Right. Chained myself to my desk and cut off iChat… finally starting to get more into a flow…

I’ve come up with 4 different perspectives on branding vs products from 4 different people so far.

Jean Baudrillard - postmodernist thinker (now largely considered by many to be obscurantist)

  • Defines functionality as a brand’s effectiveness at fitting into a system of signs and symbols (e.g. how well consumers buy into the brand image)
  • Believes that we now live in a consumerist world which is a representation of a representation of a representation of what must at some point have been an idea of what reality is, or a simulacra of reality
  • Argues that we live within a system of signs where everything is a sign with much more meaning than is denoted physically  e.g. my idea of a fridge is different to your idea of a fridge
  • Explains that adverts are no reflection of reality, rather they are a reflection of an idealised reality to which you are expected to aspire
  • Concludes that the products that consumers buy are not products – they are signs and symbols exchanged in a system of signs and symbols

Dominic Strinati – sociologist who says that Baudrillard is speculative nonsense

  • Believes that postmodernists have little empirical evidence
  • Argues that postmodernism forgets that not everyone in society can afford to buy a product for the image/sign associated with it
  • Explains further that even if they can afford it, not everyone in society comes from a subculture interested in buying a product just for the image
  • Concludes that it is too simplistic to think consumers buy products purely for the image associated, products are also bought for their usefulness

Stephen King – former JWT branding guru (article ‘What is a Brand?’, 1971 – still considered as seminal work – not to be confused with the horror, science fiction and fantasy author)

  • Defines functionality as the actual physical/traditional/intended uses of the product
  • Believes that the ‘non-functional pleasures are greater than the functional’ – brand image is much more important to a consumer than the product’s actual uses
  • Presents lots of research showing housewives talking about different brands as if they were real human beings
  • Explains that brands are far more complex than simple products on a supermarket shelf
  • Concludes that practitioners should be more aware of this and change their attitudes to be more brand identity focused

Wally Olins – current Saffron Brand Consultants Chairman, (and co-founder of Wolf Olins the agency that brought you the 2012 logo – love it or loathe it)

  • Believes that certain products are product-led brands, others are purely brand-led product
  • Argues that Apple is a product-led brand
  • Explains that product-led brands are typified by their product category due to actual physical and performance differences such as cars
  • Concludes that Apple products are designed to look and function well and it is this which gives Apple’s brand image

So far it seems all have interesting viewpoints, some differing greatly, others only slightly.

I’m still unsure as to the brand vs product argument being as easily defined as the writers above argue. I personally suspect that a range of consumers will buy the same product for a range of different reasons e.g. A Ferrari will be bought by some for the quality it offers, the build, the drive, the shape, design etc. However, I’m sure that it will also be bought by the same people as a status symbol, buying into the dream of the Ferrari man, even though it may no longer be the best made and fastest supercar on the market. Ferrari still has the biggest name in supercar manufacturing. I’m sure even my nan knows what a Ferrari is but ask her about the Koenigsegg CCX or the Bugatti Veyron and I’ll bet you her false teeth she wont know what you’re on about (she doesn’t have false teeth but you get the idea).

I dunno. More thinking and more reading desperately needed. Back later.