Branding

I understand the power of branding. I still remember it in the classes of marketing I took back in university.

But how far can branding really go?

At what point does it move from being the "mark of quality" to being a way of tricking suckers out of their money?

I found an example of the latter the other day after having had a nice steak with Kieran during our lunch break. On our way back to the office, we walked past a store that was selling a water pipe. It wasn't just any water pipe though, it was a "Porsche" water pipe.

Who would buy this?

Does the Porsche brand really carry that much swagger that they are now deemed to be the most trusted and true makers of water pipes?

It all seems a bit much for me.

Too much?

I paid $9 for a loaf of bread the other day.

Is that too much? I think it's too much....

Even the packaging that the bread came in seemed a bit too much.
That being said, it was damn good bread.

Sitting on the bus

I think I have fallen into a rut in Sydney.

Most days seem to be relatively similar to the last and worst of all, I find myself seeing nothing new.

I've only been living in Sydney for a few years. I'm amazed that I've so quickly reached a stage where I no longer explore and no longer seek out new things to see.

I don't quite know what has led me to this behaviour. I love the feeling of being in a new place that I am unfamiliar with. There's a strange rush of uncertainty.

As lame as it may sound, I finally experienced some of the feeling of being somewhere new from being on a bus of all places.

Rather than jumping on my old bus back home, I thought I'd try a bus that went a different route.

It was deserted. However, strangely enough I felt the lack of familiarity that I had been seeking. As the city slowly past me by and shop fronts I had never seen sped past, I started thinking about the need to actually keep searching this city for some of the sites that I clearly hadn't been to.