Brand loyalty or hate?

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Originally Posted by AuthorEditor
Why do we exhibit tribal loyalty to particular brands.....
Of our last four Hyundai/KIA cars: 1) Ford Festiva(KIA car).....got me through very slow economic times.... still have it. 2) Our 11 year old Hyundai Accent has 145,000 miles & should soar past 200,000 miles, presently giving its highest MPG (48+) ever. 3) Our two Elantras have a total mileage of 125,000 miles & nothing has ever gone wrong with either one, while sipping gas, too. 4) The last good new car deal in America was the sale of TWO 2009 Hyundai Accents for $14,000.
I've had Chevy, Dodge, Toyota, & Mitsubishi cars & the Hyundai/KIA cars have been the best, at the best deals. Hyundai/KIA isn't afraid to sell cars less than retail, while other brands march out their self-righteous sales people who don't want to talk to you, if you offer less money for their VEE-hick-les.
 
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A lot of it stems from ignorance, so these kind of statements are great because they help me identify who is full of hot air.

Every brand makes good vehicles and terrible vehicles. There are also way too many variables to make blanket statements about a certain brand. Everyone has different needs.
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
Any brand loyalty goes out the window if the owner has a bad experience with that product.


I think in many cases it is worse for brands that have a reputation of being reliable. People seem to have an unrealistic expectation that they can buy a "reliable" car and it will need no maintenance or repairs for 300k miles because it's X brand. I have a family member with a Camry. It recently had an oil leak (timing cover I think?) and at 150k miles she has said she will never buy another Toyota. The car has pretty much needed just brakes, oil changes, and basic maintenance besides this.
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Any brand loyalty goes out the window if the owner has a bad experience with that product.

Exhibit #1: PureOne filters.
 
Sometimes it's the very same stuff.

Someone posted on Facebook that we should be buying Prairie Farms milk instead of Great Value milk from Wal*Mart. So I went to my local Wal*Mart and looked at both. The GV milk was $2 a gallon. PF was $3.69 give or take. Same plant code, bottled about 12 hours apart.

They run the same jugs and just put a PF or a GV label on the jug.

Why would I pay $1.69 more for a gallon of the same stuff? If Wal*Mart is selling the milk at a loss I'd be a fool to not buy it and let them pay PF their costs.

I doubt PF is selling Wal*Mart the milk at a loss, so again, what is the case for buying the PF milk at almost 2x the price?

There is no case for doing this.

Originally Posted by AuthorEditor
An example popped into my mind as I was thinking about shopping. In the supermarket there is a whole shelf of various brands of half-and-half, and the generic store brand is like $1.00 less per quart than some of them. I have never detected any difference between any of the brands, so I always purchase whichever is cheapest when I am there. Same with a lot of other supermarket branded stuff. Why does someone just waste that $1?
 
Back in the old, old days the subjects were kept on the poverty line or below so that they have no chance of rising up because they would be too busy getting food from one day to the next. Now the subjects people are conditioned to consume, so that they are too busy working 9-5 and then spending it all on their "favorite" brands and even getting into huge dept. Hence the bombardment with commercials, just so people can keep spending and bickering with each other which brand is better.

Which formula is better?
 
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Originally Posted by rooflessVW
I like what I like. It just so happens that what I like comes from certain brands.


That is my attitude as well. I became interested in BMWs back in 8th Grade(1971) after seeing an ad in Car and Driver describing how their Bavaria could cruise at 120 mph. I didn't actually own one until I was 26, but 11 BMWs later I still find several cars in their lineup to be compelling choices.
Having said all that, in my opinion the most egregious sin an automobile can commit is to be boring. As a result there are very few brands that build more than 1 or 2 cars I could seriously see myself owning- and there are a couple that do not build anything I find desirable.
 
I find interesting is my wife associates the entire Honda brand name with her first after college car. A very reliable Civic she liked.

She did not even bother looking at Honda CRV in her quest for compact SUV's. I don't want a Honda it was my first college vehicle.

She did however peek at slightly used Acura RDX in her quest.
 
I USED to be brand loyal.

So many mergers, acquisitions, outsourcing, no longer. Brands that are good today are crap tomorrow, and vice versa.

There are more like me every day. Does the MFG management wake up? Having spent my time in corporate america, I do not expect it. They can make their bonus even when closing the company. Sears cough cough.

Rod
 
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What I find happens is you find a product you like and it is easy to just keep using that one without realizing they have actually changed many things about it. You rely on the brand, which lures you into thinking things will remain that way. I am reminded of a marine pump I purchased that was identical to the replacement pump, from the outside. However, I soon discovered that the construction of the pump had been cheapened in many ways that were not detectable from the outside. SS through bolts holding things together had been replaced with self-tapping screws into plastic, for example. We see the same thing here on BITOG all the time. Oil filters seem to change construction on a regular basis.
 
Originally Posted by AuthorEditor
An example popped into my mind as I was thinking about shopping. In the supermarket there is a whole shelf of various brands of half-and-half, and the generic store brand is like $1.00 less per quart than some of them. I have never detected any difference between any of the brands, so I always purchase whichever is cheapest when I am there. Same with a lot of other supermarket branded stuff. Why does someone just waste that $1?


That is the old "since it costs more, it must be a better product" theory that a fair people live their lives by.
 
Imo, "Brand Loyalty" is earned through time/merit and its to make things simpler.

Brands don't just earn our trust. Theyre earned after proving themselves over time. And sticking to one brand makes things easier in choice because too many choices causes "choice paralysis".
 
Originally Posted by 4WD
Yeah … The word "better" is not making us better off …
But, the word "best" makes us smile...... & loosens our purse strings.......but later, we don't smile & are poorer.
 
Originally Posted by SeaJay
Originally Posted by AuthorEditor
An example popped into my mind as I was thinking about shopping. In the supermarket there is a whole shelf of various brands of half-and-half, and the generic store brand is like $1.00 less per quart than some of them. I have never detected any difference between any of the brands, so I always purchase whichever is cheapest when I am there. Same with a lot of other supermarket branded stuff. Why does someone just waste that $1?


That is the old "since it costs more, it must be a better product" theory that a fair people live their lives by.

When I write LOL down on my wife's grocery list she knows it means Land O Lakes half and half. To me LOL is the best, and I can tell a difference in my coffee. Same with potato chips, Lays original or nothing.I buy OEM brake pads and my son wonders why his cheap pads make so much brake dust. I have bought many generic items I haven't been happy with and disliked so I ended up tossing it, so that's the real waste of money. I am brand loyal to many products because they have proven over the years/decades to be a superior product and worth a premium price. "Buy once cry once" in most cases has merit.
 
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I miss the days when you could be brand loyal with confidence to companies like MOOG and Timken. Sigh.
 
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