Maybe We Had It All Wrong . . .

We've spent the last month going on and on about some of the most amazing brands in existence today. We've been completely hyped up over the brands that were able to connect with amazing amounts of people and earn tremendous customer support however we missed one major factor that is present in all great brands.

They all fit a basic need and had a useful meaning.

For years I would tease my mom for buying what I considered generic house hold items, one in particular being Aim Toothpaste . . .

. . . I would always say that the only reason they were still in business was because she bought all of their supply. I felt like we should be brushing our teeth with brands such as Crest or Colgate. I would always see people on T.V. with their perfect smiles in the Crest commercials and think, "One good brush with that stuff and I'll have perfect teeth". However my mom had a basic understanding of brands that I did not, the same understanding that we all have but don't realize it.

She recognized that the brand she was investing in filled her basic need in its simplest form, that anything extra was unnecessary and that those two factors were enough for her to make the commitment to the brand.

Looking back my mom was an amazingly beautiful woman with an amazing smile. No she didn't use Crest or Scope but what she did use got the job done and that was enough to keep her committed to the brand.

In time's of such economic uncertainty people don't really have time for the "extras" certain brands offer as a part of their package. People will commit to what fits their most basic needs and occasionally visit the land of "extra" when resources permit. Sustainable brands are not built off of visitors but off of those who have made the commitment to the brand. The minute a song, shirt, vase, book or message losses it's most basic purpose is the minute it becomes "extra", something seldom visited. Keeping a true purpose and strong useful meaning attached to your brand is what keeps it from being something people have to fit into verses something that fits into people.