The Brand Experience
This post is a continuation of a series of posts shown as:
“Relationships Are Tough”
“Self Branding”
There are several aspects to the concept of branding. There is the brand experience, which we naturally build with our use of the product or brand. There is the psychological impact, created from the brand image or related symbols surrounding the product and having influence in our lives (think of Nike and their campaign to “Just Do It”, motivating athletes and those who want to think of themselves as athletes). The brand experience and the psychological impact of the brand are carefully designed and built around marketing campaigns.
To help understand this concept, just think of a few examples, such as:
- Mr. Whipple
- Tony the Tiger
- Snap, Crackle, and Pop
- Mr. Clean
- The Keebler Elves
- The Pillsbury Dough Boy
- Joe Camel
If not all, two or three of these examples triggered an association for you. The brand experience and identity are carefully managed to convince consumers to pay remarkably high prices for products relatively cheap to produce.
The entire goal of branding is to manipulate the perception of the product with the consumer, essentially “creating value”, so the consumer sees the product as being worth more than the actual value of the purchase. Why do people pay $75.00 for jeans costing about $3.00 to make and get to the store shelf? How about $5.00 for a box of cereal costing less than $0.75 to get to the store shelf? Or, what about $100.00 for a mobile telephone costing less than $15.00 to build and get to the store shelf? The leading factor in getting the consumer to pay the difference is the brand experience. The brand experience creates a perspective to influence people.
The goal of the brand is to establish value and influence purchases. Unfortunately, the brand experience may not always have a positive impact or achieve the purpose of establishing value. For an example of Branding Gone Bad and to help clarify the meaning, let’s look at some historical cases where branding negatively impacted the product.
Country Time Cider: When Country Time Lemonade Drink was introduced in 1976 by Kraft Foods as a powder mix, the product was very successful. Kraft followed with another product in 1977 called Country Time Pink Lemonade. However, the brand experience for the Country Time trademark was so established in lemonade, when Kraft tried introducing Country Time Apple Cider mix, it was a complete failure. Consumers could not get past their brand experience rooted in lemonade to accept cider mix under the same name.
Ben-Gay Aspirin: Ben-Gay produced several lines of analgesic cream for the relief of minor arthritic pain, muscle pain, and back pain. The consumer’s brand experience with the product line was so strongly associated with a burning cream applied topically, few people could get over the idea of swallowing the Ben-Gay product. As a result of this product association and the brand experience, Ben-Gay aspirin failed.
Colgate Kitchen Entries: When Colgate came up with the idea consumers could eat a nice, tasty Colgate meal, then go brush their teeth with the Colgate Toothpaste, they forgot to consider the whole brand experience from the consumer’s perspective. The idea of eating Colgate was less appealing, and not only did the attempt fail, it reduced the sales of toothpaste.
The negative brand experience and brand association with each of the core products influenced consumers against the purchase, as the value was not established in the new product. The brand experience creates a perspective to influence people.
When we consider the branding of God, how does your brand experience influence your actions in your relationship with Him?
In some cases, we have a Country Time Cider experience with God, where we have accepted Him perfectly well when He is in a church, when we see Him in church, and when we go to church. The God trademark is established in the church environment and we can accept Him there. The God brand is rooted in church, so don’t try introducing Him anywhere else in my life, as I will not be able to accept Him anywhere else.
We can also have a Ben-Gay Aspirin experience with God, because we know God is there to help us in times of trouble and pain. We apply God to certain situations, but He remains limited to topical applications.
And, to round out our comparisons, some people may have a Colgate experience with God. God is there to help us get clean and prevent cavities or sin, but don’t try to feed us with anything God related.
Just as there are many other examples of negative branding experiences with products, there are many other negative branding experiences in our relationship with God. Some people may have bad relationships with their fathers, transferring the experience to the father brand and ultimately to our Father God. When someone has a problem accepting authority, this problem is associated with the authority brand, and the brand association has a negative influence on God’s authority in their life. When a person associates painful emotions or hurting with the trust brand, this experience causes difficulty in their relationships with God. In each example, the negative branding experience ushers in doubt, and the relationship with God is influenced.
So, let me ask the question again: When we consider the branding of God, how does your brand experience influence your actions in your relationship with Him?
If you are anything like me, you may have unfairly branded God due to a negative experience in your life. You may associate the negative experience with one of God’s attributes or the harmful branding limits your engagement in the relationship. You have been influenced. You have been manipulated by the experiences in your life.
In case you haven’t heard, God is not against you. Jesus tells us in John 10:10, “…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the fullest.”
Life is tough, and because of these tough times, we experience pain and negative events. This is not God’s plan for us. God is not against us. Jesus tells us in John 15:9-11, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
God has a new experience for us. God has a new plan for us. While this corrupt and fallen world around us may mock and ridicule God, He beckons us to receive a new life, and be branded as His own. Jesus beckons us to enter into a new brand experience that we may have life, and have it to the fullest.
When we consider the branding of God, how does your brand experience influence your actions in your relationship with Him?
I want to encourage you to think about this question. Consider all your experiences in life and how these impact your relationships around you, but most importantly, how your life experiences influence your relationships with God.
Which one of your life experiences is the greatest obstacle in your relationship with God today? What will it take to remove it? Strength? Courage? Faith? Forgiveness?
To borrow a phrase from the Nike brand, “Just Do It.”
Follow me in prayer: “Lord Jesus, I need Your help (again!). I am weak and I have branded You based on experiences in my life I don’t even understand. My reactions are wrong and I have sinned. I ask You to forgive me, search out my heart and my weaknesses, and give me the strength to change my perspective, to forgive others, and have the courage to have faith. Change the image and perspective I have of You. I ask this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.”
This is not my usual blog post. I’m not aiming at being funny or humorous. I’m just sharing what God is taking me through right now. For some reason, I am focused on branding and how this impacts our relationships. If you find this helpful, share it with others. Forward this blog to them, use the Share This at the bottom of this post, or just copy and email it to them.
Glenn Sasscer
www.glennsasscer.com
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The series: “Relationships Are Tough”, “Self Branding”, “The Brand Experience”, “Maverick”, “A Masterpiece”.
