The avoidance of regret being a much bigger factor in brand selection

Brand & Marketing

Yet marketers very rarely acknowledge this distinction when debating the role of the brand - and they pay little attention to the job of being assuredly not crap - even though I suggest it is by far the more valuable economic role that brands play: not to be a promise of ultimate superiority but a cast-iron assurance of pretty dependable non-shitness. The Fina ad is one good example. Even better is that great CDP ad for Smirnoff: “why waste money on real lemons”, which I can’t find, or the Volkswagen promise of reliability. But overall this proposition of “loss avoidance” is rare - most ads seek to boast a lot more than they reassure. Yet when you are handing over GBP1,000 to buy that flat screen TV, how much of your brain is worried about whether it is the best TV you can buy for GBP1,000, versus the part of the brain thinking, “I hope this TV isn’t a crock of shite?” I’d put the ratio at about 1:2.

The buyer is not dreaming of the world’s greatest television. They are picturing the world’s most irritating Saturday: dead screen, missing receipt, customer support playing a flute version of Coldplay while eight hundred pounds quietly leaves the building.

This is the unglamorous economic value of a brand. It removes possible regret. Familiarity, reviews, warranties, visible support and a record of competent behaviour tell the buyer that the choice will probably not become a family anecdote beginning, “Remember that bloody thing you ordered?” Marketers prefer superiority because reassurance sounds anaemic in a sales pitch. Fastest. Smartest. Most advanced. Each claim invites comparison on the seller’s favourite axis. The customer may be using a different scorecard entirely: Will it work? Can I return it? Will choosing this make me look careless? What happens when something goes wrong?

That anxiety grows with price, complexity and visibility. Nobody wants to spend their weekend migrating software, defending a restaurant choice or learning that an unfamiliar appliance requires spare parts available only from a warehouse outside Minsk. Dependable non-shitness becomes a premium benefit. The winning evidence is often painfully dull: a returns policy written for humans, support visible before purchase, reviews describing years of uneventful use. None will inspire a sonnet. Together they transfer a little risk from buyer to seller. The customer sleeps comfortably after choosing, tells nobody about the absence of catastrophe, and the accountants must somehow learn to endure this shortage of brand love.