How to create BRAND LOYALTY?

Is it possible to create the same type of brand loyalty for a utility company as for a clothing or food company?

• What would make you love your electricity or gas supplier? How would you disrupt the current business model of a traditional energy supplier?

• Answer:

  The short and slightly douchey answer is that yes, anything is possible. I can't remember who said it, but there's a great quote about branding equaling marketing, and without a brand, you're a commodity and just competing on price. The irony is that here, you're essentially talking about bringing branded power (horrible, unintended pun) to commodity/utility. At their core, brands help us actualize ourselves. You like the clothing and food brands that you do because you like to affiliate with what they stand for and the aura they create. They follow through on creating that situation, you affiliate yourself with it, and thus the connection between company and customers' hearts & minds is created. That being said, maybe just maybe there's a hold to find here. If you haven't read Ries and Trout's book on positioning, go for it. Lots of people hate their electric and gas supplier. I know I truly did for a long time. My reasons were because they refused to clear up issues in my apt building, they acted incompetently, and I was continually billed for erroneous usage. I felt like I hated them. Is that an opportunity? It certainly was for Zappos in the clothing retail space..you know, making people happy. The potential wall is: will people take you up on your offer? It's really hard to have an alternative power supplier, sometimes. Especially if everyone who lives around you is on local municipal-type supplier. I encourage you talk to a lot of people - find out how they feel, assess the opportunities AND the hurdles to creating the brand promises you plan to deliver upon.