Are you willing to stand for hours in line for the brand new IPhone?
Has it ever occurred to you that a brand might provide a
sense of belonging? That merely buying a product has a symbolic value or
communicates a specific message about you? Well, as it turns out, there are a
lot of people who are willing to purchase a product to achieve this very need,
the need to belong.
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the need of “self-actualisation” resides at the very top of the pyramid. It’s defined as the highest need that a person might strive to achieve after achieving the basic ones such as food and shelter, etc. Brands have certainly become a tool to achieve and to foster such sense of belonging & acceptance.
Most brands have resorted to brand belonging as a method to build communities around them and to create loyal customers. How would we explain the huge crowds of people waiting in line to purchase the new IPhone model? And what would be the reason behind a group of people wanting to purchase a Rolex watch instead of a regular watch which has the exact features?
Brands have become a reflection of the person’s personality, attitude, social status, & wealth in the society. Owning a Tesla reflects wealth with a care about the environment, an IPhone shows that you are innovative, and a Rolex shows that you’re affiliated with a wealthy niche in the society. Each brand is managing to build its own community or tribe to forge meaningful connections with its customers.
The products we choose have become a symbol of who we are and what we stand for in our lives. So how much can we really tell about a person through the brands they consume?
To answer the question in my previous post, let’s have a look at how a brand managed to teach its customers a lesson and to increase the people’s awareness in the society.
As a method to criticise some regulations that were going on concerning Net Neutrality, Burger King created an ad aiming to teach its customers about this concept. This social experiment by Burger King was done to criticise the repeal of Net Neutrality regulations and to showcase to the people the impact of such regulations on their lives.
To those who are not familiar with the concept, Net Neutrality refers to having equal access to the Internet. Without it, the internet service providers will have the sole power to charge people more for higher speed and to control the content shown on their web pages.
As an opposition to the repeal of Net Neutrality, Burger King created the “Whopper Neutrality”. Burger King stated that “the brand believes the Internet should be like the Whopper sandwich; the same for everyone.”
This creative method by Burger King to explain the effect of an event going on in the society made a strong impact on the consumers. Such usage of the brand’s products helped to increase its customers’ awareness as well as to attract many people’s attention to the brand’s efforts.
By making use of on-going events in the society, brands can help stir up change and create social movements. When doing so, it certainly helps in creating a long lasting impact in the consumer’s lives and in developing a positive relationship with them.
Nowadays, it might cost a lot to stay out of politics (and not only financially wise). Many brands seemed to have taken notice of such notion and taken an advantage of it. In a world where most things are present to divide us, it is sometimes important for brands to support or to take sides concerning such issues.
Some belief-based consumers are more willing to buy an item from a brand had they supported its stand on controversial political issues and beliefs.
Brands like Nike made a whole advertising campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick which tackled social issues related to race and patriotism. Although it witnessed a lot of backlash, Nike managed to showcase its stance regarding this issue. On the contrary, this backlash event benefited Nike in terms of a rise in its stock’s and brand’s value as well as a boost in sales.
Other brands like Ben & Jerry’s make use of social issues when naming their products. Have you ever heard of an ice cream flavor with an opinion about racial justice or political issues & women’s rights? Well, it certainly is Ben & Jerry’s outspoken flavor. Ben & Jerry’s is one of the most political ice cream brands out there. It always drops ice cream flavors with hidden messages of support and resistance to social injustice events taking place. Its “Pecan Resist” ice cream flavor was launched to help prevent injustice and to support anyone resisting the current administration’s regressive agenda of oppression. Furthermore, Ben & Jerry’s announced that they would be donating $25,000 to four organisations which are tackling such issues.
It is important to note that achieving a brand’s purpose does not happen overnight. It needs a long time of commitment and consistency over its various touch-points and in all of its actions.
In our days, it seems of high importance for brands to take a stand on social issues. However, to what extent is a brand capable of pushing the lever of injustice and calling it out without affecting itself negatively or without losing its true voice and identity in the process? Can brands actually teach society a lesson?
You can’t possibly think of Paris without the concepts of love, romance, the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, etc. coming into your mind. It’s really amazing how each country has its own set of associations attached to it. This notion also applies to brands and products.
For consumers, the name of the brand and its country of origin (COO) play a huge role in affecting their perceptions and purchasing decisions. A perfume made in China for example, won’t be perceived by consumers in the same manner had it been made in France.
Some countries like France tend to evoke hedonistic associations with the products while other countries like Germany, for example, tend to enhance the utilitarian perceptions as seen in its car industry’s branding strategy.
Many brands have used the COO’s effect to alter the brand’s positioning in the consumers’ minds and to give them a certain expectation. Haagen-Dazs is one of the brand names that have been created for such purpose. Its Danish sounding name sort of gave it a background story which allowed it to command a premium and to create a new niche for itself.
This actually happened without the brand being Danish. Haagen-Dazs was actually established in America. In fact, the name itself “Haagen-Dazs” is made up and does not even exist in the Danish language.
“I’d like to buy the world a Coke & keep it company.”
Have you ever heard a tune or a jingle in an ad and it was so catchy that you just couldn’t get it out of your head? Well, as it turns out, it was designed for such purpose.
Many brands work on writing original jingles or certain tunes in order to create links and to associate them with their brands.
Jingles are a form of sound branding. It can be a slogan, a phone number, a name, or even a benefit of a product or a brand.
Jingles tend to have a lot of advantages. It increases brand awareness, it allows the brand’s message to stick in the consumer’s memory, as well as it makes the brand recall much easier.
Most importantly, jingles tend to have a long term effect on the consumers. Many people are able to recognise the brands immediately and to remember their names as soon as they hear their jingle.
Also, jingles can help the brand’s ads to go viral. By adding it to an ad or a commercial, it will certainly cut through the ads noise and grab the customers’ attention. This would increase the consumer’s tendency to share it and thus, allow the ad to go viral and to catch on between the consumers worldwide.
So, did any jingle come across your mind when reading this post? (besides the one for Coca-Cola! )
After having discussed the meaning that lies behind every colour, it is time to explore how one of those brands managed to exploit it to achieve its goals.
Have you guessed it yet?
Gatorade is one of the most iconic sports drinks which uses a lot of approaches to promote its brand. It uses an integrated marketing strategy which includes transmitting its message on billboards, print ads, and creative point on sales displays.
Gatorade occupies a special positioning in the minds of the consumers; it is positioned as the sports drink for winners. Gatorade is also linked to endurance and enhancement in athletic performances; it aims to quench the thirst of athletes and to provide them with their nutritional needs while keeping them energised and active.
Gatorade has managed to grab the people’s attention using a lot of elements to stand out. Their billboards are designed in a creative and a simple way. Their simple ads only present the picture of a Gatorade bottle or the logo of Gatorade with the campaign’s tagline on a strong-coloured background. Gatorade also used to place huge ads on buildings in order to grab people’s attention. Another method of advertising Gatorade uses is print ads. Their print ads are usually creative and innovative. Some of them try to show how Gatorade fuels athletes from within.
Gatorade utilise bright and vibrant colours to show the benefits and the movements of Gatorade in the athletes’ bodies. In-store marketing is also one of the marketing strategies Gatorade employs in attempt to affect and influence the buying decisions for the consumers. Moreover, It uses creative displays that resemble the Gatorade bottle, and they use flashy product displays. Gatorade tries to communicate its messages and to associate itself with some concepts like winning and hard work on all of its different advertising channels and mediums.
In order to grab the people’s attention, most of Gatorade’s ads do not include a lot of elements. Gatorade creates different marketing stimuli to get in touch with customers. They create line series advertisement in order to get in touch with the customers and to grab their attention.
Gatorade has a lot of other competitors, so their ads need to stand out between other brands. Gatorade tries to affect the consumers’ visual perceptions using vivid colours and strong images and headlines which also show Gatorade’s effects and benefits.
Gatorade also tries to impact the consumers using intense colours like orange. It plays on the customers to affect their moods and responses. The colour orange which is frequently used in Gatorade’s ads represents energy, activity, and caution. It resonates with the messages Gatorade is trying to associate itself with and it is very likely to grab attention.
Gatorade’s ads are a form of salient stimuli. They stand out due to the colours and images used and due to their intense. Some of their ads are simplistic and vivid; they only include the bottle (the figure) of Gatorade. They use materials that are clear to the senses and not hard to comprehend.
Gatorade also tries to create associations and to evoke feelings and certain emotional responses in the customers using such colours in their ads. Some of their print ads show imagery that depicts the effect of Gatorade inside the athlete’s body. The use of such ads and different marketing mediums are some of Gatorade’s methods to avoid habituation.
The way Gatorade creates its billboard ads are affected by the absolute threshold. They try to achieve intensity by using a few elements which include big fonts and strong headlines and colours. The in-store marketing Gatorade uses allows them to achieve their goals and to influence the customers’ buying decisions.
Gatorade uses bright colours and creative models in their in-store displays to stand out amongst their competitors. The Point of sales marketing Gatorade uses alters and affects the consumer’s decision making and expectations as well.
Lastly, Gatorade has managed to merge colours with its brand identity to further communicate its message and to have a consistent and a powerful message that resonates on the long run.
BBB- Buyer's Black Box 