What Brand Managers Don't Want You To Know

"Past performance is not indicative of future performance"

At least that's what financial planners are trained to say. Mutual fund companies wouldn't dare create any sales literature that didn't have this caveat in the fine print.

Except that it's wrong when it comes to marketing.

Welcome to the halo effect: where global evaluations of a brand spill over into every day judgments.

Have you ever noticed that beautiful people are rated much higher in other categories like intelligence, athletics, and being successful compared to ugly people?

Its how companies like Apple have leveraged their branding power so that every product created (Mac, Ipod, Iphone etc.) are deemed remarkable and worth paying a premium for.
Books written as a "Harvard Classic" can demand twice the price than books without such an endorsement. The same is true in the fashion world. What fits better: designer clothes from Bloor Street, or the no name brand from Zellers?

And the funny thing is: we often don't know when it's happening to us. Are we really buying the product or the brand? Is there really a difference in functionality to worth paying more for?
It's a question brand managers like to blur. And we're often too ignorant to notice.

Consumer empowerment really comes from knowing how you are being marketed to. The next time you are choosing to purchase something or vote for for a politician, ask yourself if the halo effect is operating on you. What story are you really trying to tell yourself? Are you really judging something on it's merit or past performance?

This simple check can save you a lot of time, a lot of money, and even friends that you would have otherwise rejected.