I am a fly fisherman. I’ve put in my 10,000 hours of reading, learning, practicing and walking in rivers waving a stick. I know which brands of gear I consider to be best for my purpose and I routinely pay a premium price for “my” brand. I know some people who feel the same about shoes. The point is, once we know what we like, once we’ve made an emotional connection to a brand, it is difficult for us to go elsewhere. In fact, we typically have our own lists of good reasons why we are prepared to pay extra for this brand: superior quality, better performance, terrific no-questions-asked customer service, improves my game, etc.

Most of us, if we’re honest, can attest to the truth of this. At some point, we’ve all paid a premium price for a certain brand of electronics, a set of golf clubs, a hair stylist, or [insert obsession here] because it had brand cachet. 

Trinkets branded with a backstory

For those few who haven’t, the Significant Objects experiment demonstrates how much value branding can add to products.

In this experiment, hundreds of thrift-store trinkets were purchased at an average price of $1.25 each, branded with a backstory, then sold at auction on eBay for an astonishing average of $36.12 each. For instance, a cat napkin ring bought for 50 cents sold for $31; a wooden mallet bought for 33 cents sold for $71.

That’s a very tangible ROI benefit of branding. Ask yourself, would a 10, 15 or 20% increase in revenue in 3–5 years and thereafter justify the cost of a branding program?

Increased revenue is just the beginning. Have a read to uncover the far-reaching ROI of branding.