August was truck month for Chevrolet. You may have seen the brand commercials that feature fathers and sons where the father buys a new truck and passes his old Chevy down to his son. The new Chevy campaign works on multiple emotional levels and truly helps solidify Chevrolet’s customer base. I am a living example of this phenomenon, only a different brand. I am part of a “Ford family” as the proud owner of my father’s 1968 Ford F-100.
In research that’s been conducted, men often justify purchase of a premium brand with “it will make my job easier, faster or more professional.” They also rationalize purchasing a quality brand as something of value they would like to pass along to their sons. (View another commercial here.)
At a different emotional level, sons receive great pleasure from owning brands passed down to them. These brands have irreplaceable intangible value based on the history of the brand —where it comes from, who owned it, who used it. Paul Bloom, professor of psychology at Yale and author of How Pleasure Works, explains that the physical contact of certain objects “become imbued with an individual’s essence.” This “essence” increases the object’s value.
This sign of worth or “quality” attributed to a brand by the father can be very powerful and often difficult for sons to explain. When asking, “Why do you prefer a Chevy over a Ford?,” the rationale comes down to “We are a Chevy family; that’s all my dad and grandfather ever bought.” This “pass-along” brand tradition is especially strong with categories like knives, hand tools, power tools, outdoor power equipment and, of course, trucks! Let us help you build your brand tradition. Check out the Services section of our website for details on how we can help provide a seamless process from strategy to implementation.