At the Zucker household we have a set routine where my little girls and I watch one last episode of one of their favorite shows with a (huge) fruit plate before mommy takes them to bed.

Last night, during the commercials, a Starbucks logo came up as one of the sponsors. Mya, my 4 year old, shouts “Starbucks!” As a dad, my immediate reaction was how proud I am of my smart girl, quickly followed by the realization that we must be visiting Starbucks too often.

I asked her “What is Starbucks?” and she quickly replied “Cake Pop!” If you are unfamiliar with these, they are little cake bite sugar rushes on a stick that are really quite great, but I am not sure are worth the time on the treadmill.

The point is though that while I was first impressed that she had recognized the brand by its logo, I now realized that she recognized the logo for the love of their product.

While most of the world would have answered that question with “Coffee”, to her the logo represented “Cake Pops”. Yet even at her age, out of love for the product and (drive through) experience, she bothered to take the time to notice and remember who it is that is providing this great service.

The flip side of this is that too often company strategies revolve around getting the brand more exposure rather than improving their products and services. If users do not enjoy your products and services and actually remember your brand, it will not be in a positive light.

Make sure to focus on quality and customer-centricity first and you will be sure to see thriving success and great exposure to follow. It is engrained in us from an early age to remember and recognize what we consider to be high quality and enjoyable.

Until my next rant.

Ido Zucker