Brands Like Us

I know, I cannot stop writing about this. It really does fascinate me. Here is a scatterplot illustrating the relationship between attitudes toward brands and identification with brands. As the dashed trendline illustrates, there is a tight fit.

Each black circle in this plot represents one brand. Those in the upper right corner are the most liked and the most identified with. Those in the lower left have some work to do with today's college students.

This has strong implications for brand advertising. Identifying with the brand is not only an important variable is persuading consumers, it appears to be the key variable. And this strong indentification has another side benefit, which my advertising guru father pointed out, "If a brand is 'like you,' it is going to take a big push to make you change."

These are the Lovemarks that Kevin Roberts talks about. Brands can develop loyalty beyond reason.

If you're curious, the most loved brands here were Disney, Nike, and BMW. The least loved were American Express and Citi. College students may use credit cards, but they do not like them.