BRAND ME - What's does your personal brand say?

"Bhaiya (brother) one pack Pampers please" - a simple request I heard from a customer standing next to me at a departmental store, to the shopkeeper. 

Almost spontaneously, the shopkeeper asked... "which Pampers?" To which the customer said, "XYZ (not mentioning the actual brand name here) Pampers please". And very quickly the shopkeeper pulled out a pack of diapers of a different brand, to hand it over to the customer.

I then made my purchases at the store and strolled down the lane on my way home, pondering over this little interaction between the customer and the shopkeeper. 

The customer brought a diaper of a different brand, while the diaper itself was referred to, by a different brand name! Since when did Pampers mean DIAPERS? 

I wasn't sure if this was absurd or just simply brilliant! A common noun replaced by a proper noun, as my English teacher would have said it!

The thought was still running in my mind, as I called out at home “Can someone hand me a bottle of water from the fridge?” 

Wait a minute! "FRIDGE"???

Again, is that even a common noun? Not really as I quickly discovered! The fridge is (or was) a brand name for the early refrigerators introduced by “Frigidaire”.

Incredible isn't it! I guess that it's not just the 'value' that the product or service offers, but also the positioning strategy of the companies that leave such strong impressions of the brand in the minds of its users. 

As they say... ‘positioning is not what you do to the product but to the mind of the prospect’ 

Come to think of it, how many pieces of chocolate called ‘HARPIC’ would you buy? How comfortable would you be eating ‘HARPIC' MILK CHOCOLATE? If you went EWW, well that's what positioning is! A strong association of quality, value, or offering with a particular name!

It doesn’t end here...as much as brand names have influenced us, knowing or unknowingly our choices of products also have changed to an extent to defy our traditional methods and style. 

Well, if a product or service can have such an incredible impact and influence on us, is it possible that your personal brand also has some quality & value associated with it?

Is it possible that a certain impression is being created or left behind with every little interaction that you have with someone else? And does this impression motivate, inspire, and influence others? Or does it do the exact opposite?

More on this in my next blog 😊

 ~Nida Khan

@ Myndscope Consulting