In her post “Branded, and Catchy Names,” Kelly Kan brings up several points that I have been thinking back to frequently this semester. The most pressing of these is, in a sense, a question of free will: in a world where the brand is king, do we really have any control over what we purchase?
As the world develops, every aspect of our lives becomes more advanced. The nature and structure of the economy, the technology we use, even the way we communicate. Companies that started as localized mom and pop stores are now multimillion dollar franchises and, as Kelly so eloquently put it,
“it’s time to admit that while you may think you own the brands, in truth, the brands own you.”
This is a scary thought, but a valid one nonetheless. Everyday we are bombarded with more brand logos and advertisements than we can process. Marketing is all about the consumers and knowing from start to finish precisely what specific target audiences want and need, before they even know themselves. Products pass through the development process from idea generation and screening, to product concept development and testing, marketing strategy development, business analysis, to product development, test marketing, and to their eventual commercialization.
Today there are even firms who put out competing products in the same category in order to speak directly to different types of consumers. Each of these products goes through multiple stages of testing before they even reach the shelves.
The entire process start to finish is extremely complex, almost a science in itself. It blows my mind to think so much thought and research went into every detail – not only the product itself but also the shape and color of the packaging, the place it is sold, the needs it addresses.
I really like that you bolded the key concepts of your blog, great post!