Passion can do what Onida can't

Brands supposedly take consumer experiences beyond what's functional. That is, functional performance is a taken. Its the psychological that's the add on, that blooms on purchase. I mean brands connect on the emotional front.

But what if the brand goes kaput on functional performance and what's almost a non-brand does well on that very parameter? Let me illustrate. A few years ago, we bought an Onida DVD player with assurances that it will play all formats, even scratched DVDs. Tell you what, it didn't. Recorded DVDs had a hard time playing. On our part, we didn't heap any blame on the brand thinking its a DVD problem.

A few weeks ago, visiting parents brought with them a DVD player that they had received as a gift for having subscribed to a Cable channel. The player was a brand called PASSION. Never heard of it. It didn't even have the sleek look Onida had. But guess what it did? It played all those 'recorded' DVDs that were gathering dust. More than being happy at this, we were surprised. How can Passion do what Onida couldn't?

The kiss of death for a brand is when it fails on what its supposed to. When I buy I a durable, I say, to hell with the emotion, the brand must do what's it bought for. If it can't, I give it the Medusa look. My warm embrace is taken elsewhere, now reserved for the likes of Passion.

After all the name though corny, backed up performance. In fact I can even feel the emotion creeping in.

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the birth of a brand.

All rise.