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How do you measure brand value?
I’ve recently begun trying to live a more minimalistic life. My black and grey shirts are just that. My shoes are black, I don’t own designer items, and just by looking at what I wear, there is no indication of any sort of brand. The only brand loyalty I have is towards Apple, and that’s because I’ve only owned an iPhone and know nothing else.
But a life of minimalism is one where brand value is not a direct factor. We pay absurd amounts of money for an iPhone, when, in reality, Samsung and Huawei produce better smart phones on a technical side. There’s a reason they actually are number 1 and 2, both ahead of Apple (#3) in the global smart phone market. Brand value just isn’t as important to the rest of the world, not when you can get better tech for cheaper prices, sometimes for half of the price of an iPhone X.
I’ve always wondered why brand value is so important. A black shirt costs $10, but a black shirt with a white swoosh costs $30. How do we justify that price tag? We want a Nike shirt not so much because it’s fashionable but more so because other people also want Nike shirts and everyone else wants one now too to follow the trend and that creates demand, and thus the brand becomes cool and the brand becomes the product. The swoosh is recognized. It’s a staple brand and makes the product.
Why pay “Supreme” prices for these brands? Instead, I’d rather pay for the product, not the swoosh.
Conformity is an expensive practice.
Blog of Jeff Wang 