Poll of the Day > I know this is a ridiculous question to ask, but what's a good way to judge....

(+) Yeah! (+)

popularity of a brand? Total sales of a brand, right?

NMB's opinion.
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so basically the opposite of what he says is more popular?

It depends on the target audience of what he's discussing. The exact equation is complicated but I believe Dr. Snuts from Oxford did a study on it recently, he's got some nice graphs explaining it.
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So, I should trust his opinion on cereal, saturday morning cartoons, and amiibos?

but seriously though, if we were to compare two media franchises, the one that sold more would probably be more popular, no?

green dragon posted...

So, I should trust his opinion on cereal, saturday morning cartoons, and amiibos?

but seriously though, if we were to compare two media franchises, the one that sold more would probably be more popular, no?

Probably not because of things like price and availability. I'm not brand-minded but refuse to purchase items from certain companies like M$, crApple, Activision, or whatever.

DPsx7 posted...

Probably not because of things like price and availability

If something is more popular it'll be available in more places.

DPsx7 posted...

I'm not brand-minded but refuse to purchase items from certain companies like M$, crApple, Activision, or whatever

So you are brand minded?

green dragon posted...

but seriously though, if we were to compare two media franchises, the one that sold more would probably be more popular, no?

Generally speaking, I would say yes. But if you were trying to gauge its popularity I think you'd also want to look at something like regional marketing since some competing companies might not advertise as heavily in the same markets.

I'm not sure what a brand is. Does it refer to the product, the manufacturer, the parent company? Ive seen the term used in regard to just about anything.
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alright, well what i'm talking about is pokemon vs spider-man. Pokemon would be considered more popular because it's total sales of everything it has ever put out (movies, games, cards, toys, etc.) exceeds that of spider-man (about $60 billion vs $20 billion), right?

it'd be safe to say the pokemon is more popular than spider-man, right?

green dragon posted...

DPsx7 posted...

Probably not because of things like price and availability

If something is more popular it'll be available in more places.

DPsx7 posted...

I'm not brand-minded but refuse to purchase items from certain companies like M$, crApple, Activision, or whatever

So you are brand minded?

Not really. I know of Arby's and Chick Fila but they're nowhere around here. I doubt you'll argue they aren't popular.

No, I just said I'll avoid particularly bad products but in general I don't worry about names. Store brands can be just as good.

DPsx7 posted...

Not really. I know of Arby's and Chick Fila but they're nowhere around here. I doubt you'll argue they aren't popular.

they aren't as popular as mcdonalds or starbucks

green dragon posted...

DPsx7 posted...

Not really. I know of Arby's and Chick Fila but they're nowhere around here. I doubt you'll argue they aren't popular.

they aren't as popular as mcdonalds or starbucks

Wanna bet? Those companies sell shit. Existing everywhere just makes them a disease, not necessarily more popular. To me, being desirable is an important factor.

DPsx7 posted...

Wanna bet?

Yes

green dragon posted...

alright, well what i'm talking about is pokemon vs spider-man. Pokemon would be considered more popular because it's total sales of everything it has ever put out (movies, games, cards, toys, etc.) exceeds that of spider-man (about $60 billion vs $20 billion), right?

it'd be safe to say the pokemon is more popular than spider-man, right?

Sales don't mean anything when it comes to popularity of something like that. Both are equally as popular.
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I would say that Spider-Man is more iconic than Pokemon, because more people would recognize a picture of Spider-Man than a picture of any given Pokemon.
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as long as you're not looking for absolute certainty or precision, number of sales is a good way to estimate popularity, yes. something that sells extremely well is very probably more popular than something that sells extremely poorly. in fact, that might even make it "popular" by definition.

but there are too many variables to be able to generalize that much further, I think. or at least there would start to be a lot of exceptions. examples may include:

- a "deeper" concept will tend to have more sales without necessarily more popularity, both in terms of number of transactions and value of each transaction.

- a product could be artificially limited, necessitating repeat sales. the fact that light-bulbs burn out and we have to continually buy more of them does not mean it has more popularity than if we didn't.

- fads/hype. popularity in the short term doesn't necessarily imply popularity in the long term. something short lived does not necessarily have more popularity than something long lived, even if it has more sales in the short term.

etc?
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Sahuagin posted...

- a product could be artificially limited, necessitating repeat sales. the fact that light-bulbs burn out and we have to continually buy more of them does not mean it has more popularity than if we didn't.

Wat. Where in the world would anybody prefer darkness over having light?
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Revelation34 posted...

Sahuagin posted...

- a product could be artificially limited, necessitating repeat sales. the fact that light-bulbs burn out and we have to continually buy more of them does not mean it has more popularity than if we didn't.

Wat. Where in the world would anybody prefer darkness over having light?

That's the point? If light bulbs lasted a year, people would buy them every year and sales would increase immensely, however that would not indicate that people like lightbulbs more now that they blow up every year.
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