The lifetime of a habit

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My grandmother used Nivea face cream every day for 40 years. Many others of her generation did the same. On the face of it – pun intended – she was a loyal customer, but, in reality, there were very few other products to choose from. Nevertheless, long-running brands such as Nivea often claim a degree of customer loyalty that goes beyond rational choice. 

However, Peter Dann, co-founder of research agency The Nursery, believes this is simply not the case. “People don’t think in terms of being loyal to brands – they think in terms of buying a brand that’s mentally and physically available. They don’t buy a brand because they’re emotionally attached to it.” 

Dann refers to the work done by Andrew Ehrenberg and, later, Byron Sharp to demonstrate that popular brands don’t grow through driving repeat purchase, but by increasing penetration. The notion of loyalty, they argue, is not only misguided, but inaccurate, and based on assumption rather than ...