A Brand or a Product: which should you pay for?

The world today has evolved greatly and organisations as well as individuals make choices based on several factors. The advent of social media, the increase in knowledge, the availability of several options and variants of the same products, as well as the evolvement of marketing - all affects the choices made by organisations and individuals.

The somewhat intertwined relationship between a brand and a product makes it sometimes tricky to decide on which one deserves our money. Organisations can make their decisions often times based on their culture, their priorities, their environment, their values, their needs and how they perceive both. Investopedia describes a brand as a product or a business with a distinct identity among consumers. A brand is created through design, packaging, and advertising elements that distinguish the product from its competitors while a product on the other hand focuses more on functionality (the use). The buyer often makes a decision to buy a product after he is satisfied that the product will solve a problem, work properly and will fulfil the need for which it’s bought.

Brands tell a much bigger story. Buying into a brand could mean buying into an idea, a perception, a belief system, a value, a story or an image that the brand represents or “claims” to represent. A brand has a distinct identity amongst its customers, one which has been built over time and is based on trust. Buying into a brand goes beyond the concept of buying a product. For example, buying an #Adidas trainers doesn’t just mean buying a running shoe, it means “buying a product thats born from sport and built for life”. This means the product isn’t just bought for the functionality but also for the name, the story, the image, the trust and the reliability. Buying such a product could mean buying into the idea of performance, athletic excellence, longevity, fitness and ambition. Asides from this, when you think of #Apple, their “name” and “logo” alone exudes reliability, trust, simple sophistication, knowledge as well as the company’s unique approach to design. This image and story has been built over time and customers that buy the product are convinced that their expectations will be met. For many customers, that image , the story and the consistency is worth paying for.

In the world of technology, paying for a product or a brand is no longer a matter of just price- it’s also about trust, perception, image, performance and long-term value. Industries like tech often ascribes a lot of weight to brand reputation and its common practice to see organisations pay a premium for a particular brand when there are other products that have better functionality at a better price. Name-tags are often preferred and valued over functionality. Despite this, technical people understand that, functionality matters more than labels. They also understand that sometimes, there is no correlation between product quality and brand prestige.

In order to benefit from both worlds, paying for a product where there is a strong alignment between product quality and brand prestige should be the focus for organisations who want to optimize cost. Buyers should particularly choose products where branding and product excellence complement each other, where customer reviews reinforces the reliability as well as functionality of the products and where value is not traded for prestige.

In conclusion, the best purchases are made when brand and product align and can earn the buyers trust. For organisations that value reliability, durability and identity - paying to buy brands or labels might be a good option while organisations that have their focus on functionality as well as solving a practical need with reduced cost will benefit more from paying for the product itself.