The recent travel restrictions coupled with the Covid-related supply shortages have heightened my awareness of the place brands occupy in our world. These ubiquitous products, such a part of our daily lives, are taken for granted until we accidentally do without them. Most of our ancestors throughout history did not have that luxury; they had to depend on themselves or their neighbors to procure clasps and trinkets. Even if you are poor or one of the 1.1 billion people in the world who go hungry most nights, you have to make do with what you can get; products whose packaging may look vaguely similar to a high-end brand, but by no means reach the heights of quality; they lack taste, freshness, color, aroma, texture, or some combination thereof, they fall short. These "extraordinary" brands can be found on the shelves of discount centers, thrift stores, convenience stores, and your local convenience store (at a significantly increased price, of course). But for the rest of us, brands are the standard of credibility in a society that lacks trust.
While some of these companies spend a lot on advertising - and that adds to the cost, it's also true that while unfortunately we don't always get what we pay for "if you're not paying for it, you can be sure I'm not getting it."
Interestingly, many of the brands I grew up with such as: Kellogg, Tide, Heinz and Coke to name a few were equally popular in England. I know this because they have all these brands on display in their Brand Museum on Lancaster Road in London, along with many others I am not familiar with such as 'Home Special OX O Cubes', 'The Wombles' and 'Dan Dare' toy products. They have stuff that dates back to the Victorian era, when opium preparations were as common in the first aid kit as aspirin is now in ours. Remarkably, they found that Alzheimer's patients can have their memories triggered by seeing branded gear from their era, which can lead to positive engagement. The museum has launched an awareness program, providing detailed packs of brand-focused materials to distribute to care homes across the UK to help organizations help Alzheimer's patients. (1)
Brands come and go. In the mid-1990s, the best-selling frozen dinner was called "Le Menu", which was tasty and offered a wide variety of options. Having small children at the time, the biggest draw for me was that the food came packaged on a handy, thick, white plastic plate, perfect for kids. It was the right size, unbreakable, and could be washed and microwaved over and over again. Then... some manager decided to squeeze a little more profit out of the product, so she made the board thinner. It suddenly warped during the second microwaving and destroyed the benefit of the product. Within six months, "Le Menu" had disappeared from the shelves.
On the other hand, some companies are so good that more people need to know about them. Take "Carhartt Work Jackets" from Dearborn, Michigan, for example. He's behind those jackets. If you do anything other than intentionally set it on fire, you can call them, and they will mail you a label for free. Box the jacket, send it in, and they'll repair it like new and return it to you within a week… for free. Now it's a brand you can rely on. And while I'm at it, another really good brand is USA A Insurance. While they lack the lizard, the ostrich, the Statue of Liberty, or even the accident-prone individual run by other competitors, they do lack the absolute best service in the business. When you need them, they are there. And after being with them for over 45 years, I can attest that they consistently do more than the company needs. They are not the cheapest, and that should tell you something.
Being a retired dentist, I would be remiss if I didn't put the plug on a few dental products. Two of the best products in the store are ACT fluoride rinse and old-fashioned yellow colored Listerine (the one that tastes bad). It tastes bad because the bacteria don't like it either. If you were to dip a round head rotary toothbrush into a cap full of that magic potion and work it on each area of your gums for 3 to 4 seconds twice a week, you could say, "Hello healthy gums," no future periodontal surgery for you. Use the aforementioned ACT fluoride rinse twice a day, and you'll forget what cavities are. A word about flossing: "you don't have to floss all of your teeth, just the ones you want to keep". Which thread is the best to buy? The one you will use.
Beyond all the jingles and carefully crafted advertising distortions, brands offer us quality, consistency and value. Throughout our lives, we spend as much time with them as we do with family. In their own way, they become friends we can trust and who each add value to our lives in their own different ways. I like to believe that people who are employed by some of those great companies are proud to go to work.
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