(Random notes of the day)
Why brand is so powerful
I have watched the Ted Talk video "Start With Why" by Simon Sinek [0] time after time. I often turn over Youtube and type out the "Start" quickly to watch that vid every time I'm blue.
Steve Jobs's speeches are my target also when my mood is down. There's something powerful, in his words, or specifically, his passion.
Just this noon, after spending a fair amount of time watching Apple's marketing campaigns, ads, right now, I really want to try out the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Put it further, I wanna buy one, such as a Mac, the Watch, iPad, any one of those.
That desire, unconscious desire, is caused by the brand itself: how I'm told about the brand, the people using it, the products, Steve, everything, which has been praised by the world I’m living in for decades.
I'm not a nerd in Marketing, nor do I learn anything about it, but I do consciously understand why keeping watching Apple ads, listening to Steve Jobs or Johny Ive's words, or talking about how the iPhone's UI is so friendly. It makes me wanna try one.
When we put something on ourselves, for instance, a pair of Nike, we are putting out our identity. Those things we put on are the first thing that people see, or have an impression on when they look at us. We use the brands' products, which in this case is wearing a pair of Nike, because we want others to see us the way we see the brand. That brand's product is created by some people, just like you and me, who have a particular belief about the world, which drives their passion and dedication. And when we want people to see us the way we see, or believe about the brand, we actually want people to see our belief, about the world, about our surroundings, which is similar to that product's creator.
You can watch the video I mentioned above to understand, but I just replicate Simon's words here for an example. Nike is a commodity company, they sell shoes, just like Biti's, Under Armour, or even just like some guy at a Vietnamese local market. But when we think of Nike, we think of something larger, than just a shoe company. Likewise, when we think of Apple, it's something much, much larger than just a computer company. That moment when I wanna buy an iPhone is because it represents my belief, about the world. It's hard to tell what that belief is, but I can place naive words here, for the sake of this note: the belief in doing something different.
We all wanna buy Apple's products as we want others to see that we are the change-makers, the innovators, the creators, or the first. That's how much power a brand has. It can shape our perception, and "control" our behaviors. Well, I guess this explanation is kind of psychological stuff, so please take my word with a grain of salt, since I know nothing about it. But below is proof of what I've been saying.
Duke University's experiment went out to quickly flash out 2 logos: Apple and IBM, to 341 students, who afterward completed a given task. The result revealed that the group that got exposed to the Apple logo, unconsciously, is evaluated as more creative than the other one. [1]
The core element of brand.
To be continued...
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