Brands galore, by the aisles

When I got married, my father had two words of advice for me. Literally.

"Yes, dear" he says. Remember those two words. They may not guarantee that your marriage will not end in divorce, but those two very powerful words will carry you through a long way. I suppose he was speaking from experience, as he and my mother had been together for almost thirty years when he offered me his words of wisdom.

So when my wife asks me to go grocery shopping, I of course oblige and reply (without hesitation), "Yes, dear."

Let's just say I've been the designated "grocery shopper" of our household and enjoy the role tremendously. I like to shop in the evenings. Less crowded and shorter lines. Plus I get to do some people watching, to boot. There's something about the later hours that bring out the different characters from my neighborhood. I don't live in a bad neighborhood, but this one particular grocery store attracts some fairly interesting characters (at least from an appearance standpoint). I actually don't mind one bit and get a kick out of it.

Being at the grocery store enables me to interact with thousands of brands--all under one roof--and organized neatly in aisles. Years ago, I've made it my policy to take home one new product every time I visit the grocery store. I still do it religiously to this day.

How are you going to know if something's good if you don't actually try it? True, you may learn that something isn't that good either, but you have to take the bad with the good. That's just life.

I'm sure you've heard of the more popular food brands. There's Yoplait and Starbucks, to name a couple. I say boring. Blase. Overplayed and too safe.

There's certainly nothing wrong with being safe, knowing that you'll get the same brand experience every time. That's a great thing, something that all brands should aspire to be with their customers.

You'll simply miss out. There's many great undiscovered brands out there, waiting for you to discover them. This may run counter to the brand loyalty concept, but loyalty shmoyalty. That's why you have brand managers, marketers and advertisers.

Next time you're at the grocery store, pick up your new product and give it a whirl. You might just find your new favorite.