Blog 2 *

In just the past decade or so consumer trends have done a “about-face” in a couple major areas that I can recognize: environmental paradigm shift in products and what is expecting in products. People have changed their values in products and to me this is most evident in vehicles. Just From 2003 to now I have seen the trend move from SUV’s and monolithic vehicles such as the Hummer to more environmental conscious and economically sound vehicles like the Prius or other hybrids. This may is to the recession of course and also it has to due with the war I think and the need to feel safe that that time created, so people would buy these giant “secure” SUV’s now, the recession is in the mind of the typical consumer more than the war so the buying trend will shift accordingly.

The design of a product is extremely important to develop and reinforce brand truth. The design of a product appeals to our most basic and fundamentals, and if the design isn’t aligned to the brand or able to convey what the brand is representing the product will probably fail. It’s like putting the finest wine in a beer aluminum can; design helps define the brand better. Once again I refer to vehicles again; because just looking at a vehicle you can tell what category it is, luxury cars look elegant and smooth like a Mercedes-Benz and Dodge Charger being a muscle car looks strong and aggressive. The Dodge Avenger appears to look like an aggressive muscle car but lacks power and as a result its sales are very poor. Design should follow brand.

To truly have brand loyalty one must make the consumer happy or pleased, so I suppose that you do have to produce happiness or at least a pleasing moment to create brand loyalty. From that point on one must be consistent and evolving. I remember the first time I tasted Happy Meal, I loved it as a kid and it literally made me happy, it had food, and a toy. The brand made me happy and consistently did so every time I went there as a child.