Last week I was guest lecturing on Branding in an introductory entrepreneurship course at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business. (Cool news of the week: I will be teaching Entrepreneurial Marketing there starting in the Fall!) As the class of 50+ energetic UW-ers and I were sharing our favorite companies and products, an independent-minded young woman stood up and stated that she didn’t have a favorite brand: rather, she was loyal to Kirkland products.

“So you like the Kirkland brand?” I confirmed. She looked at me quizzically and her head began to wag slowly left and right. “Kirkland, right? Costco’s in-house brand? The not-a-name-brand brand, right?” She peered at me, straining to maintain her anti-marketing self-image, “no, uhh, well…”

Gently, I urged her to consider that it was ok: she had merely developed loyalty to a brand that was committed to a reasonably-priced, quality-over-image persona. “You see, even the non-brand is a brand” I concluded happily.

She wasn’t as delighted as I was.