Business Case
Yes all the three Jean, Karen and Vicki have shown that they form a relationship with the main brand which they repeatedly use. Jean is a homely person and values relationships. Trust, value and recognition are main ingredients of a successful relationship. Jean looks for all three in her brands and so form a relationship with. We could see that few brands she simply trusted and few brought her recognition by additional taste etc.
They form relationships the following ways:
Parents favourite: people keep on using brands what their parents used to. This relationship results in two end results; either people become loyal to the brand and they also start liking it or they use it till they come to know a product who promises better value than the parents favourite.
Experience: People use a brand and experience all the values attached to it. This experience results in the preferences of a customer. One might choose to stick to the brand because of the nice experience she had and others might shift to another brand because of bad experience.
Recognition: Sometime people start identifying and relating you to a brand such as vickis relationship to ivory and to honor the fact that she is known as the ivory girl she continue using ivory as it gives her recognition.
Reflection: Often people reflect their persona in the brands they use. If someone values environment he is more likely to use organic products. If someone believs in perfection he is more likely to buy the best available even with a premium.
Usage: People use some brands just because they do some specified work. There are no big attachments or relationships other than the functional value. If any other brand promises to deliver better than the current it wont require much of the thinking by customer to shift.
We could identify mainly three types of relationships between people and brands.
Functional relationships are formed with the brands which deliver basic value such as
Jeans rever ware stainless steel as sauces doesnt burn in it
Jeans tide detergent as it dissolves in water.
Karens ban and miracle whip as she uses them only for what they do and no other specific reason.
Vickis dow and metadent toothpaste as it delivers the basic need i.e. hygiene.
Emotional relationships are formed with the brands to which a person gets attached either due to experience or perception of value such as
Jeans Philip berio olive oil as she feels it tastes better
Jeans