A genuine brand delivers superior value for consumers at every stage of the customer life-cycle; from the time they first become aware of the brand, through purchase and post purchase, until ideally they become advocates for the brand and enthusiastically recommend it to others.

so how is the formula work?

At the most basic level, people need their physiological needs met; things like air, food and water. In marketing, products and services that could be categorized this way serve pure functional needs and don’t carry with them strong brand affiliations. An example may be non-brand packaged meat. It gets the job done but no one will be talking about it at your next cocktail party.

Next most important thing to people is the need to feel safe with their choice. people motivated by this need choose products that help them feel protected somehow. Perhaps it’s a status quo choice, going along with the crowd based on the perception that there is safety in numbers. Any product that aggressively promotes the fact that it is the best seller in its category in effect is capitalizing on people’s need to feel safe by doing what everybody else is doing.
People choosing brands to satisfy their need to feel safe generally aren’t motivated to share that fact with other people. Either the product is so mainstream that there isn’t much point in talking about it,  the consumer will consider it “their little thing” and don’t expect others to have the exact same need as theirs, so they tend to be somewhat private about it. ( Osman's Yeni Rakı is a good example..)

Here it goes to somehow different  part ofthe formula..

the need for love and social acceptance.
This need manifests itself in family and friendship connections, or any number of other affiliations with social groups from church to sports teams to clubs. This need influences consumers’ buying decision when they are attracted to brands that connect them to a group of like-minded individuals.
People waiting at the Apple store queue for 10 hours?


After the need for belonging comes the need for respect from others and self-esteem. People work hard in their professions to gain recognition and status among their peers and increase their sense of self-worth. Of course their material possessions can serve as status symbols. While many people justify purchasing luxury brands because they are of higher quality, often the motivating factor is the need to get respect from others. Expensive automobiles fulfill this need quite well because of their high exposure to other people. Consumers will go out of their way to brag about the brands they love or own. They have a need to convince others that their preference is the best because they’ve attached the brand in some way to their self-concept..
Ted Baker really offers that better shirts than the Ralp Lauren or Tunç feels that way?



when I go back and look at the brands & people that I have interviewed it looks like there is no one answer to the formula above. Quite a mix of feelings, benefits...

let's see what I am gonna feel about this after the first week of March:)