Brand Culture – Why Do We Need It?

“A company must figure out its core values and understand why, beyond the profit motive, it exists. This means that, essentially, a company must develop (or unearth) an ethos and a worldview that it absolutely believes in, and then perpetually act in accordance with that ethos and worldview. Everything the company does—every product or service it offers; every public statement, advertisement, and website it generates; every internal policy, memo, and business decision it makes—must be congruent with that ethos and worldview.” This is how brand culture is described in the article Give Them Something to Believe In: The Value of Brand Culture.

So why do we need brand cultures? Anthony Giddens talk about self-identity and he determine that in today’s market place consumption is an arena of choices, and although Giddens sees it as a generally positive phenomenon, he emphasizes that consumption may profoundly affect self-identity.

Consumers get confused by all the choices they have to make, for example when they go grocery shopping. By creating a brand culture organizations can help consumers identifying which brands they can identify themselves with and thereby which brands they want to buy. “In a consumer culture people no longer consume for merely functional satisfaction, but consumption becomes meaning-based, and brands are often used as symbolic resources for the construction and maintenance of identity.” –Elliott & Davies. Looking at Victoria’s secret, woman will buy their underwear because they feel that Victoria’s secret’s brand culture fit with their own values. Women will buy Victoria’s secret underwear because they hope to be perceived as someone who cares about sexiness, luxury and good quality. Looking at a brand like Sloggi, it is a completely different type of women who can identify themselves with their brand culture. This type of consumer will care about good value for money, and at some extend, sustainability.
  

Furthermore in the globalized world we live in – where we get bombarded with different brands both at home but especially when we travel the consumers tend to choose the brands they trust – the brands that have a culture, which they can identify themselves with. For example when I have travelled in countries, which are less developed, I tend to look after brands that I know. I will choose Starbucks over a local coffee shop because I know what I get buying a Starbucks coffee and I can identify myself with their brand culture. Looking at Victoria’s secret in this context consumers will choose to buy their underwear from Victoria’s secret because they know that they will get underwear of a standardized quality which will make them feel sexy every time they go shopping at Victoria’s secret. They trust that the brand will provide them the same quality, feeling, price and service no matter when – and no matter where in the world. The same is for women who buys Sloggi whenever and wherever they go, they will expect to get the same product of the same quality and they will choose this product compared to a subsidized product because they know exactly  what they get.

Therefore it is really important for a brand to create a good brand culture in order for them to create value for the brand by differentiating themselves from other companies. And to create a high switching cost for the consumer – make them “addicted” to their brand.

Written by Josephine Kruuse Eriksen