Brands in the subconscious

I recently decided that enough was enough, it was time to stop using disposable plastic water bottles. In a normal week I would buy one bottle of mineral water and then reuse the bottle, refilling it at the water bubbler until by the end of the week it had started to smell funny. I would then recycle the bottle and buy another one.
This cycle has lasted for a while, but I knew I should really just be using one permanent bottle.
So last week I got myself a lovely shiny blue Sigg bottle.
It was the obvious choice to me, it's metal and enamel lined to I can reuse it and scald it with boiling water to sanitise it each week.

This got me thinking, why was it an obvious choice?

I have never seen any advertising for Sigg products (that I can recall), I'm not a hiker or someone who they're targeted at, yet somehow I recalled the brand and it felt like the obvious choice.

Maybe it's because I was looking for a bottle for eco purposes and I knew Sigg was Swiss, which conjures up clean air and mountains. I'm interested in how brands can penetrate our subconscious and embed themselves comfortable, awaiting the opportune moment to make themselves known to us.



While we all think that we're immune to the daily bombardment of images and logos, the reality is that we absorb a lot more than we care to admit.

Thinking back to the times I've seen Sigg bottles tied to huge backpacks, those images and associations were all I needed to make my choice. The distinctive shape and form of the bottle only helped with this association.



On reading up a bit more about the Sigg brand is turns out they are pretty up on all things eco. They made special bottles for Radiohead and their crew for their tour. Their bottle design is in MoMA's permanent collection. I didn't know any of this until I read up on them but somehow it was implied in my subconscious when I made my purchase. I made a lot of assumptions which turned out to be spot on.


UPDATE: Interesting post about the history of dangerous chemical in Sigg bottels by Martin Bishop over at Brand Mix
SIGG's choice comes back to haunt ~ Brand Mix