Branding it up!

Know what?

Brands actually defines us more than we know.

If I could relate to myself, here are a few examples.

• I used to be known as the guy Livita Guy because on every outing, I always buy a can of Livita Honey
• My house never had any other brand of TV other than Sony since we really bought a TV for entertainment
• My mum never buys any yogurt drink other than Nestle Bliss
• Since my last one, I never bought sports shoe other than Nike, though I don't buy them often

Now is branded products important to me? I'd have to say not really. I can be happy being brandless but I do a lot of people who begs to differ. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. I mean, if you (or your parents) worked hard for the money, then you deserve to have things you want and like, right?

Lets get into details. I want to share with you my favourite brands as of now (in order):

 Why? It's a brand that makes me proud to call myself a Malaysian. It's international and the cars are good enough to enter big-stage rallies. My dream is to see a Rroton model on the Need For Speed Franchaise. hehe. Proton cars looks cool when modded! Check it out.

Moving on...

 Why? Do you even have to ask? I think KFC is more than just fast food. actually this is my first fast food according to my parents. I just love the crunchy spicy fried chicken with all the side dish. Nothing like it. KFC just keeps coming up with new food in their menus. Though most are just temporary promos, they really take advantage of that.

 Why? They just make the best phones ever, haven't you heard? Nokia phones are unbelievably user-friendly but stilll leaves room for application developers to make the phone better. Free updates and bundled softwares, life's just better with Nokia. (Yes, I know that sounds like an ad or promo but I love Nokia so much. hahaha)

Note: I'd put astro in this list if it wasn't for the price and lack of flexibility of choosing channels.

Most awesome and creative advertisements are not screened in Malaysia for some reason. We do have some good ones, but that's just it. we have some. Maybe the lack of competiton? hmm. Here's one I don't get tired of, it's from Petronas. Below it is an example of a commercial that makes the brand get stuck in my mind because it's just way unconventionally funny.

The Petronas commercial is just done superbly. Really makes you ponder the things you take for granted in life, and it doesn't bombard the ad with the brand.
I like the Pepsi commercial because it effectively relates the whole brand with the commercial in a very subtle and very funny manner.

Hmm... I guess they are brands Id be less than comfortable being associated with.. Crocs for example. I don't care how comfortable they are. It's just ugly, sorry. oh! and facial cleansers that doesn't work. urgh. They're a pain.

Religion does affect my consumer choices, no doubt. But before anything, I'd like to to be informed. I don't drink beer or eat pork or use any of the products related to what my religion prohibits, no matter how good the ads are. I try to stay away from things that are  unconsented-by-religion (or related to it), like Liverpool. Reason? Faith.

Information about stuff like this I just pull out from many different sources. Different medias target different groups so I just try my luck. But they are some specific ones. New information on technology, I get it from Monday New Straits Times, for specific products like new shoes, it's usually the Internet. TV is just useful for random information on things you really don't need. Most of them just try to persuade you that you do need them.

On a special note, one product that stands up for something noble is much to be admired. One notable example and still in familiarity to me today is The (Red) campaign by Motorola. It was set up by Bono of U2 to help raise awareness and money for the Aids crisis in Africa.

It's nice to see a company is willing to revamp its product to conform and promote a good cause, instead of the other way around. What's a plus is that it's doing it worldwide. I've seen big posters and billboards of the Motorola products in Malaysia. The Razr in red looks totally awesome. In the bigger picture, it actually raised awareness for Aids in my own country, how harmful this problem can be. You could say I'm Inspi(red) to make a change.