If you have actually been reading my stuff for the past few years you’ll know how taken I am with the idea of brand “communities” and the scope they offer savvy marketers. I’ve spent hours … nay, years … talking to rooms full of people about “brandships” – the relationship we have with brands and how they are similar in many ways to those we have with people.
For instance, I’ve long-held the belief that well-conceived strategic alliances between brands can play dividends for both parties, but that the wrong choice of partners can have an equally powerful negative effect on your brand equity. It’s the same with personal relationships – “He must be OK, he’s a friend of so-and-so” or “I’m not sure about her, she hangs out with an odd crowd”.
I’ve quoted the experiences of Harley Davidson, Saturn Autos, EastWest Airlines and many more to illustrate how we use brands as badges of belonging that demonstrate our values and beliefs. If that’s true of course, it stands to reason that our brandships could influence our personal relationships – Love me, love my Harley, must be a phrase familiar to a few women, but it could well apply to any brand. Well, now Apple have provided me with a new piece of evidence to support my proposition – Apple dating or, as they term it, Cupidtino, the exclusive dating site for Apple lovers.
Yes now you can be sure that your coding is compatible and your ports match before you make that big commitment and you’ll be in first-date heaven knowing that you’ll at least be able to talk about the latest i-Pad derivative.
Michael Weaver
May 7, 2010