Creating and managing brands,

Alice M. Tybout & Gregory Carpenter

            The analysis of different kinds of brands in this article is well done – but can they explain the power of brands? In other words – how does the system work?

            Brands work because we let them. As noted in the article, few people can actually taste the difference between two types of similar softdrinks. But ask anyone for the difference between Coca-cola and Pepsi and you’ll get a far more complex answer. The truth is, that brands are association-games. That’s how our minds work – we associate a clever advertising campaign, our previous experience with the product, and its services, the way a product looks or feels, with why we’ll buy it today. It’s the oldest method in the world. As a consumer you can disagree with it, and enforce this by not buying the product or not making use of the service next time. There are masses of people, however, that are not aware of the power of brands.

The problem that many consumers have with brands is that what a certain name or product is associated with, is not necessarily correct. Some may call it brainwashing, however, consumers still have freedom of choice. The idea is that a branded product costs much more money than a rather similar product that has no or a little-known name. And only because it’s not advertised and hasn’t had time to build its image yet.

Blogging the Market

George N. Dafermos

Weblogs can be considered a new market, a new opening, a place for a new kind of consumers. Yet blogging is considered as something that operates outside of the market, con-marketing I could say. Will this attempt of profit out of blogging work in reality?

The greatest aspect of blogging is that brand names are of no importance. Smaller companies have just as much chance of making it as larger corporations do.

There are examples of weblogs used to make money (as mentioned in the article), and some are highly succesful. In a way it is easier to use a weblog and get your name out there that to use the old-fashioned marketing systems, but in the end the latter will win. See, consumers are attuned to products and services showing up on their TV screen – they have much more question about the reliability of a service that is presented on the Net. There are many people who use the internet, but there are even more that watch television and go see films. Reaching the masses is easier through TV and reliable media, yet gétting on TV is much, much harder. Therefore starting out with your company on a weblog is a wonderful concept – but reaching a broader public will be difficult.