Secrete Loyalty with Secret Consumption

How are Starbucks and Star Trek alike? One way, report researchers at Towson University and Kent State University, is that a certain percentage of consumers with loyalty to each of those don’t want others to know about it. Secrecy about favored brand use is not rare, the researchers found. About 60% of people in their sample said they make it a point to not use at least one of their favored brands in front of others, 22% said they lie about which brand is their favorite, and 18% said they’d deny the brand preference if asked directly.
     The motivations for such secrecy ranged widely: Avoiding conflict with friends who are loyal to other brands. Shame at using inexpensive brands, or fear of shaming others who can’t afford the expensive brands. A desire to stay distinctive. Embarrassment about the brand associations, such as a fashion line targeted to large bodies or a shampoo advertised for dandruff control. Some habitués of Starbucks fear they’d be chastised for not frequenting locally-owned cafes. Some Trekkies think their fandom would be ridiculed as juvenile.
     But across the range of reasons for brand usage secrecy, there’s a shared result: Brand loyalty grows. Secrecy increases preoccupation with the brand. It takes psychological energy to keep a secret, and even more to tell a lie. You need to remember who you lied to and what you said. As a result, those keeping the secret think about the brand more often, and that cultivates brand loyalty.
     This argues for encouraging your customers to keep their brand usage secret. What you’d give up, however, are the advantages of word-of-mouth advertising. The principle of WOM is for your satisfied customers to talk as broadly as possible about their brand usage, not keep it secret.
     Your resolution of this dilemma might be to develop a brand community of secret fans—helping these people stay in touch with each other. Results from a Harvard University study suggest you also offer shopping bags carrying the brand logo to people whether or not they use the brand. The researchers refer to users of these bags as brand tourists rather than brand immigrants. When those with secret brand loyalty see these bags being carried around, they’ll be reassured their own brand usage is acceptable and consider the public display as praise for the brand.

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