Brand loyalty from your customers. It's the marketing guy's dream. It's when customers start to think of your company or product in terms of a family allegiance, as something which gives them inherent value to their identity. When people buy your product not only because of its utilitarian value, but because it can be worn like a badge of honour.
It's not something you can fashion out of thin air. Loyalty has to be earned, but once you have it, you've got the basis for a brand that will endure through the toughest of times. This is part of the reason that advertising space bought at sporting events is worth at least 10 times as much as any other advertising. Sport is fuelled by loyalty, by our desire for identity.
Loyalty is not awarded outright. I'm not prepared to die for the cause of Adidas. But I do wear Adidas samba trainers, and will do as long as they continue to make them. I predict I'll be wearing them in my seventies (they're perfect for breakdancing, you see).
They're comfy, and I think they look decent, and timeless. But I also have a little brand loyalty because of the intangible sense of identity I get from wearing them. Maybe I've just convinced myself that they're timeless.
I'm not "street". But wearing adidas makes me feel like somewhere in the subtle depths of my refined character, this white boy is the slightest bit hip-hop.
Listen to Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels from Run-DMC talking about their record "my adidas". It's ludicrous and genius at the same time.
and hear the record here:
Tell me your response to these videos. I wonder if your attitude to Adidas changed as a result?
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