In Turkey, wearing veil was a culture. A reformer came and gave dictate that it is mandatory for prostitute to wear veil. This small step changed the whole country. Other women left wearing it. By linking a religious ego satisfying product to a lower standard, he killed a habit.
In similar lines, there is a famous example of Rolls royace. In 1920, Maharaja Jai singh went to see the car in showroom in London as a common man. The British sales man had no idea of the Maharaja. The Maharaja was thrown out of the showroom. Next day, Jai singh bought six luxury cars in cash. When the vehicle arrives in India, Jai singh ordered municipality to use luxury cars to transport and collect garbage around the city. The word spread like wildfire. This affected the reputation of Rolls royace. People who used to drive car with sense of pride felt embarrassed. Car maker’s revenue dropped. Car maker offered apologies and sent six free cars to the Maharaja. Jai Singh accepted the apologies.
Perception is everything. We believe in growth or ego mind set. We buy products which is bigger than our capacity. Even poorest person wants to associate himself with rich keywords or luxury product. Brand mania is not new. Associating products with heavenly dreams is natural way of ego boost.
Religious people work same way. If you tell Vedic Hindu Pandit that he is behaving like Muslim, he will cry at you and vice versa. We enjoy distinction and classification. EGO branding use it. Let’s take politics. Rahul Gandhi is struggling as being tagged as “the pappu”. Demolishing statues is cheap way to get attention of opposite community. We are possessive to our identity. In India, people gain satisfaction , if Pakistan losses. Ego is a big business.
Nano was classic example of branding failure. The car had been associated with scooter or car of poor people. Let’s take another case of Innova. OLA did aggressive buying of these cars. Now Innova is branded as a taxi. People buy Apple phones in queue , just to being tagged as first mover. Even films have charm in first few weeks of release.
Reverse example is “The Kwid” by the renault , its outlook is precious and royal. Though inner product specs may not be that great but it is successful. It has not positioned itself as poor man car like NANO.
Ego branding has negative impact also. Poor people spend so much on marriage and social functions that whole life they pay loan.