President of Lebovitz.net, LLC, and our kd1mu Radio Store, a T-mobile Registered Business Partner. 52 years extensive knowledge of digital and analog radio along with data and repeaters. Kd1mu.com
I was thinking about branding recently as I am working with manufacturers that sell really good products but behind someone else’s brand. Those brands are low cost low quality products and sold through volume resellers. As I work with the manufacturer, there is an interest to drive their own brand. I keep coming up with ideas to add value and hopefully it will help. Branding is hard and I have watched some manufacturers do it right. One is Hyundai who is now viewed as a quality producer of autos. It wasn’t always that way. My first ride in one was in 2003 / 2004 where a coworker gave me a ride to lunch in her Hyundai. It was small and cramped. At my feet were a bucket of small plastic pieces. The answer to my questioning look was “parts that fell off the car”. “Nothing vital I hope?”, I asked and her reply was “Me too.” A few years later Hyundai Sonatas became a favorite rental ride and eventually I coinsidered one of their electric vehicles. Of course the Alfa Romeo win out as the cost of electrifying my garage was on par with the cost of the car. But returning to my point, Hyundai went the path of producing quality cars while Stellantis is choosing the path of low cost low quality. After this year, no more Giulia cars, while Hyundai pushes their IoniQ brand of high end electrics. I recently read in Bloomberg that automakers were blown away by BYDs recent display of models at the Beijing auto show. While the big brands fell asleep at the wheel, BYD produces a line of cars with styling and features that are unparalleled by other producers. This should make us quake in our fancy Chinese made boots. Many companies survive off the low cost of products coming from Chinese factories. Once they turn their efforts to branding. We just become car salesmen for Chinese brands. I am working with Chinese companies and making this point. I don’t want my own brand of cheap products. I want to sell their quality name. Unfortunately, I am better at value add product than retail, having never done it before.