Branding Strategy Insider

Brands and the Ladder of Life

One of the typical questions marketing people ask themselves is, What’s the lifetime value of a customer?

Presumably a company benefits by keeping its customers satisfied over an extended period of time. Nice idea in theory, but this kind of thinking often leads a company down the wrong path.

Take Saturn, for example. Here was a brand built on the ultimate in customer satisfaction. Comfortable showrooms, no high-pressure sales people, no haggling over prices. ‘A different kind of company. A different kind of car.’

The first Saturn model, the S series, was wildly successful. For a number of years, the average Saturn dealer sold more cars than the average dealer of any other brand. (In 1996, for example, the average Saturn dealer sold 776 cars versus 684 for Honda and 606 for Toyota. The average Chevrolet/Geo dealer that year sold only 237 cars.)

But what would happen when a Saturn customer got older and made more money? The S series, after all, was a relatively inexpensive compact car. No problem, decided Saturn management, We’ll take care of our customers by introducing the L series, a larger, more expensive car. ‘The next big thing from Saturn.’

Not a good move. Sales of the S series fell because the model was ‘long in the tooth.’ Sales of the L series suffered because prospective customers thought ‘it was a little too expensive for a Saturn.’

Beyond Brand Preference

There's a coveted place beyond brand preference. It's called brand insistence. You're there when your brand is perceived to be the only viable solution for the customer’s need. Put another way, the customer does not pursue substitutes if the brand is not available. The brand has established a consideration set of one.

Achieving brand insistence requires overcoming 6 of 7 steps in the ladder of the mind. The consideration set continuum looks like this:

•    I would never choose to buy this brand
•    I’ve never heard of this brand
•    I’ve heard of this brand but don’t know much about it
•    Not one of my preferred brands but I’d try it under certain circumstances
•    Not one of my preferred brands but from what I’ve heard about it recently I’d like to try it/try it again
•    This is one of my preferred brands
•    This is the only brand I would ever consider buying

Brand insistence is reserved for those brands that have been carefully designed to posses these characteristics: relevant differentiated benefits for their target customers, ability to build strong emotional connections, have a high degree of awareness, are perceived to deliver deep value for the price and are easily accessible.

These drivers work together to move customers from 1. being aware of your brand 2. purchasing your brand 3. preferring your brand 4. being loyal to your brand to 5. insisting on your brand.

Sponsored By: Brand Aid