October 27, 2008 Specific Purpose Statement: To persuade my audience in choosing branded products and services in their purchases.

Thesis Statement: People should choose branded products and services when making a purchase decision as they provide quality, safety and self confidence. INTRODUCTION Attention material: Imagine. It is the game of your life. You have always dreamed to play in that team. Youre all excited. So, you go to the mall to buy a new pair of shoes. There you see a good pair of Nikes, but you say youll go with something cheaper this time. You only save 20$ on that day. The game is on. You do your best; you are one of the best; youre almost there to score. And suddenly your left shoe gets broken. You fall and hurt your knee. Anger? Pain? What do you feel? Everything! Imagine. Its the guy you always dreamed of. He finally asked you for a coffee. You think youre going to dress up with your favorite back pants which look perfect on you. You get them immediately from the closet, and suddenly, the black does not look black anymore. The color has faded. If you could only get it back, you would pay 3 times more, just to have that color back on those pants. The price does not matter anymore. If only you have chosen that other branded pair, it would have cost 30$ more, but now you have to pay 70$ to get a new one. Regret? Anxiety? How o you feel like? We get attached to clothes, shoes, technology and services. It is human. It has been demonstrated by researches. It has been proven that people identify with the purchases they make. Why then not to make them qualitative? Thesis Statement: People should choose branded products and services when making a purchase decision as they provide quality, safety and self confidence. Preview: So, today I would like to focus on the main reasons for which you, as a customer should give preference to branded products instead of simple products. Connective: I would like to begin with the main reason of choosing a branded product, which is Quality. I. Quality is one of the main attributes a company relies on when building a branded product. A. Quality suggests time, weather and different circumstances resistance. Consumers perceive it as a value.

1. Brands advertising Quality as a main attribute have successfully gained

recognition and profits. (1) The quality is being improved day by day as the competition is really high. (2) If the commercial of the brand claims quality, the customer will search for it, as it is one of the best selling points. 2. You will never go wrong with technology if using HP for a computer or Canon for a digital camera. (1) These companies have proved their quality as they are preferred by professionals. (2) You will regret buying a Chinese unknown brand for a digital camera, as they have been proved to be of a bad quality: the image, the usage. The product will be thrown away and cause consumer dissatisfaction. (3) You will always compare the quality as a consumer, paying double in the end for a new product, as the first one has been proven to have a short life. B. Paying less for no name products its not a solution. You end up paying more as the product is not qualitative and has a short life. 1. Price has always been the descriptive element for quality. (1) In most of the cases high price = high quality. (2) Due to financial issues people choose to have low price products, thinking that they economize on that. 2. Choosing to pay less and have a lower quality leads to spending additional money afterwards. (1) Additional money goes on fixing the product (2) The cheap product proves to have a short life, and in the near future, you have to replace it by buying a new one. It would have cost less if you have bought the branded at the beginning with a higher quality. Connective: After emphasizing quality as one of the decision points in choosing brands instead of no name products, I would like to refer to the emotional aspect in the decision making process.

II. People build up emotional relationship with products. They tend to feel socially recognized when wearing or owning a branded product. A. There is an attachment that is created by the emotional appeals from advertisements. 1. All of us have been in the situation where we were wearing the same pair of jeans everyday, or we had a favorite pair of shoes. And even when they were used enough and did not look attractive anymore, we still hesitated on throwing them away. (1) It happens due to our identification with the product (2) The product makes us feel good and attractive 2. When buying a no name product, the risk of feeling bad about throwing a pair of favorite pair of shoes is greater and comes in a shorter amount of time. (1) No name products get faded, loose color; loose shape more rapidly then the branded ones (2) Customer fees disappointed and elicits negative emotions B. People feel socially recognized and esteemed when wearing a brand cloth or own a branded item; it makes them feel a part of a group, integrated in a certain class, belonging to a category of people. 1. Social recognition and esteem are factors of perception that all of us face unconsciously (1) According to Maslows Theory, there are basic needs that people need satisfy. Social recognition and self esteem is one of them. Wearing or owning brands for some people, does accomplish this need. (2) You feel appreciated when achieving the social recognition 2. Belonging to a group has always been an issue, especially for young people. (1) Particular kinds of branded clothes can give people the feeling of acceptance (2) People tend to wear brands to differentiate from the mass and belong to a certain social class. (3) In the end, you end up feeling a sort of respect from people who surround you, which you just like.

III. Safety in terms of products or services that we buy, is what we are looking for not only for ourselves but for the people who surround us. A. No name products are not the most relevant choice when a customer is looking for safety 1. Their quality is poor (1). No name products are not using qualitative materials when building a product (2). The risk exposure is higher when choosing a no name product 2. Brands have been standing up for safety (1). It is also the Companys policy (2) They are aware that the consequences of non safety may lead to losing their customers (3) You can easily sue a Company if the product has proved to not be safe, and they are aware of that.

CONCLUSION: Connective: To show the entire picture and summarize the ideas, Reinforcement of central idea: I would like to point out that choosing a branded product instead of a no name one would assure you quality, saving of money, will elicit positive emotions an reduce risk of disappointment. Concluding remarks: Brands have always stood up for quality and have managed to prove it, as the competition is really intense. Do not spend the money twice on no-name products, their life is too short. Fixing a new bought item is not the most exciting thing a person would like to do. The possibility of doing that with a no name product is greater than a branded one. Ending in a memorable way: Choosing a brand, your favorite pants color would last more than you would be able to wear them. Your shoes would serve you for more than one game. You can find your own reasons for purchasing branded products or not, one thing is true though, there are more advantages in buying a branded one. So next time you are in a store, thinking about choosing between a branded jacket or a no name one, choose the branded one as along with the jacket you buy: quality, safety and you save money.

WORKS CONSULTED

Clow, Kenneth E., and Donald Baack. Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications. 3rd ed. Pearson, Prentice Hall, upper saddle River, NJ 07458, 2004. Spnu, Andrei. (2008, October 2). Personal Interview. Ries, Al and Laura. (2008, June 26). The Ries Report. Online Marketing Report. www.riesreport.com Shepard, Jon M., Andersen Margaret L. and Taylor, Howard Francis. Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. 4th ed. Published by Thomson Wadsworth, ISBN 0534617166 http://books.google.com/books? id=LP9bIrZ9xacC&pg=PA598&lpg=PA598&dq=people+feel+socially+recognized+when +wearing+brands&source=web&ots=Qd3PygorDA&sig=Ctsaofr78HbqJNwlwN53hc119h Y&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result Renk, Nataa and Sredl, Katherine C. Advertisers and Consumers in Transition. http://209.85.173.104/search? q=cache:sx29ungiXNUJ:hrcak.srce.hr/file/24700+Advertisers+and+consumers+in+transiti on&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

N. RENKO, K. C. SREDL: Advertisers and Consumers in Transition EKONOMSKI PREGLED, 55 (3-4) 302-316 (2004)

1984, Marchand 1985). Research of advertising audience lifestyle, marketplace preferences, and efficacy of persuasion is often included in the advertising production process, and in that way consumers might be included. Yet the level of marketing research used and the relationships with the clients can determine the outcome of the creation of these social texts (della Femina 1970). The selfperception of the comparative social position of these actors can also play a role in the creative process, as well as social forces such as global agency network standards (Miller 1997). Advertising can mirror a cultures beliefs, attitudes, and values, and society can mirror advertising in its hopes to live the promised lifestyle (Fox 1985). This can be an especially frustrating part of globalization of consumptionscapes in transition economies as consumers face the reality of economic transition amid promises of the good life (Belk, James). Of course, consumers may also rely on their consumption rituals more than these images. Yet we are only beginning to understand the role of historical and social forces, and the meaning of current outcomes (Arnould 1993). Croatia is an excellent site for researching this. After 1948 when Stalin expelled the SFRY from the COMECON, Tito developed a unique system of socialism in SFRY which adapted some principles of marketing; later, loans from the west connected SFRY to capitalism, and creation of the nonaligned movement drew SFRY into emerging political forces (Erstin 1991). Zagreb, Croatias capital, was the regional center of marketing and advertising in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and in Central and Eastern Europe in the socialist era (Erstin; Hanson 1974; Pecotich, Renko, Rocco 1992). The governments foreign loans allowed citizens to participate in global consumer culture through traveling, shopping, and working abroad, which fueled a consumption aspiration. Local social norms, specifi cally envy, fueled consumption aspirations (Belk 1988; Pecotich, Renko & Shultz 1994). Unique social, political, and economic forces combined to create a specifi c, political and social meaning for consumption and a local consumer society on the periphery of the west and east. Croatias high standard of living and open socialism are interpreted as points of difference by Croatians in comparison to neighbors. Many scholars interpret Croatias vote for independence in 1991 as a desire to leave

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regional associations and to join modern, western consumer culture, democracy, and capitalism rather than the commonly misunderstood view of a Balkan tendency for in fratricide (Allcock 2000; Pecotich et al 1994). In spite of the SFRYs political and economic global and regional status, Croatia is only in 2003 tentatively entering NATO and the European Union, while many of its post-socialist neighbors are already or soon to be members of NATO or EU. Certainly, the Homeland War (1991-1995), privatization and democratization has uniquely complicated the transition in Croatia: unemployment is at 22% currently and political involvement in privatization blocks economic progress