BRAND LOYALTY - TOP 5

I've been mulling over this for a few days now and just started thinking about what makes a brand have such a strong following. I'm not talking about brief stints of loyalty, fads and all that other good stuff. I'm talking about brands that you've used your whole life (or at least the majority of it). Why does that brand sit so high on your shelf? Innovation? Quality? Persistence? Here's my TOP 5 in no particular order. I would do top 10, but I just can't think of 5 more. Feel free to give us your top 5.

1. HONDA

My girlfriend has this really nice 2004 Audi A4 (you know, the models where they totally changed the body to that real sexy look to it). Beautiful car - jet black, nice curves, quattro handling, etc. The thing is, she's been in and out of the dealership for the past year because the "check engine" light keeps on popping up. I've had my car for almost 15 years. It's got about 202,000miles on it and its still going strong. In this timeframe, I've never once had any engine repairs to it. Of course, I would have my routine fixes like tires, brakes, batteries, spark plugs and so on. But I've NEVER had a problem with the engine. I've talked to other Honda owners and they ALL say the same thing.

2. BLACKBERRY

I can't live without mine. As much as I want to get my hands on the ultra cool iPhone with its elegant design, graceful OS system and selection of fun-filled applications, I am forever loyal to Blackberry. I'll give you this. Their stab at the iPhone rip was a total flop. I played with it for 5 minutes and was disgusted by it. But every other phone they have in their repertoire has been what I exactly needed. Phone. Email. Internet. Address book. Calendar. Calculator. Notes. Google Maps. Sheeeit. Blackberry is the reason why I've cut down on two normal household items. A Phone and an alarm clock. Thanks Blackberry. You're the reason why I have more space for my toys. Oh yeah. And you rock for making sure that you have a cut and paste function on your phones.

3. APPLE

They just get it. A powerful tool in a beautiful package. This goes for ALL of their product. Even though I've only been using their product for a mere 4 years, I can tell that these guys are on the right track. Apple is THE MOST INNOVATIVE BRAND of our generation.

4. IKEA

No matter where I live or where I go, there is at least one IKEA ______ (place name of furniture item or accessory here) that I notice. What more can you ask for? Decent furniture at a cheap price. Granted, its not "designer" furniture. But when you're a lower/middle class American trying to furnish that newly bought/rented fortress, there's nothing better than that one-stop shop known to all as IKEA.

5. LEVI'S

I've owned at least one pair of Levi's throughout my life since elementary school. No breaks. If I outgrew or decided that my pair of Levi's had to go, I would go and get another pair. THey are true artisans of denim. Do you understand what I just did? I don't even refer to them as jeans...IT'S LEVI'S BITCH!!!

The Hatchery

I was finally able to check out what the Hatchery VC collaboration was all about after being invited a few times by Yao Hui Huang and numerous times I was going to go but something came up.

Dr. Yao Hui-Huang who is the CEO of Gigapixel Creative, a New York-based design and branding firm has been in charge of the Hatchery since 2007.

My first gauntlet took place at F.I.T. and they seem to have their events in different places throughout New York. I had no clue what to expect but they had a pretty good turn out at of about 150 people when I arrived and you are given a name tag and they had food & drinks where you can meet other folks that attended.

Within 30 min. you are directed toward the sitting area where they begin the gauntlet and introduced 4 panelists:

Perry Allison - VP of Social Marketing Innovation, Eon
Christian Busch - Vice President, Marketing, Takkle
Dan Porter - Senior VP, Corporate Development, Virgin
Sarah Tavel - Associate, Bessemer Ventures

I was only able to see the first company who presented which was a company from Portugal - Wizi which the company allows people to share their location with friends, family, and let people know where you are. One cool feature was that since they are already in Europe, if you are stuck in traffic, it can give you alternate routes.

One thing that bothered me about this idea was privacy because they are targeting the mobile market and currently they are building Wizi on the following Platforms:
- Android
- iPhone
- JavaME
- Blackberry
- Windows CE

If they succeed on finding investors they will definitely target the U.S. next which would be interesting to see.

Miguel I believe is the CSA of Wizi and is currently looking for people to join the company.

Feel free to contact him via email.

I know that Sarah Tavel did mention privacy and also how it would be an issue. Christian questioned the presenter on how are you going to generate revenue with the weak advertising going on in the mobile market and Dan Porter just thought in general through his experience that if they want to succeed they better come up with better metrics and have them ready in case investors are interested since these days you need your metrics and know your target market.

Unfortunately I was only able to catch the first presenter. I know that Tech Crunch was next but I think I will check out the next event which will be on Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 6:30 PM - Of Interest Hosted at HSBC.

For those that are looking for investors, I strongly suggest you checking out one of these events because it is the real deal and you definitely will learn something out of this.