Many marketing gurus have written about the near de-mise of branding. However, one should not forget that it is these brands that give these essentially insecure consumers the much needed assurance and self-esteem. Consumers get jealous of other people's success, because they want that success for themselves. It is through brands that consumers seek attention from their peers and friends to satisfy their egos. Therefore, brands act as risk reducing devices, and have become a way of life and expression. Consumers buy brands that seek to separate them from the crowd, by signifying wealth and status. These can justifiably be called Very Important Brands (VIBs). In today's materialistic society "you are what you buy". If someone buys a BMW or uses a Louis Vuitton's product or checks time using a Rolex, he is clearly trying to distinguish himself from the Ford driving, Gap-clad, and Timex wearing masses.
It is true that people do not want to advertise their ego. They do not like to admit having a status anxiety or the desire to feel above the social circle. Hence, brands use the words like "luxury", "performance" or "engineering", to make people feel bit more comfortable about their buying decisions. Thus, prestige brands work in restrained ways to overcome status anxiety. They do not compete on cost or convenience dimension, but something more abstract. In a traditional sense, branding can be perceived as "simply unnecessary". After all, BMW gets you to the same place as a Volkswagen, in almost the same duration, even if it costs three times as much. High-Fashion brands are the exemplary status providers because they are never purchased for their practical use.
So, there's no denying to the fact that humans have taken a fancy to certain brands and that set these brands apart. The general perception is that "more the aura of exclusivity around a brand, the better it is". Most of the brands that have certain aspirational and status value attached to them face a peculiar situation. To generate more money, it is required to make more sales and reach more people. But once the market for a particular brand widens, it then encounters the "law of diminishing returns". This is because more consumers start using a particular brand initially as they perceive it to be belonging to an exclusive category. This occurs till the time everybody starts using the same brand, thereby making the brand lose its exclusivity and nobody wants to own the brand under reference. Thus, the commoditization of brands begin. In order to ensure that commoditization of branding is avoided, fashion brands such as Gucci that enables almost everyone to own the brand even if it means purchase of a bottle of aftershave lotion, it has obeyed the fundamental law governing all luxurious or iconic brands viz., limited distribution, premium pricing, and packaging.
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