BRANDS!!BRANDS!!BRANDS!!

Brands Brands Brands!!!

Before sharing my views on this topic would like to share a small incident about my next door neighbour. She has a daughter of age 13, hmm just entered teens so you can imagine how teens are these days. The other day I was rushing for some work and waiting eagerly for the elevator to come to my floor. I heard the little teenager sobbing and there was a heated argument going over between the mother and daughter. I overheard the girl telling her mom, “You had promised me, mom, you always break your promises.”  Well, it's not good to do hear someones conversation, but we both shared a good rapport and the conversation was alluring. So in spite of getting late thought of sorting it out for her. I was astonished when heard her story. This teen chick wanted a phone, a smart phone which would cost 50000 inr and her mom was offering her another phone with almost same features but an average labelled company which was equally good. So the mother was right I guess here. But she refused to accept any other phone. Phew!!PEER PRESSURE YOU SEE!! All my friends have it, she refused to accept any other brand. I would agree if someone from business class would prefer this phone then there would be a valid reason. It would be more beneficial to him/her considering few extra features. But a school girl is inclined more towards the phone because of its BRAND name.

Breakthrough Brands grow fast, get big sales, and garner headlines. They're companies who had marketing as part of their strategy from the very beginning.

An influencer is an individual who has the power to affect purchase decisions of others because of his/her authority, knowledge, position or relationship with his/her audience.

Lets classify our thoughts -

WHY SHOULD WE USE BRANDS?

1.       Because we get a better quality. For eg., If I am getting a laptop of a renowned brand at almost an equivalent non renowned brand then it is worth it as it is a reputed brand and will ensure superior quality due to its reputation in the market.

2.       Self Esteem: When we wear or possess things of reputed brands it boosts our self-confidence. (although should not be this way every time)

3.       If you really like the design of a particular product I guess then its fair enough to buy that product.

WHY SHOULDN’T WE USE BRANDS?

1.     We wear it to get acknowledged, noticed and appreciated and in return it boosts our confidence in a wrong way. I wore a dress from a renowned brand and then my friend was wearing a no label dress which was more appreciated. So its choice that matters too. Also how well you carry it.

2.     You wear a brand just to flaunt the brand name and burden yourself to put that extra cash.

3.     You buy it just because it’s a brand whether it suits you or not but because you wanna be at par with the people around you.

4.     You go for a brand just because you want people to know that you are rich and possess expensive things.

5.      To display status in society.

…and the list goes on for wrong reasons. In the name of brands, people fool us to any extent.  As long as we are buying brands for right reasons it's perfectly fine. But most of the time we possess brands for wrong reasons and we constantly pressurise ourselves to burn out the extra cash. We are ready to pay a higher amount even to the first copy of any brand as long as it displaying the brand name. It's insane!! Let's grow up!! We are fooling our own self with an illusion of using the original brand.

Can I say that most of the times we prefer brands to get a superiority feeling or rather to make someone feel inferior? Who says people look up to you only when you posses branded stuff. Yes may be for first two instances and later on, as they get to know you closely they will definitely change their opinions irrespective of whether we are using the costliest brand. If you think people will respect and judge you only if you use brands then ideally we don’t need such people who choose materialistic things over intellectual. Our feelings and identities have a great influence on which brands we choose.

We waste so much money just for a simple white shirt just because down there is the small logo of the brand which we proudly flaunt and ensure it is visible to others. Unknowingly by wearing brands we are endorsing and promoting it at no cost. So when we summarise 90 percent of the time we prefer brands to boost our confidence basically to get a feel good factor. Its ok to do something which makes us happy. But imagine god forbid if there would be no brands in future....then? Poor self esteem? This should not happen. Self-confidence does not come from BRANDS and if it's coming from brands for you trust me it will be temporary and will definitely not last longer. The challenge is to wear something ordinary and still look extra ordinary. In this way we are setting a wrong example for our kids actually misleading them. And children are the future of tomorrow, hence spoiling future.

Murray, a consumer psychologist in New York, fMRIs show that consumers evaluate brands mostly based on emotions rather than information or facts about the brand.

Confidence comes from brands

Confidence comes from being who you are, taking steps to achieve your goal, helping the needy, being kind, apologising and learning from your mistakes and above all being a good human.

Practical :

Try being an amazing person at least for a week(if you are a brand freak) without possessing any brand. Trust me you will feel incredible and much more confident.

No Offence against any brand.