Brands

[peterson 0]

What is it with brands then? Japanese seem to take it to an extreme. Are you into brands or not? A generalisation of course, but an interesting subject for sure.

 

I usually go by quality not a brand. Sometimes they go hand in hand of course. Other times not.

[Ocean11 0]

I like Ralph Lauren. Ralph fits me and looks good. Ralph also lasts for years making it worth the money.

 

No loyalty to anything else though.

 

Brands are an interesting animal to study.

[Goemon 0]

Some parents are taking brand loyalty to the next level .

 

I imagine alot of forum members may name their first born "Flow" if it's a girl or "Burton" if its a boy...

[slow 0]

I have Louis Vitton, Helmes bags, gucci watches in my closet. I don't use them any more.

Now I love to have something cool and good quality with no brand.

[nzlegend 1]

most people naturally assume brands as to mean clothing labels. These "labels" I cut off anyway (they itch my neck), therefore I care little for clothing brands etc.

 

Other "brands" other more vital to me, cars, computers, cameras, electronics, Mtn Bikes and snow equipment. Here there is real tangible difference between brands (not psychological as with the former) with performance repercussions if you go with the wrong brand.

 

That poll needs more options

[nzlegend 1]

from that link of Goemon

 

"There were also 55 boys named "Chevy" and five girls named "Celica."

 

hehe I can hear the minds of the Aussie fellas on this forum ticking over........"Kingswood" " Torana" "XJ" "Falcon" "Valiant" wow what great names for a kid!.

[Ocean11 0]

> most people naturally assume brands as to mean clothing labels

 

No they don't. I just started with clothes, but I experience the branding of my car just as much. As do many other people I'm sure.

 

And cutting the label out of your shirts doesn't actually affect the brand proposition very much.

 

slow, can I have the brand goods out of your closet please? Just put them in a box and send them chakubarai. Thanks!

[sweetaz 0]

brands are all about trust....you know what you are going to get before buying....(well, you think you do!)

To clarify:

you buy brands because you trust they are going to be good quality, cool, tastier,....whatever the company has marketed the brand as.

 

hmmmm...wonder what that says for peeps who name their kids after a brand...Chevy - big'n ugly but reliable?

[snowboard_freak 0]

Definatley agree with you there sweetaz. It's about trust.

 

I am more than happy to pay extra to a brand that I know is good and will be worth the money. Example - Mambo. A pretty pricey surf style clothing company. I have t-shirts from them that are abour 8 or so years old and I still wear them.

 

I reckon that with a lot of things you get what you pay for. Sure there are some brands which are total crap and charge like a wounded bull, but for the most part if you spend a bit more you will get a better product.

[Pedro 0]

I also wear Ralph Lauren cloths - almost everything I have. Underwear however, can only be Calvin Klien or Tommy Hillfiger. I've tried others and they don't work for me.

 

I use Burton boards, Oakley goggles and preffer Nike shoes. All for quality and durability. I also prefer to ride Jack Carper shaped T&C surf boards (but for no GOOD reason).

 

Stereo stuff I'm into brands as well. And for computer it's Dell.

 

Can't stand Louis Vuitton, gucci, and the like.

 

And you are a L-O-S-E-R if you wear Versaci (spelling??Sorry don't care). Sorry, just reallllly don't like that brando!

 

However, I do think Rolex is quality and holds its value well (but I don't have one).

[jared 0]

stereo stuff is pretty fickle - pays to demand the instruction manual off the shop guy and look in the back for the improtant numbers. Though often you can only get/trust those numbers from reputable brands anyway.

[indosnm 0]

I don't really care for brands BUT

 

1. I use Burton Bcoz I know the owner, freebies and I reckon the stuff lasts a few seasons.

 

2. Most clothes that I own are now Billabong. was once a sponsored rider now own a decent whack of shares that have made me a killing and seems stupid for me to go and support another brand unless i have an invested interest.

 

3. Ride Island surfboards because Glyndyn Ringrose shapes them and because they are going to make me very rich in japoan!

 

as for the handbags and crap, slow sell them on Yahoo auctions!

[Weegeoff 0]

Brands names are about Xploitation ,Low wages ,sweat shops labor and over priced goods

[amandanism 0]

totally depends on what it is. i buy reef flip flops because i know they are quality and are going to last. i dont even know if they are considered a top "brand". i dont think i own anything that is designer (louis vuitton etc)

[sweetaz 0]

I guess the real question is....

"When buying something..does it HAVE to be a brand?"

 

I suspect that is what we are all voting on.....however:

 

i would like to challenge those "don't give a fig'rolll" (whateva's) to answer this question....

 

when making a buying decision.....do you predominantly choose a brand that you know?

(it doesn't have to be the top brand - for instance.....unbranded running shoe vs. New Balance)

[neversummer 0]

 Quote:

Brands names are about Xploitation ,Low wages ,sweat shops labor and over priced goods

Thats only some major label brands. Go to an Italian or French designer and you pay for what you get..a quality material, made in Italy or France, by qualified people, and a price that is reasonable to expect.

I'm not talking D&G or Versace or the like but there are plenty of 'brands' that are not major international brands because they'd rather keep the operation under there own control.

I wear brands all the time but never wear something that has the brand name plastered all over it unless its a t-shirt.

[Siren 0]

The brand gurus will have you think that brands have personality e.g. adventurous (e.g. Patagonia), kick-ass (e.g. Nike), Englishness (e.g. Gieves & Hawkes), down-to-earth (e.g. Muji), classy (e.g. Le Perla) etc.

 

I believe that the brands a person buys reflect his/her personality.

[neversummer 0]

I agree with that to Siren..except when soone is trying to be someone they quite obviously are not.

[Siren 0]

A good starting point is David Aaker's Managing Brand Equity (Free Press).

[nekobi 0]

there are some brands i'm totally loyal to, like apple, swatch, birkenstock. love all the products i have from them. for other brands, like clothing labels, it just makes shopping easier. for instance, i know i can find western sizes in good styles at zara, so i'll shop there when i'm in tokyo. but for a lot of things, it doesnt matter which brand (if any) i have. but people do trust brands that are familiar to them, thats why advertising works.

[klingon 10]

Heinz. No-one does ketchup better. Kagome Ketchup

[Pedro 0]

Oh, it HAS TO BE HEINZ!!

 

BTW, What's the deal with DelMonte calling their ketchup 'Catsup?'

[damian 0]

I am a "see it, like it, buy it" type. I often dont even check the brand before the pruchase. Then once I own it I usually forget what brand it is. 90% of the time it isn't any brand of note anyhow.

 

The only brands I try to avoid are sports clothing brands.

 

The only thing that comes to mind in the trust and reliability catagory would be those 3 blade razors. They work really well so I keep buying them.

[badmigraine 0]

Purchasing a branded product mainly based on trust, prior satisfaction, quality, etc. (Example: nekobi prefers Birkenstocks because they're comfortable and reliable)

 

VERSUS

 

Purchasing a branded product mainly to show status, style or conformity. (Perfect example: an unemployed teenager with an 80,000-yen Gucci bag walking around Shibuya)

 

 

Of course there is some overlap here. For example, if you think Brand A makes a great product, then naturally you don't mind showing it off, bragging about it, or recommending it.

 

The converse may be true too. Status brands can't maintain if they put out a crappy product.

 

In the former case, who could argue with it? You buy the good stuff that you like.

 

In the latter case, it's hard to see the good points about such superficial behavior. I suppose it's fun if you have money and enjoy style, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's a very human, vigorous, positive trait to want to look good and be seen as successful. The problem I see is the perversion of this impulse in certain quarters, where people fetishize status brands to the extent that it affects their entire lifestyle, or leads them into strange predicaments (enjou kousai, shopaholics, massive credit card debt, environmental havoc caused by superconsumerism, etc.).

 

Brands and brand science. In many ways, this is our own Matrix. A fairy-tale of multilayered disinformation and hype with one goal: sell product. Not an evil goal, but some of the effects are questionable.

 

Look at it this way: just one company, The Gap, has an annual advertising budget of half a billion dollars (per AdBuster magazine, Vol. 11 No 6 Nov/Dec 2003).

 

$500,000,000... That's a lot of money, and that's only one company.

 

Nothing intrinsically wrong with this, I think. I'm a free marketeer myself.

 

But just think about the power to control what you see, read and hear that $500,000,000 would give you.

 

Now add all the other enterprises inviting you to spend: meat, computers, recreation, automotive, pharmaceutical, travel, financial...

 

There is no dark agenda here, but it's interesting to look at "alternative" information sources too. Nobody is fully informed, nobody knows everything, and there is no bias-free magic road.

 

But at least there is the Internet for when you get tired of wallowing in the major global info/news/commercial feed.

 

I suppose in the old days you had to subscribe to some pretty weird publications to find out what really goes on to put a steak on your plate or deliver a pair of Nike shoes from the hands of a 10-year-old worker to your shiny local shopping mall.

 

[OnTheTin 0]

Catsup? Whats that?