Volume Control

You Always Hurt the Brand …

“Like personal relationships, brand love can easily turn to bitterness if unrequited. As Oscar Wilde noted, 'Each man kills the thing he loves.’ The more that consumers are attached emotionally to a brand, the more likely it is that they will feel 'betrayed’ in the event of substandard performance.”

Jeff Randall, The Daily Telegraph (London)

It’s a Thin Line

“To be loved, you’ve got to be hated.”

Sarah Mahoney, Marketing Daily, referring to research that found some of the most popular brands also have the most detractors.http://publications.mediapost.com/index

When a Brand Isn’t a Brand

“Consumers care more about categories than they do about brands … Consumers love categories, but they refer to these categories by brand names. Inside the consumer’s mind, the brand is just a shorthand device for the category.”

Laura Ries, Branding Strategy Insiderhttp://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2007/07/consumers-dont-.html

Spreading the Word

“Sometimes we’re just so fanatical about a particular product experience that we feel the urgent need to tell others; post it on a blog; spread it on a message board, and more.”

Pete Blackshaw, Consumer Generated Mediahttp://notetaker.typepad.com/cgm/

Branding as Community

“People do want authentic relationships and they are looking for it in brands as much as with other people. This is critical for people, because we don’t have traditional communities any more and people do tend to wear their identity on their sleeve in a sense.”

Paul Harrison, Deakin University, in The Age (Melbourne, Australia)

Frequent Kindess Club

“Be polite, be respectful, and be patient with your loyalty marketing efforts and you’ll find that they not only increase short-term transactions but drive long-term affection as well. That affection will pay off for years to come, long after the points and perks expire.”

Steve McKee, Business Week Online