THE POWER OF A BRAND: WHAT BRAND ARE YOU?

Hello everyone! It’s a beautiful Monday and everyone is back to work after the good number of days off work for those in Nigeria, given the bank holidays last week not to mention the weekend that followed immediately after.

It means everyone has had a good rest no doubts, right?

Good because it definitely would bring positive vibes and results on whatever you do. Make that business and brand more profiting this week.

Aha! Speaking of brands. An encounter ‘yours sincerely’ had in the course of the weekend reminded me again on the huge effect a powerful brand can have on people especially the youths which is nearly always the biggest target market of many producers especially when it has to do with electronics, information technology, fashion and the likes. Make a good impression of your brand on our youths today and I kid you not, your business will go places without you having to ‘sweat it out’ too much like your counterparts would do.

Many of you would agree to a large extent that the youths of today, fortified with technology make the world go round. With them on your team, you will always have a boost of energy whenever the need arises as long as you give them the wherewithal to be all they can be. In line with what the team represents though!

Why did I decide on this topic?

In order not to renegade on a promise made to one of my wards which was to buy her a new phone; over the weekend I decided to fulfill that promise therefore, on my way home from work on Friday, I stopped at an outlet for phones and after going through several arrays of phones given the number of brands stands in the outlet, I was eventually convinced by the attendant at one of the stands to buy a particular brand which she said was new in the market.

Now, the phone in every way looked very good to me safe for the name. Nevertheless, even though the brand of phone didn’t ring a bell, as an outcome of good marketing by the attendant, I decided on this ‘no bell ringing’ brand as the phone and all of the accessories looked really nice to the eye so I paid and left the shop happily with a feeling of  ‘at least I have fulfilled my promise’. Yeah right, you wish!

Alright fast forward!

My predicament started when I got home and I went, “guess what, your new phone is in my laptop bag” and I continued towards the bathroom.

While in the bathroom, I was expecting someone to knock or hear some excitement coming from the sitting room having seen the phone, but alas, I got no “yippee” or even a weak “yeah”. Hence I decided to keep calm, finished all I was doing and then when I got to the dinning, she was fiddling with the phone and a look on her face told me all I needed to know. She didn’t fancy the phone one bit.

Alright, sitting next to her at the dinning, “you don’t like it right”?

She nodded unconvincingly in the affirmative but I knew she was trying not to upset me so I said, “alright just pack it up, I will get someone to buy it and get you another one”.  And to my amazement, without even giving it a second thought, she did my bidding in flash.

Later on, before bedtime, she came to me and said “please I don’t want you to be angry, the phone is very fine, but I don’t like the NAME. You can even buy me a cheaper phone than this one as long as it’s as big as this one but it has to be a Samsung”.

At that point, I was immediately reminded that you can never underestimate the power of a good BRAND.

I’m not holding forte for Samsung, rather the butterflies in my stomach right now is an upshot reminder that the little advert done here by this mere mention was not paid for *winks* but then in order to get my message across, I have to say it as it is. Who knows, I just may get a paid advert from Samsung soon. *smiles*

Now back to the main issue.

My ward insisted on having this brand because that is what most of her friends have and according to her, the picture quality is “baaaaad” hence she would have none other but the almighty Samsung.

And so the next day, we went hunting for her choice of Samsung phone and luckily I got someone to buy that my ‘no bell ringing’ brand even though I lost a few bucks.

Interestingly, after a long hunt, she eventually got another brand which of course rings many great bells as she got very confused when she was faced with too many options. The bottom line is she got exactly what she desired even though I had to end up spending more.

But then, I am still fulfilled that she made her choice and she was happy for it as the “Yippeees” and “thank you” that followed would ever remain priceless. As at this morning, I was still getting the happy “thank you”.

Well everyone is happy and my predicament ended.

Never underestimate the power of a good brand!