Brand consciousness is a way of thinking and conditioning, that was, until my first internship in my engineering days, completely irrelevant to me and stirred no thought or emotion within me. Having been brought up, for the first decade of my life, in Imphal, Manipur, where the standard of living is lower compared to the rest of the country and the concept of a 'brand' was misunderstood and 'value-buying' was the topmost priority, I was accustomed to the fake ripoffs of popular brands like Adidas and Nike that entered the local markets from China, through Myanmar. Quality was almost never a factor as the costs of the clothes and shoes were too cheap to ignore and pass up. There was no inclination to loyalty to any brand or product.
It was only towards the end of the next decade of my life that I realized and understood why people come back to certain brands and specifically to particular products of that same brand. I had bought my first set of formal clothes from a Louis Philippe retail outlet in Bangalore a couple of days before my internship began. I also explored some other brands since it was my first time and got ready for my journey into a workplace environment with formal clothes from various brands. Fast forward two weeks into my internship life and I realized there was a definitive difference in quality between the sets of clothes I wore everyday. It was such a stark difference that I had to find the bills to check the difference in costs. Unsurprisingly, the gap was huge (almost double) and I remember thinking to myself, "Is this actually worth it?". The answer to that question and its implications were realized over the course of the next five years, especially when I occasionally experimented with other brands I thought deserved attention. "The Upper Crest" may be just another tagline to most people but it really stayed with me, even to the point where I truly believe in what it stands for and insist that my friends and family be a part of this quality experience along with me.
Loyalty to a brand is hard to come by these days, especially when the market is so competitive and every customer is looking for an edge to decide between similar products in a seemingly saturated market. It is because of the rarity of loyalty that makes it special and worth treasuring. In their own small ways, Louis Philippe, and by extension, the Aditya Birla Group, have shown me the effect of a truly great experience and the joy it brings to say that, "It really is worth it." I am proud to say that I am a part of The Upper Crest and I will continue to be so in the forseeable future to come.
