Funny how the same people who persuaded us it was OK to switch brands are now pissed off that we're switching brands!! Talk about karma.
There's been a groundswell of complaint from Ad Agencies and the BigCo's they work for that America's customers are losing brand loyalty. Some JWT genius has coined the term "sluts" for those who change brands flexibly, probably because greater than 80% of all household purchasing decisions are made by women. Including those you wouldn't necessarily expect to be made mostly by women, like 66% of computer purchases, 62% of online purchases, 70% of ringtone purchases, and 74% of all NBA and NFL apparel.
Well, what if we just haven't found Mr. Right yet? As some folks (like Howard Greenstein) have pointed out, what if we're really looking for marriage? Are you husband material? Good Word of Mouth Marketing campaigns are about establishing a relationship with your customers. Bad ones are about trying for a one-night stand.
It's funny that you attribute the collapse of brand loyalty to aggressive marketing campaigns of the past. I guess it could look like that to a marketer. As a product person, I'm more inclined to think that on the one hand companies try to drive costs out, hurt product quality, and lose share to less thrifty competitors, and on the other hand innovation constantly creates new products to switch to -- it's not all basketball-shoe fake, there are really new things like satellite radios out there.
Posted by: Rionn Malechem | May 02, 2006 at 02:02 PM