Lexington, KY - In my recent video on the Business Lexington website, I talked about how customers own your brand. Their emotional attachments are the most powerful part of your brand. People go with what they know, and your job is to become better known than your competitors by creating a distinctive brand that they love. Take the new Sharpie pens - everyone knows and loves the Sharpie brand. Folks in creative and artistic fields seem to go crazy over them. I've got several (the siren's song got me), and they are nice.
They go at a bit of a premium over most other felt-tipped pens, but they're selling well. I've seen their display pegs in stores empty many times. Why? I'm convinced it's the brand more than the pen. Don't get me wrong - I still think they're worth the money.
The "creatives" I mentioned have had a long love affair with Sharpie permanent markers. Many use the permanent markers like the rest of us use any pen. Despite bleeding through pages, they faithfully keep one around. Is the rest of the world as enamored? I don't know, but I do know artists who buy them by the box.
In a crowded market already filled with products that are just as good, many of them cheaper, they jumped in and captured a healthy segment of pen sales, and that's the power of branding.
The manufacturer has a good track record and has marketed the brand well. From collections of colors in varying point sizes to mini-markers for your key chain to highlighters, they've done great at imprinting a recognizable name on a variety of creatively conceived and well-made products.
Go to their website, www.sharpie.com, and you'll see special offers, news on their racing events and art galleries of things folks have created with their markers. A cool one is a collection of mugs at a coffee shop, all decorated with Sharpies. They're doing the right things to keep the brand vibrant and continually build loyalty. The Sharpie website is fun and attractive to keep us coming back for new stuff. They even have a program to "upcycle" your used markers.
Back to the Sharpie pen: First they introduced a black fine-point version, then blue, then a pack with red, green, blue and black, and then a retractable Sharpie click pen. Now they're introducing one with a metal cap that is close to half the body's length and a grippy rubber "clutch" surface. One-by-one, they've introduced new product variations while emphasizing the brand's art and doodling personality.
This demonstrates that customers own the brand because they: