During my professional career as
a marketing guy, specifically in the field of brand development, one of the
major focuses was on the loyalty status of the consumers towards the product.
Quantifying loyalty is one of the major challenges that a marketing guy faces. Researches
by a professional agency seem to be the only way out. When it’s about quantifying
loyalty, the term “Top of Mind”, though cliché, is the favorite. In simple
terms it’s the first brand that a respondent spells out without any aid during
a research. When all the respondents are interviewed the ToM usually gives a
fair idea of how popular the brand is.
But looking at my personal
experience and today’s competitive market, where a hell lot of variety for even
the simplest of products is available, a big question emerges in my mind. Does
ToM really help a brand to sell more and does it really help to build loyalty
among the consumers or is it just making the marketers myopic?
My observation in today’s context
has been that the ToM brand, instead of facilitating instant purchase or
consideration, acts as a stepping stone towards considering other brands. The
attitude is something like, “Yeah I know this brand very well so why not look
for some brands that I don’t know about. Maybe they’re better?”
So the big question is should ToM
really be considered as a true indicator of loyalty and should marketers be
happy with just the highest level of brand awareness?
© Kashyap Shakya
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