peterme.com

Branding, of course, started as a mark on livestock to establish ownership, not, necessarily, quality or consistency. Beyond that, I don't know the history of product branding and why it came to mean so much to the consumer. It apparently provides the buyer with a comfort zone that is more emotional that practical. Example Sony, which has not made a top quality television product in the last fifteen years, yet still enjoys higher customer loyalty than any of its far superior competitors. Why is that?

When it comes to the branding iron, one man's cow is another man's bull.

Brand name reliance can be a trap, and so can low pricing lures. I hesitate to say it in this world of pixel power at our fingertips, but there is no substitute for thinking it through ourselves.

Service and customer focus is the key to great brands.

I completely agree with Air West, I was flown out to the Bay Area in the Spring on this carrier. The first plane was completely dirty and was having air circulation problems. The flight crew was complaining about the poor condition of the plane, but also that it was getting to be the norm (most passengers around me agreed). The flight was delayed leaving and then had problems in Phoenix getting access to land. This lead to missing my connection to San Jose. By the time I got into my hotel it was well past 3am my home time. I had a morning presentation and meetings that ran the whole day, and I started the day completely off.

The flight back was not a whole lot better. The airline completely tainted my impression of the company that flew me out there.

I have become a huge fan on JetBlue in this past year. They have been wonderful to deal with and put a lot of power into my hands. Their check-in kiosk is the best I have ever dealt with as it is simple and clear with few steps.

I am not a fan of many car rental companies. I do have one I like, but my preference is because they have XM radio in their fleet. I have XM radio at home and I know the stations that I like. I can quickly set the car radio to my preferred stations and save a button for the local traffic station (the best traffic station in every market I have been in). These make the traveling a little easier and more familiar.

I hate long lines and I like helpful friendly people (call me crazy). I would even pay more at a drug store to get that services as that is one place that is univerally miserable in every city I have been in over the past 15 years. The large chains seemingly hire bottom bracket clerks and manager that can't run the registers and seemingly are required to be surly. The brand does not matter, be it Walgreens, CVS, RiteAid, Duane Reed, or any other they all have the same traits. Before the major consolidation and focus on price over service in the late 80s to late 90s the drugstore was a friendly neighborly establishment with good efficient service. The price differences are negligible on the products bought at these stores (maybe an extra 20 to 40 dollars a year) and I know many people who would love to just have better more friendly service.

My gut feeling is that negative brand experiences are stronger than positive brand experiences. So your experiences do impact on brand, but a bunch of regular to positive ones may not do so as strongly.

Peter, look for flights through mobissimo.com next time. Much better deals than Orbitz.

I flew Southwest for the first time this past April (cheapest ticket on Mobissimo). I've been going straight to southwest.com ever since (10+ trips so far). They have captured my heart. I don't think I have ever identified with a brand so strongly - I am what is usually referred to as the "disloyal" type and price/quality will almost always make me switch to pretty much anything that comes around. I don't see that happening with Southwest - even though others may provide the same level of service (I don't know any that do, JetBlue to some extent), Southwest has it at a level I am happy with and gives me no reason to try and optimize my price/quality attributes.

That is Brand to me. It's not the image they sold me of what they could potentially be. It's my perception of what they are through experience. The "brand promise" is not the brand itself.

If Southwest slips and becomes something like the drugstore model Thomas was describing, I'll switch. But that will mean their brand is no longer the brand I recognized. The biggest problem in brand discussions is that people talk about brand like it's a monolythic thing, when its ever-evolving and highly contextual to an individual's perception.

Southwest flies San Jose - Dallas ;)
http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/routemap_dyn.html

Thanks, Livia. I am a very careful consumer. I checked out mobissimo.com and found it's listings very competetive, especially the Last Minute offerings. It is now in my Travel Folder

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