How loyal are we to the brands we use?

ALL my life, I have been dealing with branded goods of all kinds.

I had started my career at age 20, working as a journalist at a local English daily, ‘The Vanguard’, the very first brand I encountered. Today it no longer exists, having been a victim of the local political intrigue in the 1970s/1980s.

My present brand for the past six years (it was precisely on July 7, 2018 that my first column had appeared) has been what you are holding in your hand or on your laptop, iPad or whatever device you are reading this with – it is of course The Borneo Post, the largest-circulated daily print media in these parts.

My first real job was at an international import-export conglomerate of which name was Inchcape, and its local company was known as The Borneo Company Limited (BCL). They were established initially as the British Brooke family’s trading house in 1856, and had lasted through many variations, through joint ventures (JV) and such, till 2007 when Sebor Sarawak, its last JV with the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) was sold to another global trading house.

The company had thus lasted for 151 years.

During the heyday of BCL, we had sold almost every single consumer product and service imaginable. The popular saying at the time had been that ‘one could survive using a BCL product from the moment he wakes up in the morning till he goes to bed at night’!

Obviously, when I was working with them, all the products I had personally used were from the company’s many warehouses.

We had chilled storage facilities, the ‘Poison’ store, ammunition store, bonded store, electrical and hardware, and obviously consumer products storage suited for both fast-moving consumables and durable goods.

BCL itself had represented some of the world’s most famous companies and the products that they sold – from Nestlé (milk, dairy and edibles), Unilever & Lever Brothers (detergents, personal care, hygiene and edibles), Malayan Tobacco Co (cigars, cigarettes, tobacco), Guinness (beer and stout), Gillette (grooming, especially for men); Johnson & Johnson (baby care, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals), Brands/Cerebos (health and energy boosting products), Kraft (cheese and cereals), Rolex (timepieces), Sanyo (electrical and household), Johnson Outboard Motors, ICI Paints & Ammunition, and many more.

Even after leaving the company in the late 1980s, I had found myself so ‘addicted’ to using all the products that my company had sold that I never stopped using them.

Similarly, years later after having worked at the other companies throughout the1980s to the 1990s – namely Toyota (at Toyoda Tsusho Kaisha Malaysia) and then BMW (at Auto Bavaria) – it had been ingrained into my psyche that these brands of motor vehicles had represented the best in their fields.

I had owned a number of Toyota vehicles and a couple of used BMWs through the years.

As with most of us, I have found from friends and relatives that brand loyalty is extremely strong when it comes to most durable goods, of which cars are the best example.

Once you have had a good experience with the brand you have been using – its design, performance and obviously, the after-sales service, and to a lesser extent, its resale value – you are more likely to continue to stick with the brand.

This extends to other household electrical items as well – that new refrigerator or freezer you’re considering, or an air-conditioner unit, or washing machine.

To a lesser degree, the urge to switch brands can be considered especially when it comes to either a big price difference between one and the other, or because a good friend has recommended a change.

When it comes to the world of IT, there are solid trustworthy brands that today’s users and buyers tend to go to, with the ease of finding out the many varying specifications and price considerations between one brand’s model versus another; and the ability to seek out speedily on the Internet on other users’ experience with a product (no matter how new).

The choice really boils down to three simple factors: brand loyalty, price, and availability of after-sales service.

More often than not, users seeking to upgrade would either patiently wait for the latest model to hit the market; or if he’s bargain-seeking, for a big store to hold its next sale.

In this fast-changing market for IT products of all segments, the nature of brand loyalty is extremely strong and their market leaders are extremely cautious not to rock the boat towards their loyal customers when it comes to marketing their products via the media.

More often than not, all you actually see in their marketing campaigns are just photo-shots of the actual product itself, with no extra effort to promote either a life-style – as in fashion products especially sneakers, fashion wear and other accessories like handbags and timepieces.

Brand loyalty is more fickle when it comes to consumer goods, especially when products are available as ‘generics’; for example, a product like insect repellent, toothpaste, toilet paper – you get the drift.

These are more price-sensitive.

Edible consumer goods, on the other hand, hold a firmer grip on consumers as their taste buds are not that easily changed or likely to. These include dairy products like milk and cheese, coffee and tea, biscuits, cooking oil and so forth.

Brand loyalty is strongest here – most consumers are not apt to change their regular morning breakfast cuppa for another brand if they can help it!

During the time when the supply chain of imported goods had sometimes been broken, delayed or even curtailed, we had in the olden days (going back to the 1970s-1990s) had periods when certain brands of goods, both durables and edibles, that were imported from Europe, Australasia and Japan/China were ‘out-of-stock’ for lengthy periods of time.

This still happens occasionally nowadays with certain specific products due either to shortages of raw materials or price increases.

This would give rise to consumers looking for alternatives and very often, once they have changed from one brand to another, and if they liked it, they would very likely stay with the newer brand.

There goes another lost customer for the previously regular product.

As for myself, I have very strong brand loyalty due to personal taste for my morning cup of coffee (Nescafé Gold Blend), with either a sourdough or wholemeal from my regular baker, topped with Lurpak or Lescure semi-salted butter; and eggs are from ‘kampung’ (village)-reared chickens.

If I go out for breakfast, I would have a few favourite spots for my ‘kolo mee’ or’ kampua’, ‘laksa’ or ‘roti canai’. I am adventurous in that I would go check out recommendations for a new place or some hawker stalls that I have never tried before.

My last few changes in smartphones have always been Huawei; prior to that it was Samsung; and the earlier brands were Nokia and Sapura.

However my personal computer, printers and display monitors have been on the suggestion of my regular IT guy whom I trust and whose regular service and installations I depend on.

My other brands of more durable household appliances had been mostly my company’s brands during the time I had worked with them – from General Electric to Sanyo. Today, it is more price-sensitive and performance-oriented – I have no brand loyalty there.

As times change and brands evolve, improve or even disappear from the marketplace due to unpopularity, bad marketing or even being bought up by other bigger brands, we have seen many of them become part of history.

Where now are the Kelvinators, the Telefunkens and the very many other household names that we had known as kids in the 1960s-1980s?

In this fast-changing world, trends and tastes evolve with each new generation

What was once trendy and the latest fad can be no more within a couple of years.

Today’s consumers may not be as demanding insofar as long-lasting quality is concerned. They go more for beauty, design, modernity and ease of use (I still don’t really like that word: ‘consumer-friendly!) as we live in a more disposable society.

Product consumption is mainly for instant gratification; everything is as fast as a 15-second TikTok video clip and our attention spans can only last, at most, for a two-minute DIY home-made clip or listening to a 10-minute podcast.

As for people like me, we belong to that lost generation – folks who had put their trust on certain established brands that had taken the time and effort to prove themselves in order to become a staple for their brand-loyal customers who, in turn, would return again and again to buy, consume and use their quality products.

Let’s hope and pray that the worthy brands would remain with us for a long time to come.

* The opinions expressed in this article are the columnist’s own and do not reflect the view of the newspaper.