality check its out for seconds sale. So, its an easy choice without much hastles.
b) Network. Brands bring in symmetry. You travel around the world, you know star bucks and burger king will come handy. Its not because you are hip and cool, but because they are probably more networked than others at times.
How youngsters relate value to it is a different ball game. If i go for a brand, the additional money i pay is for the quality check that the organization does on my behalf and for the lack of knowledge, credibility and time to test other local brands.
A cafe frappe in coffee day has some standard that it maintains across. And ofcourse they charge me for the comfort and ambience which is almost assured with that brand. Call it easy recognition and may be a symbol for teenagers to show they have money so they donn brands rather than hunting for right.
If i have time, i experiment and figure out true value. If i dont have time, i probably endorse brands and thats how they churn money. :)
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