I often ask those who attend our personal branding classes and presentations to name brands that they like and regularly support, and to tell me what it is about them that they like. Typically, I get a wide variety of responses that names brands of food products, clothing, technology and cars. Here’s a sampling:
In the food category, many people agree they will by none but Heinz Ketchup or Hellman’s Mayonnaise because they know they can count on them to deliver consistent quality. President’s Choice, a Canadian private label grocery store brand, was lauded for its product innovation and quality, and was definitely the product of choice despite its higher price points. Diet Pepsi was appreciated for both what it did have (good flavor) and what it didn’t have (calories and caffeine.)
Nike is often named as a favorite athletic gear brand. People like how Nike’s products look, their quality, durability and fit. Birkenstock also offers good fit, is long lasting, and guaranteed. Real Simple Magazine has a lot of white space, is simple, and well organized. Aubrey personal care products are natural with no added chemicals and Lavonia Skin care is botanical and easy to use.When it comes to cars, especially mature car brands that have been on the market for years, people’s brand perceptions combine their own personal experience with stories told by others and the manufacturer’s brand marketing claims that align with both their own and other’s perceptions. One individual who participated in the “name your favorite brands” exercise volunteered both Ford and VW as cars that are very reliable and easy to find excellent service for. After hearing two such different brands married in this one sentence, can you hear the bodies dropping at Ford’s and VW’s respective ad agencies? Chevy was also described as reliable, better priced, better styled with better interiors.
For those who are not fond of the Ford brand, its name has become an acronym for that stands for “Fix Or Repair Daily.” Yet it was freely volunteered as a reliable brand! Our car quiz does not feature any of the big 3 US automotive giants because they each represent so many diverse brands, they have no distinctive brand attributes themselves. Think of it - what comes to mind when you think of any of them? Attributes and values, or the individual brands that they manufacture? You need to drill down to the Dodge, Corvette, Saturn and pickup truck lines, before any sort of consistent brand personality emerges.
Ford pickups were known as powerful workhorses for hard working men, but GM moved into that market with strongly competitive products, and now Toyota has offers a “tough truck” model that is successfully competing in the heartlands of America. Toyota is gaining marketshare from the domestic contenders, as its trucks are being found to be even more reliable and durable, by those for whom reliability and durably in their working vehicles is a necessity, not an option.
read comments (1)The oldest US car brand, Oldsmobile dates back to 1897, and was known for innovation. In the nineteen twenties, Oldsmobile’s sported chrome-plated trim, as opposed to the standard nickel-plate. 1938, GM offered the first fully automatic transmission in an Oldsmobile, in 1949, the first high compression overhead valve V8 engine and in 1966, the first front wheel drive. In 1994, Oldsmobile once again led the way by introducing an innovative optional safety feature: airbags!
Why did this iconic brand die? GM failed to maintain Oldsmobile’s distinct points of differentiation, those things that made it different, special, and unique. It stopped being the “innovative” brand and started to look like (and drive like) all of the other GM brands. Driven by a Chevy engine, a 1980s era Oldsmobile could have easily been mistaken for a Buick or Pontiac. This was an era during which GM car brands became generic, distinguishable only by their GM brand. Oldsmobile never recovered from the loss of its unique identity. To read the full story, click here.
Growing up in a “Ford family” meant there were vehicle perks that I enjoyed and took totally for granted. We didn’t get to keep the company lease cars for more than a year, so rather than wishing for new cars, my mother wished for continuity, sometimes leasing the same make, model and color for several years so that in shopping mall parking lots, it became easier to remember which one was “hers.”
Putting that experience aside, I did not get to feel the pain of driving an old or unattractive vehicle until I was a young adult. When the dashing Porsche 914 that I bought, second hand, in the spring, had to be taken off the road in the fall, I also had to give up those parts of my image that went with it. I loved its speed, its “cuteness,” its sassy color and dashing styling. Its removable roof made it an occasional convertible, and best of all, it was so low that I could enter and exit parking lots by driving right under lowered wooden gates. Yes, a lot of my 21 year old identity was wrapped up in that car, so when its replacement turned out to be a Buick Skylark that was close to as old as I was, painted in a sun mottled shade of pea green, I felt the humilliation of being suddenly being old and ugly, very acutely. Which cars have you owned that you cringe to recall? I think of the butter yellow Oldsmobile station wagon, unfondly known as “the banana boat,” and it’s successor, the powder blue Ford LTD station wagon which was too hideous to ever be given a name. Hmm, I wonder if my boyfriend at the time was sending me some not so subtle subliminal messages by finding me all of those unlovely cars? What cars have you had that you identified with most strongly? What is your “dream car?” If you are having dificulty deciding between several that are highly appealing, this free quiz will tell you what three car brands are most aligned with your own self-image and values. Click here to take the quiz.I was very pleased and surprised by my score. Without a doubt it was a huge upgrade from the “banana boat” and “the green gob,” that proceeded it. It even eased my loss of my young, oat sowing alterego, that dashing little Porsche 914.