Branding

Why does everything have to have a "brand"? The quality of the product wouldn't change if you took of the logo so why do we need? In the PBS dcumentary "Merchants of Cool" they discuss this idea at great legnth. Ever heard of the ICP? How about Limp Bizkit? These two rage rock bands went through a lot of branding. The idea behind their brands was to make them seem like they were anti-establishment, stick it to the man and all of that good stuff, even when, in fact, they were making a lot of money because corporations were supporting them. This type of branding goes on all of the time in food industry too, flashy packaging hides dull food, catchy slogans convince shoppers to pay extra money for a grrrrrreat cereal, even if the generic brand is just as good. To be able to brand a product packaging is an important part of the equation. It has to be instantly recognizeable so you can see whenever someone is using it. This was one of the reasons that Sprite was able to associate itself with hip-hop culture. In Merchants of Cool people are seen drinking Sprite at a pretty dang hoppin party, which helps prop up its image as the drink for people who want to be hip hoppin. This tactic was only successful because Sprite was seen with people who to some at least embodied hip hop. For that to work one needs very well thought out easy to recognize packaging. Good packaging in this way more than pays off the extra cost associated with creating a cool sleave for a bottle. It goes further than that stiil. Good packaging also tends to drawn people in who have never heard anything about the product, but that is for another time.