Although I typically do not discuss "modern" or "pop" culture here, it is not something that I am completely unattuned to. I follow a series of posters on The Tube of You that comment on such things - mostly movies, games and comics. It is not that I am specifically into any of those currently, but I am familiar with the intellectual properties and having a passing interest in the direction of the industry.
Earlier this week I was listening to one such broadcast in which they were discuss the trajectory of a long running intellectual property. Listening to the discussion, I suddenly made the discovery of how little I held any interest in "brands" anymore.
As I sat and thought about it more, the fact became more apparent to me. I am generally not a watcher of "series", and I have not collected any sort of things - be they series of books, entertainment, or even "things" - in years. Sure, I still hold an interest in 1st Edition Gamma World items and look (here and here), but seldom if ever do I find something I do not have. Most of my purchases for the past years have either been of specific authors I like or just random things that catch my eye and hold my interest.
It extends to other things as well: I am far more likely anymore to purchase something from a small or specialty vendor or local chain than I am from a corporate brand. Part of that is just a preference to fund the small rather than the large; part of that is sheer obstinance on my part even if it may cost me a bit more more.
Which of course, is exactly the wrong sort of opinion to have in the current economy.
Consumer based economies require people to purchase things - be they actual physical things or non-physical things such as e-books (real books being physical of course), games, movies, or other intangible items. Best of all if you can convince people that they "need" to have all the things in order to be happy.
What happens when - if by finance, economy, or personal choice - people stop buying things, or more specifically non-specifically, things that they do not need? Maybe even the things that industry has “convinced them they need? What happens if that built in market dies?
The good news, I suppose, is I think we are getting to witness it in real time - if by "good news", I mean "actual verification of theoretical impacts".
For many years, many companies have been able to assume that customers would simply be there, because "brands" and engagement and the power of marketing convincing people they need everything, including those things that they do not really need to survive. In the world we seem to be entering, Such things seem to no longer be a given.
It is one thing to assume and believe that the customer can and will buy your wares because they have always done so. It is another to realize that that customers are not necessarily the captive, built in market you wanted or needed them to be.
Interesting thoughts, TB. I wonder if perhaps industry has assumed that customer loyalty would always be a constant.
ReplyDeleteI rarely buy the big brands anymore either, and I'll be interested to read the comments on this, and why people make their choices one way or the other. Like you, I heartily support small businesses. The biggest factors for me, though, are price and quality. Price because of my limited budget, and quality, because the degradation in quality has makes many items imprudent purchases. I'm always disappointed when a small company is bought up by a big one, because it seems its only a matter of time before the product becomes a poor imitation of its former self. More and more, Dan and I look for alternative ways to do things. Or just do without.
Interesting comment, and reflective of the technology trajectory of Nokia and Apple. Both had their day in the sun, but Nokia was undone by missing the shift from dumb to smartphone. Apple is finding it increasingly difficult to motivate customers to buy their latest offering, ihe cult status is not enough to keep the punters coming.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteLeigh, price and quality has become more and more of a factor to me. In some cases, national or international brands are not necessarily the least quality (perhaps rarer now, but not absent of it).
DeleteSmall company buyouts are indeed almost always disappointing, as it feels like seldom if ever is the transaction an improvement for the smaller company. In general, it is a purchase for product or intellectual property, and too often the small company simply disappears, swallowed up in all but trade name by a behemoth.
Interestingly, I have mixed feelings about something like E-Bay or Etsy. I can find support smaller manufacturers or home based businesses, but I grump about having to essentially pay a transaction fee to a large corporation.
Like you, we are learning to do without more and more as well.
Will - Good point about Apple and Nokia. The differences between the versions are less and less, and I find it harder and harder to justify buying a "new" version for minimal if any improvements. If your business model is only based on more and more and replacement every few years, it is likely to fall in the current economic model.
Delete(Apologies for the second delete of your comment - apparently it replicated itself).
Look at this winter's social media driven frenzy on the Stanley water cups. I prefer to give business to the local folks, especially since the pandemic began. There's a local bakery that I started to visit instead of purchasing baked goods from the chain supermarket. Rather give the $$ to local families and their products are tasty too! Oh, up above, fourth paragraph from the end..."Maybe even things things that the even need?" Couple of corrections there TB?
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - Thank you! Good heavens, I sometimes word salad myself to death. I blame post Produce (A)Isle editing...
DeleteStanley cups...other than the amazing mems it produced, I literally have (and had) no idea what the fuss was about. It is an insulated cup. I have at least 10 perfectly functional ones on our shelves.
The argument, I suppose, runs that if we are not "visiting" the brand markets, we are denying local individuals jobs. Which is true, of course - but recent events also indicate "the brands" will shut things down whenever it is suitable for them, and individuals be darned. Perhaps in the end, better to ensure local chains of supply and support whenever possible.
I am not much of a consumer. What I do buy is mostly based on what I perceive as quality over the brand or the price. But I do admit, that sometimes I start my search by looking for the brand first that I have bought and liked in the past, so I am brand loyal to some extent. When it comes to my garage, I'm even more brand loyal as all my tools that require batteries are yellow in color. I don't necessarily think each one is the best out there but they are good enough for my purposes and give me flexibility in using batteries which is of huge importance.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part, I avoid stores more than I do brands. I actively avoid all of the big box stores that stock relatively everything because they tend to collect brands of poor quality, something that I seek. I mainly use a few select ones of them for basics where quality is not necessary. If I need quality, I'm left to seek out better options online by filtering by known brands and countries of origin.
Ed, I have become much less of a consumer than I used to be. I buy what I need, mostly when I think I need it. Brands are only important if it is a known quantity - like your example, for tools when I need them. And to your point, in some cases (like interchangeability) brands make complete sense.
DeleteMy visit to stores of almost any kind has continued to dwindle over the years. I still will stop at a used book store - I am a sucker for them - but even with that, my first question (if not a small book store visible owned by an owner) is "Can I get it cheaper on a used book outlet on-line?" Beyond that, I visit a home goods store (Big Box to be fair, as they are near me), the grocery store at Produce (A)Isle, and occasional a used clothing store. I really do not need more than that.
Aha! Irrelevant and irreverent pop culture nonsense - at last, something I can speak up about without feeling the fool!
ReplyDeleteIt seems that over the recent past, a great many entities have forgotten that brand loyalty is not so different from any other sort of loyalty. It must be fostered over time, not cast to the winds over petty and reactionary foolishness. If, for instance, an entity makes a sudden and puzzling decision to repeatedly malign its current followers for their unchangeable intrinsic properties, they will begin to look elsewhere for whatever service that was once provided, and no amount of further spite and spittle directed at their backs will make them return. If you beat a dog every day, you've no right to complain that it flinches whenever you lift your hand.
But it does not need to be active malice that drives the once-loyal to abandon. The slow realization that their idols, for lack of better term, have fallen from grace at some point past can be just as disenfranchising. How many once-beloved Brands™ have slowly, inexorably allowed the quality of their products to suffer in the name of margins? Or worse still, had a sudden and noticeable plunge, all the while expecting their customers to hold them up as their standards vanish like mist in the sun? Trust is a delicate currency, and second only to time as the most difficult to accrue and easy to misuse.
Another venerable blogger I visit has been claiming of late that we are degrading into a low-trust society, and I find it hard to disagree. However, it seems that such a thing inevitable as the tide - all what rises must fall in time, or some such wisdom I've no place speaking. The devaluation of Brands™ seems a consequence of happenstance - even if it's not yet another appendage of the Leviathan, those who champion it are so very far away. Why trust someone who's not within arm's reach, unable to grip them by the shoulders and shake vigorously for their hubris should the need arise?
Passing Peanut - I hope you never feel the fool in commenting here - After all, the biggest fool here is me!
DeleteYou are correct that the Brands had come to assume that customer loyalty was a given. And in a lot of them - thinking movies, television, books, games here - the quality has gone down, and significantly. "The Sludge Must Flow" says The Critical Drinker, and so we are treated to a constant flow of material that 20 years ago would have been laughed off as foolish and childish.
Trust is not just a thing between people. It is between individuals and the things they frequent as well. Like any relationship, violate that trust too often and the relationship suffers. One first becomes disbelieving, then anger, and then ultimately turns into indifference. If you are a person, this is relational. If you are business though, this will cost you money - as companies are finding out now.
We are becoming a low trust society. I have become much more so - in fact, I now often assume the worst of corporations, not the best at all. Sad, but here we are. And even in terms of new content, my interest is largely in those creators that I have heard and seen and like. The days of faceless content creators is over.
A very well thought out post. You should post more often.