By Taylor Nesnay As the consumer landscape is taken over by Millennials – the age group now accounts for $2.45 trillion in spending power – it is essential for brands to pay attention to shifts in values. According to the American Marketing Association, 70% of Millennials will spend more on brands supporting causes they care about. This value proposition, typically referred to as corporate social responsibility, has been proven historically to be successful when executed correctly. Companies that make it their mission to not only “do well,” but also “do good,” can foster a relationship between consumer and product/service that goes far beyond a value proposition. Who are some leaders in the corporate social responsibility landscape? Google, Starbucks, and Ben & Jerry’s, to name a few. All three companies have commonalities: celebrated leaders, cult followings, and clear visions. It is no secret that intertwining a good cause with business strategy helps guide strategic brand decisions. As Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, said during an interview at Advertising Week 2017 in New York City, “our purpose is not to make money…we are a financially-driven performance-based company through the lens of humanity.” In current times of political and social reaction, it is now more important than ever for companies to join active conversations, no matter how controversial their stances may be. This delicate balance can undoubtedly be a challenge. During a session at Advertising Week 2017 in New York City entitled “Red, White, and…Blue?”, panelists discussed the concept of America as a brand and how certain companies have navigated political commentary better than others. For example, Nike condemned President Trump’s immigration ban by writing an open letter, which was viewed as only 40% favorable and most frequently categorized as political mudslinging by consumers. Additionally, Budweiser ran a Super Bowl ad campaign addressing this topic entitled “Born the Hard Way,” which met a 50% favorable rating. The message of this contrast is that not all activism in inherently appealing. Moving forward, highly popular brands must be willing to take a stand and be able to do the rigorous research – both qualitatively and quantitatively – that ensures that their campaigns will be viewed favorably among consumers. As Elicia Greenberg, program director of The Advertising Club of New York, reminded the audience attending Advertising Week, “Be the difference…it’s not about the talk – it’s about the doing. It’s time for advertisers and marketers and creatives to work to fix the problems in our nation and bring Brand America to new and innovative heights.”
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By Jillian Marbach When it comes to marketing products or services, there is one basic rule every student will come to know: you can’t please everyone. This is why we spend millions of dollars analyzing trends to break customers up into target market segments. These segments can come from geography, age, interests, or another more obvious division: gender. There has been a lot of buzz around the topic of gendered marketing, especially in the last few years. In a quick search of the term “gendered products,” millions of results come up featuring lists of the most ridiculously gendered merchandise (my personal favorite: men’s bread) and outcries for the trend to stop. One criticism that blew up was Ellen DeGeneres’ comedic critique of pens made specially for women: “You can use it to write down a grocery list, or even recipes for when you need to feed your man.” Despite the growing number of people opposing extreme product gendering, those in branding point out if you don’t understand this method, the product probably isn’t targeted at you. They say, with such a wide range of products being available, that customers need help narrowing down their options. A simple way to do that is by emphasizing gender. Although some of these gendered products may come across as weird, branding professionals argue that there is surely a segment of people weird enough to buy them. Although this message may be true of quirky products, like sausages for girls and “mansize” facial tissues, gendering may not be favorable for all mainstream products. A prime example of a popular industry that may need to change is children’s toys. In a recent TED Talk about the subject, Elizabeth Sweet analyzes the issue from the perspective of a mother. She explains that strict gendering of toys does not allow children to fully explore all of their interests. Instead, they are shamed and teased for wanting to do things outside their gender “bubble,” and will ultimately give up these interests. In many cases, this means that little girls will not want to buy a boys’ science kit and little boys will shy away from girls’ dolls or cooking sets. If these psychological effects weren’t enough to make marketers think twice about promoting strict gender guidelines for kids, the feelings of customers might. In a recent consumer report by Havas that studied over 12,000 consumers from 32 countries, it was found that 61% of women and 46% of men felt that, as much as possible, parents should raise their children in a gender-neutral way. The demographic most likely to express this opinion was Millenials, the generation that will be buying kids’ toys next. This survey shows that parents are changing the way they look at the toy aisle; and marketers should, too. Some companies have been anticipating this change. In 2015, Target announced that it would no longer label its aisles by gender, including its toy aisles. Additionally, the superstore introduced its first line of gender neutral kids’ clothing this summer. The White House made moves to support this movement under the Obama Administration. In 2016, it hosted a conference titled, “Helping our Children Explore, Learn and Dream without Limits: Breaking Down Gender Stereotypes in Media and Toys,” which worked to rethink the products and media designed for future generations of kids. For those working on branding products specifically for children, it’s obvious that a change in strategy is needed. As for those in wider sectors, profits can still be found by falling back on a gender-divided market. But for how long? According to the 2017 Havas report, 52% of women and 44% of men agreed strongly or somewhat that they did not believe in set genders and that gender is fluid. Gender-neutral trends appear to be here to stay. It will be up to marketers to respond to these trends or get left behind. |