Latent or Real ?

I came across this print ad today. Well, I guess it's a brilliant ad as the ad is attractive enough to attract the eyeballs of consumers, who are consumers of all age groups. These consumers are sons and daughters who may not be very caring towards their parents, but who make sure that they thank their parents at least once a year for their life time service.

Well, marketers say that the success mantra for any organisation is to give consumers what they want, but if you see products like greeting cards, do you think that customers have ever required such a thing? Well, a naive response to this issue may lie in tapping of latent needs which are the hidden needs. Latent needs are the needs which consumers aren't aware of.

Well, I really don't think that greeting cards serve your latent needs. All of us express ourselves some or the other way. Speaking about myself, I express myself in writing. I may write a letter or a small note to extend my feelings. Now, these cards serve the function of facilitating this expression of feelings in a convenient way. If I want to express gratitude to my parents, rather than writing a letter, I would prefer giving a greeting card which is actually convenient for me.

As such, greeting cards do not cater to your latent needs. Rather, greeting cards facilitate your need to expression, which is a real or a felt need.

Why Brands ?

Today I went out with my friends to shop for my other friends. My favorite shopping destination to buy gifts and greeting cards is Archies gallery. Archies has a very wide assortment of products in each product line, whether it is cards or accessories. Though expensive, yet the brand equity of Archies has leveraged it a supreme position in market.

Archies generally provides you the option of getting the gifts wrapped and it then hands over the stuffs to the customers in an Archies poly bag. Today, I got an ordinary plain poly bag and not the usual Archies bag. I felt that recession has also hit this giant in its category that led to deterioration in quality. When I asked the store manager, the excuse he gave was lack of stock of Archies poly bag.

Now, why do you think is a polybag with its brand name important to consumers? Well, I really don't think brands give you something more than any unbranded stuff in terms of tangible functionality. But there is other side of functionality that is based on perception and is more of psychological in nature. That is, the customers want to show to their peers that they have shopped in a branded outlet, which in turn enhances the self esteem of the shoppers.

This can be attributed to the fact that brands help you become what you want to become. Everyone wants to be rich, affluent and exclusive. To project this exclusivity, they buy the brands that have this exclusivity element in them. It gives consumers a sense of self conceit and a feeling of being different in crowd. As such, even branded poly bags do matter to consumers.

But the question to ponder is does Archies really need to pay heed to this? Archies is the category leader and has a monopoly in the market. So, do you think if it doesn't give customers the requisite brand sensation, customers are gonna stop coming to Archies. My answer is a straight No, at least till the time a competitor builds this kind of brand equity.