Some Musings on Brand Loyalty

[shinyedges]

When fans ignore reality and get rabid with those who disagree it turns into something else.. Makes me want to say yuckie lol lame

 

[RX-79G]

I would agree that fan makes more sense.

 

[hatchettjack]

I have brands I love! Benchmade, Cold Steel, Buck, ZT! I have been critical of spyderco fans on this forum, mainly for their rampant postings on people's threads asking about different knives!

EG: I'm looking for another Emerson!
Then 10 replies suggesting a delica

 

[sharp_edge]

Brand loyalty is great for companies, it's pretty much awful for consumers. It's hard not to feel it, as I think it's a very human reaction, but it definitely hurts us in terms of getting the best value available, no matter what value is in your mind. Let's face it, if we, the knife enthusiast community, were to actually look out for our own best interests you simply wouldn't see much of the passionate defense of X company and bickering about fanboys and haters.

If we're honest about capitalism, it's set up for us to be mildly antagonistic towards any and every manufacturer, because we're really and truly the ones who can hold their feet to the fire. That doesn't mean yelling they all suck or every knife X makes is crap, as that's just as nonsensical as staunchly defending a brand no matter what, but it means we should be critically eyeing every new offering and denouncing those that aren't competitive through our speech and with our wallets.

You nailed it! Can't agree more.

 

[Kwon Kwang]

I unrepentantly subscribe to brand loyalty. While the feelings you mentioned are certainly there, for me brand royalty is a practical matter; I've got bills to pay. If I'm going to drop any money on yet another knife (and as my collection grows I become ever more picky), I better damn well like it. If it's from a brand I know and have had good experiences with, I can be certain that I will be satisfied with the final product.

 

[Hackenslash]

I want to add a comment on Spyderco brand loyalty; There aren't many companies where the owner freely interacts with faceless customers. Mr. Glesser's participation on this forum (and others) is unique and has gone a long way toward building the brand loyalty that Spyderco enjoys. Spydercos are not my favorite knives, there are only a few models that make it into my EDC rotation, but the amount of respect that I have for Mr. Glesser and the company goes a long way toward making me more appreciative of their products and brand than if it was dependent on the product itself. I think Busse is kind of the same thing, but I'm a little ignorant about the fixed blade world.

Of course, that respect tends to breed even more rabid fan loyalty, leading to 10 suggestions to try a Delica when the OP asks for advice on a new Emerson . Spyderco fans are the Boston Red Sox fans of the knife world.

 

[RX-79G]

I want to add a comment on Spyderco brand loyalty; There aren't many companies where the owner freely interacts with faceless customers. Mr. Glesser's participation on this forum (and others) is unique and has gone a long way toward building the brand loyalty that Spyderco enjoys. Spydercos are not my favorite knives, there are only a few models that make it into my EDC rotation, but the amount of respect that I have for Mr. Glesser and the company goes a long way toward making me more appreciative of their products and brand than if it was dependent on the product itself. I think Busse is kind of the same thing, but I'm a little ignorant about the fixed blade world.

Of course, that respect tends to breed even more rabid fan loyalty, leading to 10 suggestions to try a Delica when the OP asks for advice on a new Emerson . Spyderco fans are the Boston Red Sox fans of the knife world.

I don't think fealty to Sal Glesser, Chris Reeve or any other person is out of line at all. That's what loyalty has always been about and should be about.

 

[uofaengr]

Brand loyalty is great for companies, it's pretty much awful for consumers. It's hard not to feel it, as I think it's a very human reaction, but it definitely hurts us in terms of getting the best value available, no matter what value is in your mind. Let's face it, if we, the knife enthusiast community, were to actually look out for our own best interests you simply wouldn't see much of the passionate defense of X company and bickering about fanboys and haters.

If we're honest about capitalism, it's set up for us to be mildly antagonistic towards any and every manufacturer, because we're really and truly the ones who can hold their feet to the fire. That doesn't mean yelling they all suck or every knife X makes is crap, as that's just as nonsensical as staunchly defending a brand no matter what, but it means we should be critically eyeing every new offering and denouncing those that aren't competitive through our speech and with our wallets.

I get loyalty but I will never understand blind devotion. Nothing is perfect.

Brand loyalty has evolved into fanboyism and hand in hand with that is the mindless bashing.

It's not enough to state you like Brand A. You also must validate your choice by denigrating all the other choices.

I can't add much when I think all of these sum it up perfectly.

Brand loyalty is fine, but I think it damages objectivity. When you develop loyalty to a brand, you tend to loose the ability to look at offerings from that brand with a critical eye.

In the folding knife world, I think Spyderco has a wider and deeper brand loyalty than any other company. As a result, Spydie fans are probably some of the most outspoken and avid in the industry. Unfortunately, they don't tend to be very objective about the strengths and weaknesses of Spyderco knives (I can hear "that's because they don't have any weaknesses", lol). Fandom is a beautiful thing, but it doesn't do the best knife reviews.

P.S.: I'm not trying to pick on Spyderco either, only using them as a knife brand with the largest fan group.

IMO the most butthurt is seen with the more pricey brands such as CRK, Hinderer, Strider, and others. When some (not all) people spend that much coin on a knife, you better believe they're going to tout it is as the best thing ever, bulletproof, no weaknesses, and nothing else will ever compare. I think some think if they kiss enough ass, said maker is gonna let the shill ride around in a parade at Blade Show with him or something.

I have brands I love! Benchmade, Cold Steel, Buck, ZT! I have been critical of spyderco fans on this forum, mainly for their rampant postings on people's threads asking about different knives!

EG: I'm looking for another Emerson!
Then 10 replies suggesting a delica

Nailed it, Danke42.

 

[ebidis]

No offense taken! And I totally agree with your thoughts.

I guess I was thinking, in my original post, about brand loyalty as a result of repeated positive experiences with a brand. When that's the reason that you believe in a brand, because they deliver time and time again (in your opinion and fulfilling your own requirements of a good brand) I think they've earned a certain amount of respect or loyalty.

Does this make other brands worse?
Definitely not.

Does this mean that you only buy that brand?
No way.

Instead, if I appreciate a brand, I believe in it. Maybe that's the best way to put it. And I see this as being different from blind fanboy-ism or blind bashing of everything else. Instead, it's just being able to say "I Love Zero Tolerance!". If you love them, buy them, use them and appreciate them, I think it's natural that you would then sing their praises and feel a loyalty to them.

Brand loyalty, to me, doesn't mean that you don't try other brands or turn the occasional critical eye to your brand of choice.

When someone comes on the forum and asks for advice on a particular knife I really enjoy being able to recommend a product that I believe to be of really high quality and that has brought me great joy in the past. I think it's only natural.

I think this hits the nail on the head.

 

[ebidis]

I was loyal to various brands (not necessarily knives) until I started seeing how offshoring production, mergers and acquisitions, firing and hiring and overall changes in direction affected quality, consistency and customer service. I'm a guitar guy and saw these factors really hit some of my favorite brands. Since getting into knives more heavily and buying some older knives, I've been able to better understand when people talk about the decline of Brand A or lack of innovation by Brand B. Now, brand loyalty has very little to do with my buying decisions.

As a guitar guy myself, I understand what your saying.

When fans ignore reality and get rabid with those who disagree it turns into something else.. Makes me want to say yuckie lol lame

If people on Blade Forums think the fan boy vs haters thing is ridiculous, they should try hanging out in a guitar forum or guitar oriented YouTube channels sometime. Ive actually seen people make death threats. No Joke.

 

[Hickory n steel]

For some people it may be as simple as sticking with the brand that made the first good knife that they ever bought, that's probably why I like buck so much. That and because they make some good affordable American made knifes that suit my needs perfectly ( spyderco would also suit my needs well and have all of the features I'm looking for, but I haven't found them in stores anywhere so I can avoid paying for shipping ) now if your looking for the most serious die hard brand specific people, I'm pretty sure they can be found when multitools are being discussed .

 

[Insipid Moniker]

No offense taken! And I totally agree with your thoughts.

I guess I was thinking, in my original post, about brand loyalty as a result of repeated positive experiences with a brand. When that's the reason that you believe in a brand, because they deliver time and time again (in your opinion and fulfilling your own requirements of a good brand) I think they've earned a certain amount of respect or loyalty.

Does this make other brands worse?
Definitely not.

Does this mean that you only buy that brand?
No way.

Instead, if I appreciate a brand, I believe in it. Maybe that's the best way to put it. And I see this as being different from blind fanboy-ism or blind bashing of everything else. Instead, it's just being able to say "I Love Zero Tolerance!". If you love them, buy them, use them and appreciate them, I think it's natural that you would then sing their praises and feel a loyalty to them.

Brand loyalty, to me, doesn't mean that you don't try other brands or turn the occasional critical eye to your brand of choice.

When someone comes on the forum and asks for advice on a particular knife I really enjoy being able to recommend a product that I believe to be of really high quality and that has brought me great joy in the past. I think it's only natural.

I completely, though respectfully, disagree. If I am giving you my money repeated positive experiences should be absolutely expected. I still think it's good to note them and to give credit where credit is due, but that company hasn't given me anything beyond what I paid for. Anyone I pay anything for SHOULD deliver time and time again. That's the deal. I think we can all forgive the very occasional lemon or off day, but even then the company isn't doing me a favor by making it right, they're doing what they should have done in the first place.

 

[ebidis]

I completely, though respectfully, disagree. If I am giving you my money repeated positive experiences should be absolutely expected. I still think it's good to note them and to give credit where credit is due, but that company hasn't given me anything beyond what I paid for. Anyone I pay anything for SHOULD deliver time and time again. That's the deal. I think we can all forgive the very occasional lemon or off day, but even then the company isn't doing me a favor by making it right, they're doing what they should have done in the first place.

Valid points.

 

[Hackenslash]

I completely, though respectfully, disagree. If I am giving you my money repeated positive experiences should be absolutely expected. I still think it's good to note them and to give credit where credit is due, but that company hasn't given me anything beyond what I paid for. Anyone I pay anything for SHOULD deliver time and time again. That's the deal. I think we can all forgive the very occasional lemon or off day, but even then the company isn't doing me a favor by making it right, they're doing what they should have done in the first place.

I agree completely. Nothing chafes my onion more than citing quality control failures of XYZ knife company and having a fanboy of XYZ knife company say "just send it in for warranty repair, they'll make it right." :grumpy:

That's the dark side of brand loyalty.

 

[MarkN86]

The fact is, at least to some extent, a name matters. You may find it a little easier to pay $300 for a Spyderco made in Taiwan than a no-name Taiwanese made pawn shop knife. While there are high end product lines and budget product lines, Spyderco would not put their name on a knife they knew was of bad quality, it would be disastrous for their image. Like it or not, perception has more impact on people than reality does.

Each company has its own policy, practices and design preferences. You come to expect a certain level of quality or lack thereof as a result of a company's business model. While it's acceptable to find a company that matches your preferences and strongly support them, It's short sighted to say that only one company is capable of producing a good knife or other product, or that they are infallible. You can spend an exorbitant amount of money in search of quality, so the thing I look most carefully for is price-to-quality ratio. In general I can trust certain companies to deliver a better value product than others. My preferences will draw me more strongly to these companies as a whole, but I will not limit myself to them.

That being said I have had some bad experiences with certain companies and I refuse to do business with them. For example I won't buy an HP computer. Too many hardware failures and bad customer service experiences with technicians that are either forced to follow a script, or who have very little idea what they're talking about. They tried to tell me that a firmware update would fix a faulty fan bearing. That's not to say every HP is bad, but I feel that the risk of a bad experience is too great to spend my limited money on a potentially bad product and support what I perceive is a poor business model.

 

[EChoil]

Nothing wrong with brand loyalty. It's one of few things that will prod a company to do better.

I never thought of myself as a brand loyalist until recently, when I realized I owned an inordinate amount of one brand's knives...and wanted a couple more.

IMO, one's attraction to a knife is more faith-based: intangibles, unprovables, perceptions and sublliminals. Combine it with attraction to the design, all of which comprise "soul."

I find myself basically attracted to the soul of a knife as a whole, an overall look. It's all in how the knife makes me feel. If I find myself accumulating a lot of knives of that brand I suppose one would have to call that brand loyalty.

Never to the extent of 'fanboy' though...If something deserves criticism I'll do so.

 

[Cutlover]

Nothing wrong with brand loyalty. It's one of few things that will prod a company to do better.

I never thought of myself as a brand loyalist until recently, when I realized I owned an inordinate amount of one brand's knives...and wanted a couple more.

IMO, one's attraction to a knife is more faith-based: intangibles, unprovables, perceptions and sublliminals. Combine it with attraction to the design, all of which comprise "soul."

I find myself basically attracted to the soul of a knife as a whole, an overall look. It's all in how the knife makes me feel. If I find myself accumulating a lot of knives of that brand I suppose one would have to call that brand loyalty.

Never to the extent of 'fanboy' though...If something deserves criticism I'll do so.

Couldn't agree more. There's something about each person's favorite knife/knives that reflects something about them that may not necessarily be able to put into words. I know this because I have tried and failed hard at attempting to do so But yeah, I find fanboying quite pathetic. This is just my opinion (obviously), but fanboys don't have their own identity. Too busy trying to be like/love something else. You can like and respect someone without fanboying. CRK and Spyderco have many fanboys, though their products are excellent so I can see why.

 

[Insipid Moniker]

Nothing wrong with brand loyalty. It's one of few things that will prod a company to do better.

I never thought of myself as a brand loyalist until recently, when I realized I owned an inordinate amount of one brand's knives...and wanted a couple more.

IMO, one's attraction to a knife is more faith-based: intangibles, unprovables, perceptions and sublliminals. Combine it with attraction to the design, all of which comprise "soul."

I find myself basically attracted to the soul of a knife as a whole, an overall look. It's all in how the knife makes me feel. If I find myself accumulating a lot of knives of that brand I suppose one would have to call that brand loyalty.

Never to the extent of 'fanboy' though...If something deserves criticism I'll do so.

Again I completely, but respectfully, disagree. I don't think brand loyalty prods ANY brand to do better and, if anything, I think it encourages complacency. When we're loyal we look past flaws and mistakes. That's just a part of being loyal, and that's great in some circumstances, but it's definitely not great in terms of getting companies to improve the products they offer. If your sales don't suffer and you aren't criticized when you screw up where's the incentive to do better?

 

[HotRodColt]

I really love my ZTs. I have a few Benchmades, Spydercos and Bucks, as well as a few of Ontario's imported folders.

When it comes to folders, I feel like ZT delivers what I really want in a knife. Part of that is who they choose to collaborate with. I have a 0452cf, 0560 & 0562cf. I need to add one of the Onion models before they all disappear.

I would love to see a larger Emerson collab and a dream come true would be a ZT SMF framelock. I don't know that Strider would actually do that, but they did it with Buck for a while and they have worked with ZT before.

For now, I am eyeballing that 0909.

 

[Jesse B.]

My dog's better than your dog,
My dog's better than yours,
His name is King,
And he had puppies,
My dog's better than yours.