Let's look at this from the perspective of the "brand." I make apps. What gets me pumped more than anything is an email in the morning from a customer who says they really enjoy my app and use it every day. Strong customer feedback and loyalty are what drive me to make better products.
If we were to take the opposite case, that customers saw brands as interchangeable cogs, then the only incentives out there for the people making products would be money, and that isn't what motivates creative people on a deep level.
A base of highly loyal customers creates, if you will, a very, very high bar of "social pressure" that makes it harder for managers to make decisions that screw them over.
Let's look at this from the perspective of the "brand." I make apps. What gets me pumped more than anything is an email in the morning from a customer who says they really enjoy my app and use it every day. Strong customer feedback and loyalty are what drive me to make better products.
If we were to take the opposite case, that customers saw brands as interchangeable cogs, then the only incentives out there for the people making products would be money, and that isn't what motivates creative people on a deep level.
A base of highly loyal customers creates, if you will, a very, very high bar of "social pressure" that makes it harder for managers to make decisions that screw them over.