A Marketer's Worst Nightmare? (pt. 1)

One of the modules on my PR course deals with marketing, particularly its relationship to public relations. It has its own exam - part of the Big September Exams I'll be facing in a few short months. It's been suggested (or recommended) that whilst writing these exams, we should try to use as many examples as possible of successful campaigns - in this case, marketing campaigns.

Our lecturer always recommends that we "think of the brands you love, and use those as your examples". Well... I have one small problem with that.

I cannot for the life of me think of brands I love. In fact, the very word "brand" makes me cringe inwardly. I can't seem to recall a time when I've ever bought something because of who or what it was. Ever.

I have a much easier time thinking of commercials that annoy me, or companies that I'd never buy from. This probably does not bode well for my marketing exam.

Case in point - I remember when I was about 14 years old I was asked to be part of a marketing research focus group. The company was Polo Jeans - an offshoot of Ralph Lauren, and from what I recall they were attempting to discern how the brand would fare in the Canadian market. Apart from a pair of hand-me-down Guess Jeans, I'd never owned any branded clothing in my life (I still don't). Needless to say this didn't endear me to the researchers.

I recall getting hung up on the Polo Jeans logo. I could not, for the life of me, figure out why the researchers assumed Canadians would want to wear t-shirts with a big American flag on them, albeit one that was adapted to fit the brand. I remember being horrified that everyone else in the group seemed to think that this brand was The Coolest Thing Ever, with one girl saying that she'd absolutely wear that, no question. I argued with those researchers for at least 20 minutes, even going so far as to suggest that they might want to alter their logo slightly to reflect the potential Canadian market. No dice.

At the end of the session, all the participants were given a free gift - a Polo Jeans shirt, complete with American flag-esque logo.

I think they missed the point. Or maybe I did, because I still don't get it.