What is a brand worth?

Recently at a wine tasting at Cru in Madera, CA an attendee asked the winemaker, Ken Post, about how wine was priced. Why were some wines sold at $100.00 at bottle while others at $10.00? Is it really a matter of one wine being superior to another or were other factors involved, such as vintage, year, brand, distribution and marketing?

Ken paused then said, “Do you agree the wine your are tasting is a great wine?” The crowd nodded its approval and almost everyone sipped some more with great satisfaction. “Now, raise your hands if you would pay $60.00 a bottle for it.” No one raised their hands. “See, I’ve easily sold this at $60.00 a bottle, but I sell a boatload more at $20.00, “ he explained.

Ken’s answer made me think about the relationship between quality and value. Value is what it is worth to someone. What one person finds valuable another may not. Quality, on the other hand, is the character of the entity. Is it of superior, average or poor being, does is work well, stand up to external forces, achieve its purpose, is it elegant or sophisticated? These are some of the ways we judge quality. We tend to judge value by how much we spent and what the results were.

Often in business, we focus too much on the value of short-term results and not on the long-term effect of quality. Take Virgin, for example, we know that whatever enterprise Sir Richard turns to will have a certain quality about it. It’s his brand that he has carefully cultivated over the years. It’s the quality you expect from his work. 

What qualities do you bring to your brand? What is it worth to your business? How do you want to be remembered? 

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