Blog 2

Consumers often choose a specific brand out of personal experiences or their social and economic situations. Brands must be aware of this and either adjust themselves accordingly or make a convincing case for why they should still be chosen over the trending brand. Our current recession is a particularly interesting example of consumer behavior shifts and the design of brands because of the complexity involved in markets right now. http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/04/consumer-spending-recession-leadership-managing-mckinsey.html Betsy Bohlen, Steve Carlotti and Liz Mihas tap McKinsey Quarterly for information about current consumer behavior trends and analyze its projected impact on brands. A shift is occurring in which consumers are being more conservative with their purchases and testing the waters of off brand products instead of the better-known companies. As a result of this shift some companies will design a brand that evolves with the consumer market and begin creating products and advertising for cheaper versions of their once popular product driving the idea that the customer truly effects the direction of the design and brand itself. But at the same time we will see companies who continue their current brand strategy no matter the economic situation because they deem themselves a reliable brand that the cheaper alternatives cannot compete with in quality.

The Forbes article also takes note of an important new influence on brand in the form of customer research of products before purchase. Brand truth can be tested by whether a consumer community has positive or negative experiences with not only company aspects as; product, price, costumer service and convenience but also the brands design which influence general appeal and marketing. Essentially brand truth identifies what the limits of your company’s image are in the minds of the consumers. What is your brand and what is it not? (http://www.corporatelogo.com/articles/sales-strategies/brand-truth.html) Design will develop brand truth by exemplifying all the positives the brand will do for the consumer over the competitors and take it to the edge of its limitations. The design will reveal hidden aspects of the brand that are important to its customers and illuminating a clear, concise identity in their minds.

According to Essortment.com’s article on brand loyalty (http://www.essortment.com/all/brandloyalty_pqk.htm), “Consumer behavior is habitual because habits are safe and familiar.” A brand’s trust is essential to developing a habitual ‘safe’ and ‘familiar’ net in which the consumer can fall in when they are unsure of which product to choose. If a consumer is happy about a product and repeatedly turns to it for continuous positive use then it has generated loyalty. The two ideas go hand in hand.