Some of the brand names in this country grow with us since our childhood days. The Milo trucks from Nestle used to show up in every of our sport day event giving out free ice cold milk chocolate drinks to all the participating school children. Milo became a household name for many of us, to others it is probably just another chocolate drink! One could observe how a good and innovative company that has the long term vision of investing in a brand for years, and then enjoy reaping the harvest and success of their effort! In Malaysia, Milo now is synonymous with chocolate drinks. This is good marketing strategy!
Bata shoes is another marque which we Malaysians are familiar and associated with for a long long time. Remember those day where we had the cheaper version of Fung Keong and other China made "warrior" ( 回力) shoes? But then the more popular Bata "Badminton Master" sold for RM3.90 was considered a premium pair of school-going cum sport shoes in those days. It is about 40 years ago compared to now that any of the Bata shoes on sale in the shops, which is retailed in the region of RM60 per pair. The price is roughly about an increase of 15 times. Did our basic income increase by 15 times after all these years?
Coming to the "warrior" brand, it was then the most popular basket ball shoes because it was cheap, with good design and comfortable. This Chinese company based in Shanghai had subqsequently diverted itself into the tire business. They had a joint-venture with Michelin tire during those early years of economic boom in the newly reformed China, and they are now one of the biggest and dominant tire players in China market.
Our children nowadays are brand conscious, and they would prefer Nike, Adidas, Reebok, New Balance etc. Bata is definitely not their choice. Many times Bata became my choice because my rationale is simple; I would not pay 300% more for a pair of imported brand, probably the quality or durability of it is 10% better than a pair of Bata. Thinking that the bulk of the cost comes from advertising and also into the pockets of some super athletic stars somehow hinder my decision to purchase!
I remember years back when I bought some souvenir electrical items commemorating the Commonwealth Game held in Malaysia from our local brand Pensonic, they just stopped functioning after just a few times of usage. That left me a very bad impression of the brand name, they might have improved a lot now over the years but they had lost me as a customer that decided to stick with Panasonic instead. See how this little things count when poor quality products are put up in the market!
When we were having the EDMAT (Engineering Development Motivation Awareness Training) in University Malaya in the 80s, one of the talks given to us was by SKF bearings. A handbook was given out to all the participants. Because of this simple act, whenever there is a requirement of bearings, SKF will automatically come into my mind though there are many other reputable bearing brand names in the market.
I always like to remember the good gesture of my brother CM Lee who had bought me Adidas shoes in the region of RM30 per pair from Singapore many years ago. Later part, I did buy another pair from Germany while I was having an industrial training there in Stuttgart. The poster outside the store read something like "DM30 Abs"! I got to learn about this German word "Abs" that signifiies "Upwards" when I asked the lady store owner why the shoes prices inside the store were much higher!
Having said all these about my non-preference for branded shoes, however during my 3 years stay in Ciudad Juarez, in and out of El Paso, Texas, I had bought numerous pairs of Reebok and Nike shoes for myself and my family. I had bought another pair of Adidas for myself in the Factory Outlet store in San Francisco too. I bought them for the simple reason that they are sold much cheaper in the US than in Malaysia.
