Marketing and all things related

Boxes and Arrows just published a great interview with Paco Underhill (Best-selling author of Why We Buy and Call of the Mall) about behavioral research, observing people and design.

The interview is packed with good stuff but I particularly enjoyed some of his thoughts on the evolution of branding:

All the tools of 20th century marketing (brand, sales promotion, marketing) don’t work as well as they used to. Branding as a tool, generally, works best with an insecure consumer. The older we get, the more secure we are in terms of who we are. While we certainly rely on brands and trust in brands, we don’t necessarily aspire to brands. When we deal with the younger consumer whose image is not as well formed, they will often aspire to a brand.

Is your brand something that customers aspire to? Trust? Rely on? 

(Via SVN)