How Important is Branding to Success?

I chose this topic because I was very curious about it.  I watch the Super Bowl every year and always wonder why companies would spend millions of dollars for a 30 second commercial.  My family isn’t huge on brand loyalty; of course we have some companies that we only buy from, but that’s because that brand always has the best products.  In contrast to my family I have a friend, yes Ms. Reimer I know that might be a little surprising, and he is a 100% brand loyalist for almost everything that he buys.  He will only buy American products.  He spends a lot more money than I do for the same products, just one is made in America and the other is made in a foreign country.  Because of this split opinions between myself and my friend, I wanted to do my project on brand loyalty to find out if there are other people out there like my friend, or if most people are like me.  I want to know if companies spend their millions of dollars on a 30 second commercial to try to get brand loyalty or to just get their name out there.  Is brand loyalty really successful?  Why do people become loyal?  What are good advertisements to influence brand loyalty?  How do brands create loyalty?  What brands are the most popular for loyalty?  These are the questions I ask myself, and these are the questions that I want to find answers to.