As always, those horrible people who work in advertising (you know the types - they have ponytails and wear red-rimmed glasses and funky suspenders on their trousers, and they have silly names like "Chad") have blown Valentine's day completely out of the water, and, two days before the actual event, we're already over it. Bombarded from every angle with love hearts and cheap pink champagne and sickly looking roses, we've grown weary and cynical, denouncing the day as just another advertising orgy and vowing not to take any part in it...
...Until 11:30pm Tuesday night, when we'll frantically dash to the corner shop and wrestle with some 87 year old hag for the last crappy card and out-of-date box of chocs so we have something to show for ourselves on Wednesday morning.
Anyhoo, as is my wont, I've been thinking a bit about love and relationships and, the other day in the shower (simmer down, perverts), it hit me - relationships are like shampoo. Think about it. There are hundreds of brands out there, all promising different things - shiny hair, silky hair, strong hair, frizz-free hair, voluminous hair, healthy hair, straight hair, curly hair - and you can pick and choose your shampoo according to what you currently want or need. Some shampoos are more expensive than others, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're better. Some shampoos come in really pretty packaging that make you want to reach out and touch them, but then when you open the bottle, you realise it's just another bog-standard soapy mess. In contrast, some shampoos look plain on the outside, but when you open the bottle you fall in love with the smell and then discover that they make your hair look like a shampoo advert.
Shampoos, like partners, start out by making fantastic promises for your hair, some verging on the ridiculous. And, usually, they work for a while but then they either stop working or the novelty wears off and you get bored and decide you want to change. Sometimes it's the smell that starts to get on your nerves, or maybe it doesn't deliver on the promise of making your hair look amazing. Sometimes it gets too expensive, and you realise that you simply can't afford to keep this habit. In worst cases, it causes an allergic reaction and you end up scratching for weeks afterwards (but I must point out that that hasn't happened to me, personally, honest!).
Although it sometimes seems like a lot of work, trawling through these different brands of shampoo trying to find the one that suits you, when you do find that special bottle that delivers on its promises and smells nice and makes your hair look gorgeous, it's always worth it. There's an awful lot to be said for having a good hair day.
So, this got me thinking even more (it was a very cerebral weeked) about love and relationships, and it made me wonder if relationships are merely another (albeit more sophisticated) form of brand loyalty? Just like when you find that special shampoo and stick to it for the rest of your life, isn't it also true that when you finally find that relationship that works for you and smells nice and makes your hair look good, that you'll want to stick to it? And that you'll do pretty much anything to keep it forever?
Brand loyalty is a bit of a sly concept. It is the ultimate goal of any marketing (sorry Mairéad, I mean "morkeshing") company - to keep the customers coming back time and time again. My faourite source of information on t'Internets, Wikipedia, has this to say about the concept:
In marketing, brand loyalty consists of a consumer's commitment to repurchase the brand and can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a product or service or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy. True brand loyalty implies that the consumer is willing, at least on occasion, to put aside their own desires in the interest of the brand.
Brand loyalty is more than simple repurchasing, however. Customers may repurchase a brand due to situational constraints, a lack of viable alternatives, or out of convenience. Such loyalty is referred to as "spurious loyalty". True brand loyalty exists when customers have a high relative attitude toward the brand which is then exhibited through repurchase behavior. This type of loyalty can be a great asset to the firm: customers are willing to pay higher prices, they may cost less to serve, and can bring new customers to the firm. For example if Joe has brand loyalty to Company A he will purchase Company A's products even if Company B's are cheaper and/or of a higher quality.
If we look at that a bit closer, we can see that it pretty much sums up relationships. Sometimes in a relationship, you have to put aside your own desires and compromise in order to make things work. Sometimes you end up in a relationship because of situational constraints, lack of alternatives or out of convenience, although, similar to brand loyalty, this "spurious loyalty" usually won't last. True and lasting relationships, like brand loyalty, exist when both partners respect the relationship and are willing to go to those extra lengths to keep each other happy. The brand delivers on its promises and the consumer faithfully makes that purchase every day.
Personally, up until recently, I haven't exhibited much brand loyalty when it came to shampoo. I'd get bored quite quickly, and flit from one shampoo to the next. However, the reason that I had the "Eureka" moment in the shower the other day is because I realised that I've been using the same shampoo - TRESemmé - for a couple of years now, and I'm still really happy with it. If anything, the more I use that shampoo, the better it makes my hair look and feel. In fact, I'm so happy with my brand, I've started acquiring the various brand accoutréments that go with the shampoo and conditioners - the heat-defence spray for when I use straighteners, the ultra-amazing hairdryer that uses negative ions (or something, I don't remember) to stop my hair from drying out, etc., etc.
Damnit, if TRESemmé made a car, I'd probably drive it.
Now that's brand loyalty!
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