brand loyalty

2 very important words, if you are in sales or marketing. the reason why customers come back again & again to buy your products. doesn't matter if it costs more than the competitors or if it does not come with discounts or free gifts.

my brother-in-law should be paid loyalty bonus by toyota. he has only driven toyota cars from the carburettored KE30 to the various models of corolla, to the present fuel-injected altis. he swears by it because none of those cars has ever brought him grief. & why not? they are the biggest non-national car dealers (by volume) & they produce stylish reliable cars.

my uncle only buys sony tvs. when i moved into town 10 years ago & needed to get some electrical appliances, he took me to his friend who owns a shop. i bought a goldstar fridge, a JVC vcr, a hitachi air-con & a philips radio-cd player. but the tv HAD to be a sony, my uncle insisted. & he is vindicated because that 21" tv still works, & so does the subsequent 29" flatscreen. the fridge motor finally gave way last year, the vcr has been replaced by a dvd player, the air-con has seen better days but the 2 sony tvs, aged 10 & 7 years, are still projecting crisp clear images.

me, i have this thing for mitch albom's books (we have to discuss jeffrey archer another day). from his 1st bestseller my colleague recommended i read, "tuesdays with morrie", i knew he was going to be a prolific writer & he doesn't disappoint. "5 people you meet in heaven" was published in 2003 & "for one more day" last year. mind you, mitch, whose current daytime job is a columnist with detroit free press, should be no stranger to m'sian bloggers. one of his articles was allegedly plagiarised by brendan pereira in the new straits times at the height of the publication's shake-up last year (read here).

Tuesdays deals with a real-life professor who is dying from an incurable neurological disease. 5 People tells of a seaside-ride maintenance man who dies saving a child from an accident. in For 1 More Day, a washed-up ex-baseball player tries to kill himself TWICE after his world comes apart in a quick succession of let-downs. so, do i read mitch because he writes about death? or, do i have a dark & twisted mind with a morbid penchant?

here's the deal - with each death, mitch has expertly weaved in refreshing life-giving tales into the fabric that is our family & friends, & how we often take them for granted until it's too late. in fact, the stories could all be construed as cautionary tales for us to take time to appreciate those far & near, those from our past & present, & indeed, those who mold us into who we are today.

the lead character in For 1 More Day spoke to me when he proclaimed these :

"And I realised when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know."

"Sticking with your family is what makes it a family."

i just got my long awaited paperback copy this week & i'm going to take that 2-hour drive to see my parents tomorrow. i hope it's still not too late.