I’m watching one of the “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads and something strikes me. When we buy from a brand we love, we’re trying to take some quality of that brand into ourselves. Just like cannibals.
Huh?
In cultures that practiced cannibalism, a warrior might eat the heart of his enemy to gain his strength, or the brains of his enemy to gain his cunning. There was something in his enemy that he admired, desired for himself, and he thinks, “By golly if I have to eat him to get it then that’s what I’ll do.”
I know this is a crazy comparison, but I think a powerful brand produces this effect in us. I look at Mr. Mac and think “He’s relaxed, he’s cool. He’s sophisticated without being pretentious. He’s high tech without being a geek. I want to be like that.” I perceive the Apple brand as having qualities that I want to associate with myself. My credit card tells the rest.
It’s pretty much the same thing with my car. I drive a 2002 VW Passat. It’s a great car and I enjoy driving it. Before I bought this car I had always driven Toyotas (our other car is a Toyota minivan). Before I bought the Passat (my first VW by the way) here’s what I thought about the brand:
- smart
- well engineered
- cool design
- good value
- doesn’t scream “look how much money I’m making!”
I want those qualities to be associated with me, and I wanted people to know that I value those things when they see me driving this car. I associate a lot of those things with Toyota too, but I felt like the 2002 Camry had lost some of the cool design factor, so I started looking at other brands.
There are brands I buy because I’m used to them (my toothpaste for instance), but I don’t have any hunger for them other than habit. Others have qualities that I definitely don’t want and I avoid them like chopped liver. But the ones that get my money again and again are the ones that embody something I want to be, not just have.
Now whether buying a brand actually changes me is another question entirely. Ask that warrior if roasted brains made him smarter.