20501005 - Entry 14

How to Build Brand Friendship
To create a truly powerful brand, you need to establish a sense of belonging, friendship, and dependability between product and customers

Summary

Human beings are social creatures. We need interaction with one another. It's the way we're made. When we meet someone new, we tend either to be drawn to them or to be disinterested for a whole host of reasons (some of which we may not even realize). Over time, however, we develop a continually evolving stable of relationships, some of which last for a lifetime.
That human dynamic is the root of brand loyalty as well. Our "relationships" with brands aren't nearly as deep or meaningful as human relationships, but they do share some of the same characteristics. The extent to which you can create a sense of belonging, friendship, and dependability between your brand and customers is the extent to which you have a powerful brand asset.





My Opinion


Throughout this semester, prof.Lee emphasized the importance of Value creation. What is the value creation? This article tell us that we can enhance and create brand value through creating a sense of belonging, friendship, and dependability between the brand and customer. It seems to me that the value of brand is priceless. Whenever I studied about some successful cases, the cases were always related to the strong brand power. It is critical to make the brand powerful. If somebody asked you "Is Nike a better shoe than Reebok?"You might say "Sure" Can you answer the reason? How do you feel when you hear the word'Nike'?Well, I might think of "Just do it"and also if we see soccer game,we can see many players who wear nike products.This can be a consequence of adding value. Brand managers should reposition the value of brand into customers' heart by using creating those I mentioned above.





Reference: "How to build brand friendship" by Steve McKee , Business Week, May 9, 2008