Bug Found - Mobile Operators As Brand

For quite sometime, my mom’s mobile battery was sending its last vital signs… realizing there’s no other option but going to Orange’s service center to get it fixed/replaced after spending hours of waiting for her turn and later – spending hours for the repair… armed with a heavy book and assertiveness she did it. She planned to spend time but she didn’t have an intention of spending money on a new HS. And yet, Nokia has its own magic on people, *including* on my mom, and she went home with a new one.

But there was another thing she didn’t plan… After opening the box and starting to play with her new toy, she saw that it has an Orange icon on the top right corner of the HS. Unwillingly, she was turned into an Orange walking ad. Yay! I’m not talking about the money issue of buying something for your own use and self expression while in return you become an ad - because in other areas of life we’re actually WILLING to pay more for the visibility of the brand name (on cars, clothing, fashion accessories, personal electronic gadgets, etc); While having your Gucci or Nike brand name visible is a totally wanted thing by many people, being a walking ad for Orange (or any other operator for this matter) is not.

What troubles my mind about this issue is  - why? what’s the difference between clothing/ car manufacturer and mobile operator brands? Why fashion/car brands provide an added-value for self expressing human needs while mobile brands don't? There's probably something operators are doing wrong when it comes to their existence as a brand...

Thoughts are very welcomed! :)

Technorati Tags: brands, mobile brands, orange, nokia, mobile operators, self expression