Topic: The Point of Brand Loyalty?

As in what is it? Why would someone feel any sort of "loyalty" to any specific company, turning a blind eye to competitors that could wind up being a better use of their or their parent's hard earned money? When I think of loyalty, I think of my loyalties to my friends, my loyalty to my country, State, town, etc - a feeling of obligation towards others. But I am just a customer to a company. Why should I feel obligated to them? If nothing else, they're obligated to me, in that they have to do things to make their products appealing to me so I'll choose it over all their competitors'. I don't see how anyone should in any way feel obligated to purchase their products regardless of whether it's actually better than similar products made by said competitors.

And I'm not just talking about video games, but brand loyalty among all sorts of products, including clothing, electronics, etc. Personally, I buy the cloths that fit and are comfortable, I buy the electronics that are the best deals, and I buy the games that appeal the most to me, no matter who makes it or whop sells it, because that just seems like the most logical use of my money. Obviously, not all agree.

So here I ask you: why do you think others choose to be loyal to a company?

Most people stick with one company because they trust that company to continue delivering products they enjoy. I don't think it's some medieval sense of loyalty. You are my lord, Nintendo, and I will continue to serve you. Must buy 3DS, must buy 3DS.

idk, why should someone choose to be loyal to a person, an ideal, or anything else for that matter? some people like the ethics of the company themselves, or perhaps the company's representatives have gone out of their way to help them before, and they want to return the favor by continuing to choose their stuff. perhaps the company produces a product at a higher quality than other companies. loyalty is a personal thing, really, and i think the problem(s) occur when other people attempt to wrangle us into accepting their personal loyalties over our own via ostracism and/or public ridicule. herd mentality is something i can't really stand -- you do your own thing, and i'll do mine, y'know?

It depends on the product for me and what it is that I like about it. Clothing I'm not really particular about. I may regard some brands as better than others, but I have no "loyalty" to them. Food is all about taste; I'm a Coke fan and I don't like Pepsi or RC Cola at all, but if I have to choose between Irn Bru and Coke, Irn Bru wins every time. I had no feeling for the Nintendo brand before, but since buying the Wii I've enjoyed the experience and I've been impressed with their design aesthetic in their hardware and games, and I've certainly been more willing to punt on a Nintendo-published game than a 3rd party release because I do associate it with quality and attention to detail.

I guess that pretty much sums it up: does the company consistently deliver for you? Do you like what they do? Buying something from a "known quantity" - especially a more expensive product - is a lot easier than taking a chance on something new.

I won't buy something just because it is made by a company, but I will boycott companies that I've had bad experiences with because it's my only means of retribution and I don't want to feel like a fool by being ripped off twice. Sony and Microsoft are both on my boycott list because of bad experiences with a Sony laptop and Windows 98, whereas Nintendo has never greatly disappointed me.

Well I have total brand loyalty to Nintendo for all things gaming. I'm not 100% sure why I have such a strong dedication to Nintendo as it seems it has been there my whole life. I think however that it definitely has something to do with how deeply I hate thier competitors as well as the sheer amount of love and polish that can only be found in a Nintendo game.

Somehow I have now the suspicion that Nintendo does illegal brainwashing experiments?

The loyalty in this sense isn't as much a decision is at is a habit. People end up being loyal to a company by default because, as Adam says, that company has earned their trust that the products they put out will appeal to them. For instance, if Gaijin Games puts out a new release, I am likely to buy it, because they've convinced me that they put great care into their products, and that I will enjoy playing them. If Stickmen Studios puts out a new release, I would sooner drown myself in the bathtub than pay for it. It's not that I'm choosing blind loyalty toward one...it's that I've spent my money in many different ways by now, and I'm choosing to continue spending it in ways that have made me the most satisfied, while avoiding those that felt like a waste.

I can't think of many people who feel "obligated" to a company, as you mention a few times in your original post, but anyone who does is definitely missing the point of having an open marketplace.

In some cases, extreme brand loyalty also works as justification to avoid buyer's remorse or as a form of self-validation. This is a blind and illogical reason for being loyal to a brand or company... but it still happens often enough.

I agree with Sean though: my loyalty only lasts as long as a company is producing content/product that I want... and my loyalties don't prevent me from enjoying good products from other companies, or picking and choosing products from companies that I do like.

I think because they think it's fun
I mean Everyone else may find it annoying as hell when a microsoft fanboy, a sony fanboy and a nintendo fanboy get in a three way war, But for them I say they enjoy it, Backing their chosen company and it's even worse around E3 it's a bit like, We did better at e3 this year or so what if you did better other years were crap! (you get the picture.....) It's because they find it fun and probably find a sense of comradary out of it, But I wouldn't know I have things from all three companys, (PS3, Wii, Ds and Microsft windows) Its also a bit like different brands of tea if you get what I mean.

I'll keep buying Nintendo products, because I know the company makes products I like. If their games start sucking (not just a one time thing, but if they turn in to, say, Sonic the Hedgehog post-Dreamcast), then I'll stop buying, like I did with Sonic games. Same with Apple products, though that's more because I think Microsoft's OS's tend to suck more than Apple's are extremely good. (My only real problem with Apple is a lack of 3rd party support, though, to be fair). I choose what I personally feel is a good value for my money. My brand loyalties have shifted before, though it takes a while for a company to show that it's products don't suck anymore or that all of it's products will now suck, so it takes a while.

In regards to video gaming, brand loyalty was much more important to me in the days when I couldn't afford to have more than 1 gaming console(most fanboys). I may have been a Nintendo fanboy in the SNES/Genesis era, but overall I believe it comes down to a matter of trust, I was trusted Nintendo products because I knew that at the very least, they would support their own systems with quality games, I lacked that trust with SEGA, at the time, who lied about Blast Processing and I had a distrust in anything which wasn't already familiar like TG16 and NeoGeo. Once I started to make my own money, my brand loyalty slowly disappeared and I began to grow a strong dislike for people who are ignorant and blindly loyal towards one company who refuse to acknowledge the faults of said company or worse, defend them.

I may get some disagreement, but I feel that brand loyalty is for when you lack options due to your financial situation. After all it is easier to stick with what you know compared to taking a risk.

Lol. That would be awesome! Then maybe they could rid the world of Sony, Microsoft, and Apple fanboys once and for all!

Because sometimes a company makes mistakes here and there but they're still great overall and support from their customers is absolutely everything. If everyone just gave up on Nintendo when the Virtual Boy came out, then the 3DS wouldn't exist today. They didn't buy the product but they stuck by the company because they knew that it was just one failure out of numerous successes. If there was no such thing as brand loyalty, companies would constantly go out of business as soon as they had a product that flopped. They wouldn't be able to take any risks at all and innovation would surely suffer. Macintosh was hanging on by a thread for a while in the early days and they make vastly superior products to Microsoft. It's the small portion of the population that remained loyal to them who enabled their success in the long run.

@AdamLikesYou: I like the Virtual Boy. I did stick with Nintendo, but it sure did teach me a lesson that you can't only have 1st party support.

@sykotek: That vid is awesome! That is exactly what I think about Apple's retarded consumers! People need to wake up and realize that Apple isn't anything special. Infact, they often times are inferior.

I agree with Marzipaz, bboy2970 and AdamLikesYou. Great wisdom those sages do have.

Anyway, here is how I feel on this issue.

To be quite honest, I do consider myself a loyal and true Nintendo fan. However, I do wade into other waters, howbeit I don't actually swim in them, not very long at lest.

I own a PSP, but I've regretted wasting my mother's money on it many times over. The PSP has a attraction but it's game library pales in comparison to that of Nintendo, quite honestly I'd rather have Apple's iPod Touch over the PSP anyday. LittleBigPlanet and ModNation Racers are quite nice. However, SONY PlayStation simply cannot compare to the magical wonder of the world of Nintendo.

Nintendo is much like Disney and I consider the Nintendo Company to be the Walt Disney of the Video Gaming industry.

Yet, I do strive to give Microsoft and Sony a fair chance. I've played the ModNation Racer PSP and LittleBigPlanet demos, but SONY always manages to turn me off with bad things like Heavenly Sword, god of war, Uncharted and Red Dead Redemption. I've gotten tired of all the dark games that Sony CONSTANTLY churms out in comparison to the vast and broad choice of games on all of the Nintendo platforms from SNES to the upcoming Nintendo 3DS.

I was introduced to Nintendo when I was very young, around the age of 5 or perhaps 4 and I've been a fan ever since, I'm 21 now and I'm still loving Nintendo.

Also, one reason I don't get into Microsoft XBOX and Sony PlayStation is because I of the PC MMORPGS. When I'm not Nintendo-ing I'm either studying or playing NEXON.net's Maple Story, PopTag or Mabinogi.

Oh man... the only thing more annoying than Apple super-fans are people who about Apple fans! Seriously though... that video is funny. But the only thing anyone needs to wake up and realize is that different people have different preferences and not everyone is willing to deal with the overly cumbersome user interfaces of other smart phones. I've tried them all... I know how much longer it takes to go through even the most basic operations... how much steeper the learning curve is... I could really go on and on here. The point is that excessive functionality isn't more important than ease of use to everyone. Some people just want to use their computers and phones, not learn how to use them over time and constantly maintain them by downloading new drivers and other such BS. It's a preference and just like Nintendo, Apple happens to be right about what WAY more people prefer in certain areas of their market.

There are a million ways to enjoy a cup of coffee. Hot, cold, bitter, sweet, dark, light... coffee is as unique as the person holding the mug in their hands. Some people can only have their coffee in one way. I respect that kind of dedication to something. ...I myself prefer coffee hot and bitter as Hell, but that's beside the point.

Have the blend you want. That's one of my rules.

Yeah, I guess that I can understand, and I'm sure that's what people consider for a lot of things. I think my parents used to get the same brand of furniture because they think it'll have a consistant level of quality. It never did, though, and after a while they gave up and started looking elsewhere. Actually I used to be "loyal" to Nintendo back when they had the Gamecube, since I liked pretty much every game they put out there (except for F-Zero GX). 'Course, once they moved on to the Wii, they stopped making games that appealed to me (except for Metroid Prime 3, but that was made by Retro Studios anyways), so I lost that loyalty pretty quick. I still don't agree with the idea that a company will consistantly put out the same quality in their products, but if nothing else, it's understandable, and that's all I'm really asking for. I guess more often than not it's just the human tendancy to see a pattern where there is none.