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05/08/2006
The Brand Scrimmage
Interesting to watch this century is the evolution of the corporate ‘brand’. The ‘culture’ of brands drives global consumption, taking on a life of it’s own, defying territory, creating global societies of consumers related by brand preference. One had to witness the hordes of Japanese consumers in 1990s waiting in line for the doors of Louis Vuitton to open for the day (Filipinos not far behind), Parisians walking past the queues slightly disdainful, feeling culturally violated (but not half as violated as when you order a Coke in a fine dining restaurant, if it’s available).
Brands are the global culture and an entire discipline has evolved around building and protecting brands, called ‘Brand Management’. Brands are the face of the corporation, the human relationship with the corporation’s customers. Qualitative indicators of brand management refer to ‘brand personalities’, ‘brand values’, putting human characteristics to the product all tied to the ‘integrity’ of the corporation translated into how well the company ‘delivers the brand promise’ to the customer. One mistake by the corporation and the brand is like a person who has lost a dear friend by not keeping a promise. Like human societies, the notoriety of brands is measured by popularity. Elite crowds measure their brand awareness by the number of invitations they get to parties and how often they appear in society pages. Corporations measure the number of people that mention their brand first when prodded to name a ‘brand’ that delivers a specific function. When a socialite thinks she’s not getting enough attention, she throws a party. Brands organize events.
As brands evolve they take on lives of their own, intangible symbols guaranteed to satisfy a need to the point where the literal meaning of the brand name loses context in a meta-language of the promise of fulfillment. The brand Shoemart, for example, no longer delivers simply shoes, but everything else – groceries, basic necessities, luxury goods, even land and housing. A foreigner unfamiliar with the brand will be surprised to go to Shoemart and find everything else available with shoes relegated to a corner in the maze of the Shoemart mall.
The question that concerns an environmentalist is how sustainable are brands and how much do they contribute to unsustainable lifestyles? Brands are driven by image and function. A BMW provides the same function as a Starex, for example. Both get you to your destination but the BMW represents who you are, or who you think you are, or who you want others to think you are, sort of like “the medium is the message”. Then there’s the consideration of how you get to your destination. The BMW will provide a smoother ride, with the smell of leather rather than plastic, with a more elegant engine, sort of like ‘the process is the product’. Add to this durability, after sales service, and resell value. Such is the complexity of consumption, if you can afford it, that is. For the less wealthy, it all boils down to affordability and function.
The Asian consumer has bitten the branding apple at least in the more wealthy countries like Singapore, Hongkong, and the Philippines. Japan merged early on to the brand culture boom, contributing global brands like Honda, Toyota, Sony, Yoji Yamamoto and Comme des Garcons. The Chinese have yet to learn the language of brands and their department stores are still monochrome with generics, but the brands are waiting impatiently at the door for the Chinese promise of new wealth, an explosion waiting to happen.
Indisputably, brands have contributed significantly to the consumption boom that drives this world to the brink of collapse. From wholesale contributions to climate change to the pathology of measuring poverty levels by whether or not a family of 4 can afford a meal at MacDonalds. Brands fulfill promises consumers can no longer live without and I think they are here to stay. The question is, what is the responsibility of brands to sustainable consumption?
Imagine a world where brands take a back seat to function or what they call the ‘product function system’. The idea is not to buy a car but to buy the rights to the use of a vehicle when you need it, not to buy a vacuum cleaner but the rights to use one when you need it. The point is to reduce production of products that pollute, end up in landfills, are non-biodegradable and difficult to get rid of at the end of its life. This movement assumes restraint will be demand driven, and sells the function rather than the product itself, similar to the system of time sharing by which a group of consumers share the rights to use a vacation house or apartment instead of purchasing one for their exclusive use. The economics of time sharing makes sense but what of function-sharing specifically for items that so dictate the Filipino image, like a car?
This will not work for more personal items that can’t be shared so though it may work for some products, it will not do for others. Who wants to share their pair of Prada shoes? For more personal products, there was the movement to ‘buy local’. Forgo a pair of Ferragamos and shop in Marikina. But would you buy a local version of an Ipod? Function-sharing would also drive prices up, with less demand because of the sharing.
The 1980’s and 1990s were the decades of the brand boom. I think there will be shift in this century. Even more entrenched brands age unless they answer the needs of the era. But it’s more difficult for them to change, like people, they grow comfortable in their habits, become less flexible, grow senile and obsolete. I imagine quite soon, there will be a brand revolution in the market, it’s already beginning. Products will have a measure of their carbon footprints on the labels, just like they list their ingredients, or washing instructions. The new consumers will be discerning, deliberately seeking and supporting the responsible corporation, less duped and conscious of the consequences of their consumption.
14:24 Posted by in Sustainable Consumption | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Sustainable Development