Loyalty to my team

In class we got on the topic of consumer loyalty to brands, and why we become and remain loyal to certain brands and products over time. My initial thought was, "how weird is it that people can be loyal to a brand in the same way they may be to actual human beings." After pondering this thought I realized it's done in the same way: people sell themselves to others (in a non-monetary way), just as brands sell their products to consumers. Both brands and people will display their best characteristics along with what traits they believe to be the most beneficial for you. People become loyal to those brands and individuals in which they deem valuable or important. Typically, there is either a product being sold, or an individual selling him or herself to gain a person's loyalty, however when it comes to teams there is a combination of the two being performed.

In order for a team to gain loyal fans and customers to purchase their fan attire or tickets to their game, not only should they produce the entertainment of a good game with their talents, but also be considered likeable. People tend to support those with similar values and overall viewed as doing more good to society than bad. Thus, it is important for sports teams to sell both what they are doing as well as who they are. Although this proves to be true with most products, when it comes to sport team loyalty, one of the most important factor was what you were born into, oddly similar to religion. In my specific scenario this would be in terms of the wonderful game of hockey.

Unfortunately I was born into a family of Toronto Maple Leafs fans, thus my fate was early on to be consistently let down by a bunch of boys in blue. Despite their lack of triumph over the years, I have stayed loyal and cheered them on even during their roughest of blows. When looking at what makes a consumer loyal, there are several check points this team has made for me with the exception of one. Beginning with what they do well in gaining my loyalty is who they are as a team. The Toronto Maple Leafs do not have much negative press associated with them, and actually do awesome things for the community! Recently the players of the Leafs took their annual visit to Sick Kids Hospital where they go to meet their youngest, ill fans, and give them a memory to last a lifetime. Not only do they go in and meet the children, they also interact with them by challenging them in games and having real conversations. This is something that makes them stand out to me, proving they're real people who really care.

Few of the players at the hospital

Now to the part of where they don't exactly meet expectations in building and gaining consumer loyalty. Their performance. Now, they may not be the worst team in the league, but for how large their fan base is the price of tickets to their games, you would typically expect a much better team. Perhaps a team that has won the cup sliiiiightly more recently than 1967? So why does this team continue to have so much loyalty? Why do we continue to purchase and wear their merchandise? Why do we still go to their games and cheer them on? It's because this is what we have known for so many years. We are loyal because we believe one day they will pull through for us. After years of cheering for a specific team it would be much more difficult to go and pick an entirely new team, who has the potential of letting us down as well, than to just keep cheering for the same we've loved for so long.

leaf game October 11th 2014

Friend and I decked out in Leaf gear (during a losing game)

Organizations are the teachers of the market

Recently my older brother moved into a new, unfurnished apartment with absolutely no  furniture of his own. Of course, him being a 23 year old, broke male student, meant him leaving behind any expectations of quality or appearance of such items. For the most part he picked up odds and ends from those parting with old furniture sets, with the exception of one item he would not settle on- a mattress.

Everyone has their own preconceived notations of what is acceptable and what is not, and with this situation, him and I definitely voiced differences. I urged him to consider taking an old one from Kijiji, or off an old friend of mine, however despite his unruly bedroom and bathroom, he felt this did not meet his sanitation requirements. So, we went mattress shopping. 

This is where the teaching of big name stores and organizations takes a huge role. Once purchasing a previously owned mattress was ruled out we had to consider where we should go to purchase a mattress. The first to come to both of our minds? Sleep Country Canada. Yep, the "Sleep Country Canada, why buy a mattress anywhere else?" jingle being repeatedly played through our television sets and car radios as children and to this day had actually held an effect on us. Sleep Country has engrained their jingle into many people's minds and reminded us over and over that there is no need to look anywhere else. Although this is what they had taught us, we still knew there were other options available.

This is where we finally acknowledged our total evoked set; Sears, Ikea, the Brick. These were the stores in which we were certain sold mattresses. We figured that mattresses couldn't vary too much, and the store virtually only selling mattresses may be the best bet (Sleep Country) as they were likely to have a wider range of prices and styles. Knowing Sleep Country was specifically aimed at mattress sales and had a wide variety was also taught to us by this company through their TV marketing. I can recollect countless Sleep Country commercials with an attractive woman boasting about some new type of mattress with some new technology and some other new, unnecessary feature.

yep, that's the one!  

Sleep Country uses a brand ambassador, this woman shown above, as the only individual to really be focused on within their advertisements. Although it's likely that most of the viewers are not familiar with who this woman is or why she is always featured in Sleep Country commercials, they will be able to recognize her and associate her with the store. She is actually Christine Magee, the President of Sleep Country Canada, and has won awards for the top business woman of the year in Canada. For those consumers who are familiar with her presence in the company, this can also be considered as the company teaching you a thing or two about Sleep Country.Thus, in conjunction with their catchy, over played jingle, Sleep Country had taught us that this is where we will be purchasing the mattress from, of course without us being aware they had done so. 

But of course, they were right. We ended up buying a mattress from Sleep Country within 20 minutes of arriving at the store. Sleep Country uses tactics such as memory and repetition in the use of their jingle and TV advertisements featuring numerous products and a familiar, recognizable face.