What reflects the perceived quality of a companys goods and services in the eyes of the public?

Take Volvo. Historically always synonymous with safety and excellent build quality within a somewhat boxy design, its public brand perception was once that it was a dull car for sensible, staid people, with jokes about ‘Volvo drivers’ – poor drivers protected from other road users by their indestructible, tank-like vehicles.

From the early 2000s onwards, Volvo underwent an image revolution. Embracing authentic, sleek, minimalist and fashionable Scandi-chic design without relinquishing its top-notch safety reputation, Volvo became a premium car brand, easily competing with the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Volvo is also at the forefront of green technology, the evolution of autonomous driving and even customer experience – you can now get your goods delivered directly to your Volvo.  Volvo drivers are no longer laughed at: they are envied.

Brand perception as a sensory experience

A brand is more than just the sum of its products. It has its own, carefully-crafted personality that represents its parent company’s vision, mission or culture. So it’s not surprising that the brand as a personality jibes with customers on a personal level – a mental impression, or perception. A customer mentally processes sensory messages from a brand to create their own perception, and marketers take full advantage by exposing it to all our senses:

Visual: Instantly-recognisable logos (Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Disney (Mickey Mouse), Cadbury, PG Tips) and high budget, entertaining commercials.

Auditory: Catchy musical jingles (Intel) or catchphrases (the cheesier and more annoying the better) that make their way into popular culture (eg ‘Give Me a Break!’, Kit Kat).

Olfactory: Our sense of smell has a remarkable ability to trigger memories and emotions. Smell marketing is as simple as a café wafting the scent of frying bacon out into the street, or as complex as airlines’ use of patented scents in their cabins and hot towels and on their crew to enhance their brand experience.

Taste: Free samples or special offers to taste new products.

Emotional: Heartstring-tugging Christmas TV ads (John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s)

Put it all together

Whenever they buy a product, read an online review, compare experiences of it with friends, or talk to your employees, customers make judgments about your brand. You cannot control these factors. What you can control, though, is targeted messaging and reacting swiftly to feedback. It’s this combination of the messaging you can control and the interactions with the brand that you cannot, that adds up to a customer’s overall brand perception.

A nonconsequentialist principle saying that an act is morally right if it respects the natural rights of others, such as the right to life, liberty, justice, expression, association, consent, privacy, and education.