Art & Commerce: Persistence of Memory

Forget the marketing schemes, writes Craig Kleber.
Personal experience defines brand loyalty
Loyalty in marketing is not only one of the most-abused and lied-about terms; it’s a second-class goal. Loyalty has many permutations, such as enforced, bought, conditional or loosely held. A dog waiting for dinner, a soldier carrying out orders and fickle customers can be “loyal”–but is this the ideal situation for a brand/customer relationship?
Let’s hope not, or our expectations have reached new depths. What about commitment, support, following and even advocacy? Few brands can hope to win such franchise, but those that do should be seen as the gold standard.
For example, Disney, Starbucks and Apple have customers who really believe in and recommend them.