In response to Kendra's post, Brands

Kendra brings up some good points of branding.  There are so many brands out there today, but what makes some of them so much more successful than the rest.  Kendra brings up McDonald's which is one of the most popular brands not only in the United States, but in the world.  How did they get so popular over the years? Was it their marketing schemes, how they pretty much invented fast food, or something else.  I agree with Kendra that people are purchasing generic brands to save money, I know I have in the past.  The example Kendra brought up was Walmart's generic brand Great Value which is a good example.  I have bought great value products at Walmart because they were cheaper and honestly tasted the same as the more profound brand.  To answer Kendra's questions, I am not sure if generic brands will become more popular than brand names because of the economy.  It's hard to say because yeah generic brands are cheaper, but the more popular brand names market so much and people are loyal to those brand names because they are overall just better than the generic ones.  Once a consumer has been buying the same brand's product for awhile and hasn't had problems with it, they are going to become loyal because why change to something else when the brand and product you continue to buy has proven it is a good product.  I don't think popular brand names have the right to mark up their prices just because it is a brand name compared to generic, but they can because people have shown they will buy it and why not make more of a profit.

What is the main reason people are loyal to brands?

Response to Blackboard article Naomi Klein on how corporate branding has taken over America

This article brings up some good points.  One that stuck out to me was how corporate branding is taking over America and the affect it has.  The Absolute Vodka example was really interesting how they put out a bottle with no label and and no logo, to manifest the idea that no matter what's on the outside, it's the inside that really matters." I find that interesting because with all the different marketing techniques going on these days, it's almost like people are buying things for the brand and not the actual product.  The brand shouldn't be more powerful and more important than the actual product itself.  Sure, there are a lot of similar products and the different brands are the factor that separates one from the other, but we need to realize as customers and consumers that the brand is just a name when it's really the product we are buying.  With so many brands out these days I feel like we forget that.  The article brings up a good point of brand management which consists of finding your message, trademark and protect it and repeat yourself  through as many synergised platforms as possible.  I never really thought about this before reading this article, but it makes sense.

 Does branding make the product?