When we buy a brand name product, what might be going on from an ontological point of view?

I thought I’d answer this question with a focus on trust. There are three elements of trust at play. They are:

- An assessment of Competence
- An assessment of Sincerity
- An assessment of Reliability

Firstly though, what is an assessment?

Assessments

An assessment is something that we tend to treat as a fact although the fact of the matter lies within our own observation. It is not something directly evidenced by the world. In this case I might make any number of assessments about a product because it suits me to do so. “Red cars go faster” and “Coke is it”. If you can’t provide evidence to back up your claim, you are most likely holding an assessment dear to your heart.

This is a problem because…

…not all assessments are beneficial to our needs. “Brand” knows this and takes advantage of it.

Competence

Brand tells us that the product/company we are buying from is competent. It is capable of delivering what it says it will deliver – our wants.

This is quality of product.

Sony is a brand known for quality.

Often we never ask the question. We just assume a company is competent.

You don’t think this is at play? What happens when a company is proven to be below the quality levels we believe it has. The company suffers and sales drop. Sometimes the effect is so strong a whole industry suffers. Recently an Australian pharmacutical manufacturer was suspended from production because of poor quality control surrounding the ingredients used. Although the brand in this case was clearly identified, other brands suffered as confusion reigned.

Sincerity

Sure, you may be competent but do you really care for me and what you do?

A profession builds assessments of Sincerity and Competence through its ethical standards.

Perhaps the quickest way to destroy a brand is to stop focusing on your customers. I was once told by a real estate agent bidding for my business that “It’s all about the numbers”. They didn’t care about me one bit. I went with the estate agent that did. Or at least the one I assessed cared about me. Building and damaging brands at the same time.

Arnotts was an Australian company until a few years ago when it was bought out by a US company. The cry is “Money leaving Australia”. My guess is the cry is actually “You don’t care about us anymore”.

Reliability

You’re competent and sincere. Do you deliver?

Have you every gone to a name brand because you thought they would give you want you wanted on time and then found out they couldn’t? Did you buy there anyway?

We all know companies that are unreliable. So why are they still in business? Others, such as McDonalds are seen as reliable. I rely on the fact that they always have clean toilets. I rely on the fact that I can get food in a couple of minutes at worst.

Longevity

It seems to me that the longer a brand is around, the more we take our assessments about competence, sincerity and reliablity for granted. That’s the real value of a brand. We stop questioning what we never really questioned in the first place.

Volvo is reliable. The new business down the street isn’t? Do you really know if they are or not? Did you ever ask?