Do we all have a brand repertoire?
The consumer brand repertoire
Most people tend not to be overly keen on the term ‘consumer’, when it is applied to them. It suggests a degree of anonymity and uniformity that not many of us see in ourselves, when compared to everyone else.
We all like to see ourselves as unique. Indeed recent consumer trends towards this idea of mass personalisation, support the hypothesis that yes we want high quality factory produced goods manufactured to high and uniform standards, but we also want one offs, produced exclusively with us in mind. Consumers (sorry, people/humans/end users) can be complicated…
Of course lots of motivational memes, personal help books and other sources of uplifting thoughts will tell us that we are unique. Maybe we are. Perhaps the desire for uniqueness is in part facilitated by the curated brand repertoire that most of us maintain? Not everyone will dwell on this consciously, but I would argue we all have one.
Of course personality traits, the way we were raised, our educational and work backgrounds, cultural upbringing, geographical location and a multitude of other factors feed into our make up as individuals. But do consumption and use patterns of branded goods play some sort of role too?
Yes, a penchant for adidas originals apparel is far from unique, but when paired with DVS shoes, an Acer laptop and a Samsung smart phone, does a picture of an individual begin to form that could be quite recognisable and likely distinct from others?
Layer in preferences on entertainment, dining, travel, choice of hot/cold beverage, location in which that beverage is purchased (artisan coffee house or mass market café) and does some sort of - if not unique, then very distinctive – picture begin to form about this person?
Our brand repertoires can perhaps be categorised. Perhaps it includes brands we love, brands we have ‘inherited’ and brands we have just ‘fallen into’ using. The latter might include telecom providers, budget airlines, transit providers – things that just happened to be ‘there’ when we needed it.
We ‘inherit’ brands from friends and family. The ‘caribee’ backpack I picked up to join a friend on hikes through the rain forest (a brand I had never heard of before), or the Ariel washing powder I noticed I kept repeat buying when I first moved out of the family home. (It was only when I went through my basket one evening in a Sainsbury’s in the UK city of Nottingham where I was living at the time, I noticed several brands that looked like they had come straight out of my mother’s shopping basket - in a way, they had.)
It is the brands we actively chose however that probably best play a role in defining us- at least in part. Many non-marketers would be appalled at the idea that anyone would use a repertoire of brands to help define themselves – I would argue it is rarely that blatant.
We all engage with businesses/brands in our daily life to help make that life easier. Our choices can conjour up a pattern that probably does make it easier to place us into a category (beloved of researchers). But it also - I think – in its totality, gives us a unique collection of brands that help truly separate us from most , if not all others.
If we look at brands we engage with based on dietary preferences clothing choices, profession, family status, interests and hobbies, geographical location, technical knowledge, sporting pursuits, political affiliations and many other factors, it feels like a brand repertoire if examined in full, becomes almost like a fingerprint in its uniqueness.
The question is whether any brand manager can effectively (1) gather such data (2) harness that data in a way that can be used to tailor a message to the person (consumer) in question.
Some players in the digital space might argue they are doing so. Others might concede that major retailers who leverage data collected at checkouts are closer than most – although this data is heavier on FMCG product use, as opposed to higher value items like clothing, technology, travel etc.
Regardless of the source of raw data, the missing link perhaps relates to the emotional drivers so many of us deploy in our brand choices. It is hard to measure emotional and/or irrational behaviour.
We can all point to a brand we love for which there is a credible (and near identical in terms of functionality) replacement, yet we might reject the replacement and wait for our preference to be available. The emotional component of an individual’s relationship with a brand can be hard to capture and hard to measure.
Regardless, we are all likely to continue to curate a suite of brands across multiple categories that serve a practical need and fill an emotional gap in our psyche, even though most of us are unaware we are doing so – and many of us would not tell anyone even if we were!