The Power of a Name

Does the power of a branding a name work?  How about product or category positioning?

I braved the holiday mobs the other evening to get my shopping done (which is a miracle because I usually wait until the 23rd or 24th) and decided to buy a new digital camera for my wife.  I did a little research on-line before I left because there are so MANY options available.  There are megapixels, optical zooms, anti-shake and red-eye features, this widget and that to consider.  Then there’s the names like Olympus, Nikon, HP, Samsung,and Sony to name a few.  Add in the wide gammut of pricing and making a decision can become absolutely overwhelming! What it all came down to was the name.

I ended up choosing a Nikon because it’s a name that I trust for cameras.  My dad used a Nikon 35mm when he got into photography a couple of decades ago, I used one in high school yearbook, and I know that Nikon has been producing cameras for a long time.  There may have been a better camera, with excellent features, but I chose the power of the name to make my final decision.

The power of effective branding and positioning does work.  It might not apply in the same way to every person or category, but we all make decisions based on what we know and what we have experienced about a brand.

Question to Ponder: How powerful is your brand and can you leverage it better?

…BTW I gotta figure out how to keep my wife from reading this blog!