Brand awareness
Brand awareness describes the subjective preference of branded products by the consumer over unbranded goods.
With the purchase of a branded product , the customer not only buys an article of daily use or consumption, but also an ideal object, namely a promise that is linked to the marking (brand) of the goods, a promise regarding the properties of the product. These brand characteristics advertise the sympathy or even the solidarity and identification of the customer. If the promise appears to the customer to be relevant to his purchase decision and, after his own first experience, not just an empty promise, sympathy can actually arise. This often results in a high level of brand loyalty and a pronounced brand awareness of the customer.
Brand awareness appears in very different ways, both in terms of the degree and the type of expression. Besides brand loyalty, it can also express itself in brand trust , identification with the brand, in admiration for the brand, in a passion for collecting, etc. In an increased or exaggerated form this can lead to phenomena such as brand fans and commodity fetishism , in extreme cases with an addictive character.
In the clothing sector , brand awareness is often particularly pronounced in very different forms. The issue of brand awareness, especially among young people, is repeatedly discussed here. In this context, brand terror is also mentioned again and again, so there is a social pressure of expectation on the individual z. B. meant in school classes, which can range up to psychological terror . Therefore z. Some even suggested the introduction of school uniforms . The brand awareness problematized here is usually a special way, namely to wear brands as a prestige object and to distinguish oneself in front of others ( behavior of being impressed ), either by expecting a high general minimum standard regarding the price level (“wanting to keep up”) by competes with one another with extremely expensive designer pieces (“wanting to outbid one another”) or by demonstrating well-known brand logos .
Quality brands and cheap brands
Many brands stand for a promise of consistently high quality of the corresponding products. The customer, who has had the experience that one can rely on this promise, is relieved of the need to check the quality with every new purchase. Some brands, especially private labels, also stand for a promise of low price. The customer, who has had the experience several times that comparable products from other brands are rarely available for less, also develops trust in the brand here. In both cases, the customer often develops a high level of brand loyalty.
Image brands
Every brand creates a reputation, an image, an idea (an image ) regarding the properties associated with it. This image often relates to the quality of the product in terms of processing, durability, choice of material, ease of care, etc.
Often, however, an image is deliberately created around the product as a kind of aura that cannot be read from the immediate product itself, whose credibility therefore depends more on the trust of the customer. These images often relate to characteristics of the manufacturing or trading company, such as ecological awareness, social commitment, a certain corporate culture or a commitment to a certain type of culture or subculture or the propagation of a lifestyle and committed commitment to it. These values are tried to be conveyed in a credible way through advertising and corporate communication. Linguistic methods can be used to examine how successful such communication measures are, since the everyday use of brand names in some cases creates different meanings than those intended by the brand producers. The actual image of certain brands therefore also depends on the brand product users and not only on the brand producers.
Companies that offer so-called lifestyle products try to design their products in such a way that their shape is an expression of the lifestyle of the targeted target group. The brands stand for a certain attitude towards life that is promoted or initiated by the company. The brand designs and propagates a certain attitude towards life as the core of its brand identity . The greater the intersection with the customer's actual or desired attitude towards life and the more attractive and credible it appears to the customer, the greater the identification with the design of this brand. Authenticity and credibility are high values here.
Especially in the case of lifestyles of subcultural groups, the subcultural customer often attaches great importance to the fact that the "thing of the scene " (goals, ideals, etc.) is actually a matter close to the heart of the provider. Brands, for which this applies, present the spirit of the respective scene in their self-portrayal, i. H. the attitude towards life, the content and the aesthetic forms of expression of this scene. Brands that put the ideals of their own scene above their own profit (and have only moderate economic success) are often considered particularly credible. Branded products from such providers can develop into scene classics and cult objects .
On the other hand, there are products from certain manufacturers who exert such a fascination by themselves and differ from other providers through clear unique selling points , so that a real cult develops around them without the company having to do anything, and they become cult and collector's items and their own attitude towards life without the company doing the originally intended ( Harley-Davidson example ). This particularly applies to products that are indispensable for a particular scene (example: snowboards, motorcycles, ...).
Prestige brands
In sections of the population who define their status in society (or even their personal worth) in terms of their material wealth and economic success, brands, especially expensive brands, can become status symbols and objects of prestige . Expensive brands are suitable for celebrating your own economic success and a luxurious lifestyle, or at least the illusion of it in front of you and others.
While it is downright taboo in certain sectors of the population to boast of material values and to splurge in other environments, the posturing is actually staged and made the sport: the self-pimp ( pimping ) and the enjoyable posing ( posing ) with expensive luxury goods more expensive brands , which are sometimes referred to with eye-catching brand logos. This tendency can be observed particularly in the area of clothing.
Behind this is certainly often the respect for the people who "have made it" (... to be economically successful), as well as the fascination for their lifestyle by the people who "have not yet made it".
One example of this are parts of hip-hop culture . In hip-hop, a lot of things are turned into a competition, a "battle". T. about the most prestigious outfit. Other hip-hoppers strictly reject this and speak of the scene being sold out.
Sometimes the demonstrative display of brands certainly also has more romantic reasons: behind it there can also be the longing to escape from one's own poor world - into a more glamorous, supposedly better world without material worries, by using set pieces from the world of The rich and beautiful indulge themselves and supposedly convey themselves into this world.
"The good name" and "Make a name for yourself"
In this context, the prestigious and glamorous reputation of a brand name plays an essential role. The names of expensive luxury brands are pointedly highlighted and displayed in order to demonstrate its material potential to oneself and others, or at least to give oneself the illusion of abundance.
In the hip-hop scene, the name also plays another role: Since one of the four elementary genres of hip-hop culture is writing (graffiti), hip-hoppers have a special relationship with the written word, especially with their own name . The myth of writing consists in making a name for yourself, that is to say, to gain recognition and recognition through the names attached to walls and objects, and thus to gain recognition. U. even to achieve social advancement. Those who achieve that deserve respect. That is why a cult of names is often part of hip-hop culture. Those who have made this way are revered by others as idols or role models. Successful hip-hoppers often stage their own names as independent brands, especially in the clothing sector, which of course also appear here as effective lettering and are worn by their fans.
Brand skepticism and consumer criticism
In the protest movements and youth cultures of the 1960s and 1970s ( 68 , ecological movement , alternative movement , etc.), great reservations about the status quo of Western consumer society developed. Based on a fundamental criticism of capitalism , social or ecological consequences and approaches critical of culture (e.g. from the environment of Theodor W. Adorno or Guy Debord ), these movements were also very skeptical of the big brands in industry . In particular, the successful brand companies that are present on the world market have repeatedly come under the crossfire of criticism. Kai-Uwe Hellmann, for example, references the establishment of brand awareness as a continuation of the goods fetish described by Karl Marx .
Instead, a simple, responsible life and the purchase of ecological fair trade products from small craftsmen and in small shops were considered politically correct. Nonetheless, countercultural brands such as B. Greenpeace . This tendency towards brand skepticism continues to affect broad sections of the population to this day, especially in educated sections of the population.
Consumer-oriented lifestyle and designer brands
As a backlash to these movements, more hedonistic and narcissistic movements emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s that distanced themselves from these world-improving goals. Instead, poppers and yuppies celebrate aesthetics and luxury, enjoyment and consumption, careers and economic success. They developed a keen awareness of well-designed products. Associated with this was a high level of appreciation for brands of high-quality and highly cultivated products, especially for designer brands . The consequences are status brands and brand status, brand fans with brand cult and cult brands .
literature
- Wertz, Marcus: The influence of brand symbols on the reception and interpretation of social situations. Master's thesis, Marburg 2005 PDF-Link
Individual evidence
- ^ Inga E. Kastens: Linguistic brand management. The language of brands - structure, implementation and potential impact of an action-oriented brand management approach , Münster 2008.
- ↑ Kai-Uwe Hellmann: Fetishes of consumption. On the sociology of the brand . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-16933-0 , p. 298 .