Value, Consistency, and the Value of Consistency

Brand is about consistency.   The value of a brand, from the very beginning, was that it indicated to customers what they could expect of a specific product from a specific vendor.   Later, when brand began to accrue other qualities, such as emotional benefits and the esteem of conspicuous consumption, customers were attracted to the brand because they expected those qualities to be delivered as well.

So the value of a traditional brand is that it delivers the same quality, experience after experience, year after year, decade after decade.   Brands that advertise they have been in business for a hundred years communicate a long history of consistent quality.  Consistency with expectations is critical.

Human beliefs are based on consistency.   When two things occur at the same time, we believe it to be coincidence and attach no special value to the correlation.  But when two things occur at the same time, over and over, we create an association and believe the two to be correlated.   It is not even necessary to understand the reason for the correlation: some of the most strongly held beliefs (superstition and religion) are based on situation where the correlation cannot be explained.

This is as true of brands as everyday experiences: a brand must be consistent to be meaningful.  There cannot be the sense that what the customer gets the next time will be different from what they got the last time.   Any change causes the customer to question the correlation, and to doubt that the brand has the qualities they expect - and for that doubt to become more generalized and existing beliefs to be questioned.  If the logo on the package is different, it is assumed that there must be other things that are different about the product it contains.

Whenever a brand changes, it takes some time to adjust: customers are displeased when anything is different, and need to be reassured that the qualities they value about the brand have remained the same.   Or when an unpopular brand changes to become more appealing, they must then convince customers who were disappointed in the past that things are now different and they should give the brand a second chance.

As an aside, correlations are subjective, so it is difficult to identify which qualities are important and which are not: companies assume they know why customers buy their brand and are indifferent to any other aspect, but are often quite surprised when a minor change that they assumed would be inconsequential results in an exodus of customers.   But the concept of a brand, or any object, is the sensory stimulation.   The customer cares not only about the taste of a food product, but it's scent and visual appearance as well - change any one thing, even an inessential quality, and customers cannot refrain from reconstructing their conception of the brand.

So in that sense, consistency itself is a value: knowing what to expect of a brand means that the customer doesn't have to reevaluate it each time they purchase.   This reduces the effort (cost) of buying, and ensures that the benefit-to-cost ratio remains favorable to the brand.   Any change casts doubt on their existing beliefs, causes them to have to re-think and re-evaluate, and provides an opportunity to change their conception of a brand, for better or for worse.