March 30th, 2012

For some bizarre reason as I lay in bed last night I got to thinking about whether tribalism plays a role in our day to day choices as customers.  You know…like the tribalism in football.
What is it they say? ‘You don’t choose your team, it chooses you’ …and then that’s it.  You have to stick with them no matter what… follow that team through a series of bad managers…up and down leagues…playing like Brazil one week and Barrow-in-Furness the next.  Ask any Man City…or Leeds fan what it’s like…no consistency of product, service or price…a volatile customer experience you might say.
And yet, there they are, week after week, in their thousands, often tens of thousands, not just supporting, but actively promoting their chosen ‘brand’…wearing their scarves and shirts with pride no matter how poor the ‘product’ on the pitch.  Go to Newcastle on a match day and I challenge you to find more than 3 in 10 people who are not wearing the black and white stripes…it’s no wonder that companies want to promote themselves through football sponsorship.
But does tribalism exist in our other product and service choices.  Do we stick with a company, or an individual regardless of the quality of service because..?  Well, because we’ve always used them/ worked with them?  Maybe our parents introduced us at an early age, and we wouldn’t dream of ‘switching sides’ because it would be ‘disloyal’?
Is that why we are often McDonald’s or Burger King, Pepsi or Coca Cola, Virgin or BA, Tesco or Sainsbury?  Do we become so loyal to the brand that we overlook poor service or poor quality, choosing to believe that they’re just going through a bad patch and they’ll get it right next time?
I don’t know, maybe I’m alone in this. Maybe I’m just a soft muppet who is way too loyal for her own good, and all of you have got it sussed.  It’d be good to know though…! ;o)
One brand that won’t be the recipient of  my undying loyalty, is the wonderful Blak Pearl, who I wrote to you about last week.  I finally received a reply to my letter requesting a refund for the ‘cocktail evening’ with Sir Richard Branson – a chance to network and learn from this super successful entrepreneur – to which he came for a full two and a half minutes, and for which I had travelled to London specially and paid the princely sum of £79!  The letter, entitled ‘compensation’ told me how delighted they were to offer me a complementary ticket to Business 2012 in November [entry is already free!], and a £5 entry to a workshop that is usually £89 [that I have absolutely no desire to go to].  You may be surprised to hear that I declined their kind offer and once again requested my refund. The saga continues…