

Ask HN: How do brands work? - diminium

How does branding work?  Especially for us mathematically minded folks.<p>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?
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pedalpete
I don't believe brands are a method to 'outsource' thinking. I don't think it
has anything to do with 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.

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mforsberg
"Are brands basically a way to let people be lazy by outsourcing their
thinking?"

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.

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antonwinter
i've got some thoughts around brands.

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 )

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opminion
This answered this question for the mathematician in me:

    
    
       http://www.economist.com/node/771049
    

The Economist in 2001.

