Brand new!

Philip Kotler says, ‘a brand is an offering from a known source’. We generally trust things of which we know something about. Like, when I went to the FSA (Festival South Asia, film fest), I chose to watch films that were about Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Srilanka etc, because I know these countries. My high school geography lessons make it easier for me to a point on the map and tell , there is Srilanka. No wonder, we humans tend to relate to things, people or places that we have heard of or known much easily than of things we do not know about.

But is it essential that we just believe if we know ! Well, people believe in branded products, because the product as a brand has made a promise and strives to keep it.
Is it this promise that makes us go brand crazy? I wonder what my four year old cousin means when we pesters his parents to get him a ‘Hot wheels’ car or a ‘Kurkure’ or ‘Junior Horlicks’!

While on my small shopping trip, I noticed bill boards, Romanson, Rado, Christian Dior, I wondered what was so appealing, the way the names were written, their logos or how the name sounded. My father would probably swear by Titan, my uncle would be all for Rado and my mother would covet her Rolex. All these watches have been giving them the right time so far. As I wonder the satisfaction beyond quality that a brand actually gives comes from where, I take a call from my Nokia cell, look at my Longines wrist watch and drive back home in my Maruti 800, still wondering what charm brands hold!