This Lecture Got Me Thinking, Which Brand Would I Defend?
The concept of brand loyalty has always intrigued me.
How does Apple manage to retain such a high customer retention rate despite not making any life-changing modifications to their products? How did Elon Musk build Tesla without traditional advertising? Why do customers willingly declare their allegiance to a brand?
I explored these questions and more during my three-week Leadership in the Business World program on the Wharton School’s campus in summer 2024. Each week the LBW students joined forces with a few other on-campus high school programs to attend the Wharton Global Youth cross-program lecture series. These hour-long lectures by Wharton School professors introduced us to totally new areas of business and research from what we were studying in our own programs – everything from the economics behind immigration to how pharmaceutical companies make decisions about flu vaccine production.
Americus Reed, a Wharton marketing professor (pictured above), was one of the most energetic lecturers in this series, engaging us with questions and presenting his research and insights with incredible passion.
Dr. Reed’s lesson left me with much more nuance to my understanding of brand loyalty. Here are three takeaways I learned from his talk:
Identity and loyalty. What’s the difference between good branding and great branding? While good branding may offer businesses a competitive edge in terms of connecting to customers, great branding focuses on a customer’s internalization of the brand, suggested Dr. Reed. Successful branding isn’t only measured in repeat purchases, as this can be driven by different factors. Instead, successful branding creates something that customers can derive value from. For example, when you can express your interests and beliefs through a brand, you build a more powerful brand connection. This process of internalization and value creation, Professor Reed argued, drives loyalty and helps people make the connection between their own identity and the brand. The concept of identity loyalty is when customers perceive a brand as an integral part of their identity.
Deep psychological connection. How do companies get customers to internalize a brand? Ted Talk speaker Simon Sinek once said, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” The way Professor Reed explained this is that customers are inherently irrational when it comes to brand loyalty. If a company works intentionally to represent the customer through its brand messaging, the customer will psychologically buy into the idea that they are a representation of the brand. At this point, customers choose to align themselves with brands that affirm their beliefs and reflect their lifestyles. For example, the Gatorade brand’s emphasis on athleticism and health appeals to athletes who strive for fitness and have a competitive spirit.
Alignment pays dividends. According to Professor Reed, this essential alignment between brands and customer values results in three distinct behaviors:
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- Customers voluntarily become brand ambassadors and seek ways to represent the brand.
- Customers are willing to and do pay more for products and services despite the availability of more affordable options.
- Customers vehemently defend the brand. When customers truly believe that they are a representation of the brand and the brand is a representation of their identity, they feel the intrinsic need to protect the brand image.
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Professor Reed’s lesson got me thinking about the examples of brand loyalty that exist in my everyday life. I applied what I had learned to my dad’s relationship to Patagonia, a retail company dedicated to outdoor clothing and equipment.
As a passionate advocate for environmental sustainability, my dad strongly aligns with Patagonia’s mission to protect the planet through its business model. Whether it is investing in the Worn Wear program (exchanging your own worn clothing for credit to buy other used Patagonia products) or supporting the company’s donations to the natural environment, he feels deeply represented and engaged in the cause as a customer. The sense of contentment he derives from Patagonia’s values and practices drives his loyalty to their products, even at the expense of lower-priced alternatives.
My dad’s long-time relationship with Patagonia shows how customers express loyalty to brands that foster a personal bond with them. I see more clearly how our values subconsciously influence our behavior as consumers. And from the business side, how it is crucial for companies to position themselves well in the eyes of their customers. And in fact, even Dr. Reed has highlighted Patagonia as a masterclass in how a brand’s identity can inspire loyalty and advocacy when it is built on authenticity, purpose, and shared values. I wouldn’t call myself an ambassador for any one brand just yet…but after my time at Wharton, I am much more of an informed consumer.
You can listen to Dr. Reed’s full Wharton Global Youth lecture on our YouTube channel.
Sophia W., 17, is a high school senior at Shanghai American School in China. She attended Wharton Global Youth’s Leadership in the Business World program in the summer of 2024.
Hero photo image was shot by Melissa Kelly.
Conversation Starters
Sophia’s dad is loyal to Patagonia. Considering what you’ve learned from Professor Reed’s lecture, for which brand are you an ambassador? Share your story in the comment section of this article.
Using the link provided in the article, listen to and watch Dr. Reed’s full lecture on brand identity and loyalty. What are four important observations you take away from his talk — related to business, higher education, a professor’s teaching style, or anything!
What ideas, if any, would you challenge from this lecture? Share your thoughts and explain your push-back.
Brand loyalty isn’t just about products. It’s about identity. Apple and Tesla don’t sell products; they sell a lifestyle people want to attach themselves to, even if the product barely changes. You see it with Apple vs. Samsung. Apple users are notoriously defensive, almost like their phone choice says something about who they are.
Sophia’s dad connects with Patagonia because it lines up with what he values. For me, it’s Old Navy. It’s affordable, consistent, and it works with my style. Professor Reed was spot on. Loyalty works because brands tap into how we see ourselves. That’s powerful, but also a reason to stay sharp. Are you a customer or a billboard?
Hey sophia!,
I can definitely relate and confirm with you a dads love for patagonia. My dad has been rocking the same black-grey colorway patagonia fleece that my older sister has gifted him from four Christmases ago. He claims it’s the only thing he needs to survive the New York winter, a classic case of brand loyalty.
Jokes aside, while reading your article I couldn’t help but continue to think of situations where Dr.Reed’s lessons don’t seem to apply. Bold, I know, but hear me out. I agree that a brand’s success can stem from expressing their interests and beliefs but that’s not always the case.
Take Kanye West, for example, a headline for controversy, who continues to be the pioneer of the $3 billion brand, Yeezy. Despite being constantly surrounded by controversy, he built a “successful” brand.
Back in February of this year, Kanye’s X account was deactivated after he posted a thread of anti semitic posts that drew major public backlash. Just a day later, his website, Yeezy.com, listed a T-Shirt featuring a swastika, ultimately leading the site to be shut down for violating Shopify’s terms of service. His offensive designs and statements coinciding with admiration for Adolf Hitler have also caused major brand collaborations to collapse, most notably Adidas. So if we were to apply what Professor Reed suggested as the formula to “great branding,” it raises a question: Are Kanye’s beliefs what drives the strong connections with his loyal buyers, or is it the perceived value of the product itself that continues to sustain Yeezy’s popularity?
Yeezy’s products continue to sell out and dominate the resale market with “SOLD OUT” banners in capital letters that spread across the Yeezy website, suggesting that Yeezy remains culturally and fashionably relevant. Kanye’s case, though complicated and uncomfortable, is one that is significant to consider for challenging the traditional ideas of branding and consumer behavior that Dr. Reed teaches.
Sophia, you also include Simon Sinek’s beliefs that customers align themselves with brands that affirm their beliefs but I’d argue that this thinking is overly idealized and often comes from a privileged perspective that fails to account for the countless other economic factors that affect decision making especially for brands that make basic necessities like clothes. Shein and Zara are just two very successful brands that continue to thrive despite the criticism they receive for exploitative production models. While customers might want to align their beliefs with the brands they buy from in practice, affordability often outweighs ideology. So it’s not because people align with fast fashion practices but because this is the most accessible form of clothing for many low-income families. For them fast fashion isn’t a political choice but a financial constraint. The reality of our world complicates Sinek’s narrow view on branding for the wide segment of consumers where functionality and price override beliefs.