There is probably no stronger bond between customer and brand than the connection between soccer fans and their team.

Brand loyalty like this is hard to top.

Take into account these facts:

• Customers (soccer fans) pay money every Sunday to sit for three or four hours on an uncomfortable bench, rain or shine, just to experience their preferred brand of product (their soccer team).
• Customers have to undergo a security check not unlike what we see in airports every time they want to interact with their brand (they won’t be allowed in the stadium otherwise).
• They have to wait for 30 to 45 minutes after their brand experience is over, so that the customers of the other brand can leave first in order to avoid a fight.
• Sometimes the product is defective or just plain crappy (like when the team plays horribly and loses a game). Customers will nevertheless be back the following Sunday. A soccer fan never thinks: “Oh well, my brand sucked today, so next Sunday I’ll cheer for the other brand”. They are eternal brand loyalists.
• The feelings for the brand are passed by word of mouth, from generation to generation. Introducing sons (and sometimes even daughters) to the brand is a rite of passage.
• Loyalty to the brand knows no limits (how about a branded coffin with the colors of your team?):

How can your brand elicit the same kind of response from your customers? Tough one, but the companies and brands that are able to crack the code will probably be set for life.

Technorati Tags: branding, marketing, brand+evalgelism

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