I am a brand loyal type of gal.  There are definitely certain brands that I prefer and remain loyal to, whether or not they are the best product/service out there.  I believe this stems from my loyal nature in general.  I’m certainly very loyal to my friends, my schools, even the places I’ve lived.  I do what I can to be on their side and defend them against differing opinions.  The same goes for products I use – it seems that part of why I learn so much about them is so I can explain them to the ignorant or the skeptics.  And when my beloved brands are in trouble, I’m fretting along with them, hoping they’ll survive and giving them as much business as I can manage (like today at the Mongolian Grill place, where I even left a tip).

I have pretty strong convictions about the Asian food I eat.  In fact,I can think of exactly what brand of soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, shrimp crackers, fish sticks, and saqima I always go for.  I’m a little less picky with my American brands (food or not) and there tend to be one or two major ones of each category that I like.  I’ve stuck to mostly one store for clothes, one bank for checking and two for savings, two brands for computers, one for shampoo, one for toothpaste… you get the idea.

Yikes, not that type of branding!

I’m fascinated by branding and what motivates me stick with the brands that I end up choosing.  Once I go for one, it’s really hard for me to switch to something else.  It’s kind of like when I go to a restaurant and choose an item on the menu, the next time I go I’m likely to order the same thing, no matter how hard I try to force myself to get a different dish.  Much of it is because I have expectations the next time I go and no other dish satisfies what I was craving quite like that original one.  And that’s exactly why I wanted to eat at that particular restaurant in the first place: because I was in the mood for that dish I had there.  So similarly I wonder if perhaps I stick with my brands because I expect something very particular from them and I know that I won’t be disappointed.  Though other brands might be better in other areas, those aren’t the areas I value as much.

Yes, now that seems like a reasonable explanation.  But how do they get me in the first place?  I know there’s a certain aesthetic appeal, as well as practicality/functionality.  Sometimes a logo can really make or break it for me.  That first impression tells me a lot:

Is the company innovative and advancing?

Is the company fresh, hip, and cool or too stodgy?

Did they put enough effort into the logo for me to trust that they’d put enough effort into their product/service too?

Does the branding reflect what their company is about or are there mixed messages?

And so images that are too boring, not eye-catching, or memorable are often thrown out pretty quickly.  Names and color schemes have a similar effect, but don’t affect me quite as strongly.  The ones I’m drawn to are also judged based on usefulness and ease of use to determine the ultimate choice.  Oftentimes it’s quite a hard decision, especially when it comes to technology.  With all the new ones coming out, it’s hard to choose which company to go with.  At least in the other arenas, things don’t move quite at that breakneck speed and I’ve settled pretty comfortably into a brand I love.

Ultimately, I think it comes down to which ones can grab my attention, then give me a good enough experience to not want to try somewhere else.