Love Marks
Earlier, I posted about the “up & up” house brand at Target. For me, “up & up” is a “lovemark.”
What is a lovemark? According to lovemark.com, “take a brand away, and people will find a replacement. Take a Lovemark away, and people will protest its absence … Put simply, Lovemarks inspire loyalty beyond reason.” (emphasis added)
Think iPhone. Think Starbucks. Think Target. Think Trader Joe’s.
When it comes to food, my lovemark is Trader Joe’s. I miss my Portland, Oregon, store dearly and curse the day I left it behind to move to Salt Lake City. I miss the Kalamata Olive Oil, the Chevre with Honey, the Chard of Many Colors, the Sweet & Spicy Pecans, cheap pine nuts, cheap almonds, cheap cashews, Nuts About Raspberries & Chocolate trail mix, Solid White Albacore Tuna in Olive Oil, Trader Darwin’s Flaxseed Oil, the frozen yum-yums, and well, the non-frozen yum-yums. I miss the silly stories in the Fearless Flyer. I miss the twists on the store name: Trader Darwin’s (for supplements), Baker Josef’s (for chocolate chips), Trader Ming’s (for Chinese food), and the list goes on.
I even miss the weekly disappointment of discovering a favorite food had been discontinued. Some people over at Chowhound even have a verb for that: getting “Trader Joe’d.”
Oh, and the cheap prices, of course. I could stuff several canvas bags full of food and never spend as much as I did on one bag at Whole Foods. And yes, my loyalty and love know no bounds.I love Trader Joe’s beyond all reason. I am willing to pay people to ship Trader Joe’s products hundreds of miles in USPS flat-rate boxes. Sure, I can find some decent trail mixes or olive oils or snacky things around here, but they are not Trader Joe’s. If I want a little joy—a little love—with my calories, I gotta get Trader Joe’s. Sad, maybe. Desperate, for sure. Loyalty beyond all logic and reason, hell yes. What is your “lovemark?”
