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Imagine the difference in how you’d feel as a middle-class working guy buying from them. The CEO could say: “We work hard to keep our prices low by carefully s
by davidgh 7y ago
Imagine the difference in how you’d feel as a middle-class working guy buying from them. The CEO could say:
“We work hard to keep our prices low by carefully selecting affordable materials while still providing stylish, attractive and fashionable products our customers love.”
...or:
“Our products are crap, the materials in them are crap, and by virtue of buying them, our customers assert that all they want is crap.”
Producing low cost items is not the issue, and naturally the quality is less with low cost items. People understood they weren’t buying high-grade platinum. It’s the expressed sentiment of the company leader was the gaffe.
- TheOtherHobbes 7y agoThe implied sentiment was "You're poor and I've been treating you as a joke." The previously implied sentiment was "I'm selling you upmarket glamour at an affordable price." Branding isn't about the product, it's about buying a relationship with an entity that has more power and charisma than you do. If you change the implied terms of the relationship, you damage the brand's value. It's why people get so furious when Apple stiffs them with products that fail and then fobs them off with poor after-care. Apple's implied sentiment used to be "You're an important and unusually gifted person with excellent taste." After Cook it's more like "We've taken your money. Why are you still here?"