It's the small things that count.
I love my weekends. Not because I go anywhere exciting necessarily. Not because I do anything especially exciting. I love my weekends because I get to engage with the brands I love. Yes, I said, “the brands I love”. Sure, there were people I love around too. But for the purposes of this blog, I'm talking about the brands I love because it is during those small relaxed moments, say, on a weekend, when we allow a brand into the tiny crevices of our lives, that a brand becomes indispensable. It’s where a habit forms. It’s where loyalty jells. It’s where brands must live to survive. Let me explain.
I wake up in the morning on the weekends and put my two Labrador Retrievers in the back of my Subaru Outback. I love the Subaru Outback because the rear compartment is large enough for my two large dogs, because it’s great on gas, and most of all because it saved my wife’s life one time when she was T-boned on the 401.
Once in my Outback (the second consecutive one I’ve owned), we travel to my local Second Cup where they still make an Americano with a real espresso machine rather than with the push of a button on an automated contraption like that other coffee seller does. I walk out with my mocha-coloured Second Cup branded coffee cup and proceed to the park.
Later in the day, my son and I run some errands, including a stop at my local Shoppers Drug Mart where I purchase Old Spice body wash -- the same brand as the aftershave my Dad used when I was a kid. I marvel at how they’ve managed to re-energize a brand that I’ve known since my childhood, by redesigning their logo and extending their product line beyond that old aftershave. I also tell my son how the t.v. spot for that old aftershave starred the father of the guy who played Chandler Bing on “Friends”. My son smiles at me, humouring me for my pathetic grasp of insignificant trivia – but that’s another story.
I offer my Shopper’s Optimum card so I earn points toward discounts on future purchases and pay with my bank’s debit card. I’ve had it since I got married and opened a joint account there with my wife. When we bought our house, we got our mortgage from the same bank. When my identity was stolen recently, the Bank knew before I did. I’ll be with them forever.
Later, I check my email on my Apple iBook G4 laptop while listening to my iPod. I’ve loved Apple since I first started writing professionally -- back when their latest product line included the Mac Classic II. Today, other computer brands (HP comes to mind) have cornered the consumer computer market in a way Apple never could. But that irrational love of an inanimate object continues.
Anyway, I could go on forever. But you get the point. We interact with brands we love every minute of the day. Often, they contribute to the small pleasures in life. We continue to engage with those brands because they continue to live up to our expectations. As long as they do, we’re happy to welcome them into our lives.
It’s not about loyalty programs, or even points or cards. It’s about the brand’s relevance to our lives. It’s about how we identify with the brand and whether or not it can continue to be trusted. And that’s why, at the end of the day, you can’t buy loyalty. You can only hope to earn it over time.
