Brand Understanding

We ourselves come under brand terminology. Everyday we present ourselves to others and share ideas, experiences, work and emotions. People start making assumptions and perceptions when they meet other people. This is what as a consumer we do when see a brand for the first time or in some new look. We can be termed as a name, symbol, color, term, shape or combination of all these in order to portray ourselves as brands.

But question is do we need brands or its the quaulity of the product or service we require?
Is a brand a need or a want and Is a brand a need first and then want or vice versa?
Is a brand a need and want at the same time?


Answer to first question is that at the end of the day we want the services of the product. Which ever brand it maybe as long as it satisfies the consumer its perfect in consumer mind. Brands are made so that it can identify itself as superior from other products. With branding we can understand a products attributes and quality. We do require branding otherwise we won't be able to differentiate between good products and the bad products. If i dont have a name then people wont be able to recognize me. So branding is important.

Now coming to the second question is a brand a need or a want? For some it might be a need and for some it might be a want. Lets take the following examples. A young teenager sitting with friends at a park. He finds out that all his friends have ipod and he does'nt. It would make him inferior and will get the urge to own one. This is due to peer pressure. The young teenager would try to persuade his parents to get him one. Lets suppose he gets it. The question here is, did he really need it. Perhaps not at the time he wanted it so deperately. So at this moment of time its a want. But later on when that young teenager uses the ipod and finds out its usage , he would realize that its a need for him now. Like with his ipod he can listen to music while he is on move. He can upload his data on to the ipod. He can share music and other data with his friends. These things which were not a want for him now have become a need.

Lets take another example now, mobile phones e.g. Nokia when came into the market they were not a need. They were expensive and not everyone could afford it. So at that period of time it was a want. But as time passed and the mobile phone became cheaper it became a need forevery one. Now every teenager like to have a mobile phone before having anything else. Its a desperate need now not just for youngsters but also for family members to stay in contact with their loved ones. So here a brand would become a need.

Coming to next question that is a brand a need and a want at the same time. Lets take an example of smoking. A guy who did'nt use to smoke gets into habit of smoking with the help of a friend. At first he would smoke less and less but over a period of time he would develop taste for a specific brand. So for this guy smoking a cigeratte is a need and smoking a specific brand is a want. So we see the difference with above example that a brand can be a need and also a want at the same time.

These are issues that might seem not important but when it comes to feelings, emotions, joys and experiences these things do matter.

We can change our preferences any time we like but the need and want factors will always remain inside us forever.


Asad Hassan Butt