Social class and marketing

Social class can serve as a useful way of segmenting markets and also influence the way marketer communicate their products. Social class motives and values can determine which offerings consumers desire. To correspond to different market segments needs, marketers often develop different product lines for different classes. P&G has developed a premium line of Pampers disposal diapers to focus more on the innovative features, rather than price. Prada launched MiuMiu as its sub-brand to target at middle class with more competitive price. Sometimes, marketers will not only cater to different segments’ needs, but also creates appeals to stimulate consumers’ aspirations for upward mobility. I think luxury brands, such as Louis Vuitton, and Gucci, take advantage of this concept very well when marketing their products in emerging markets. Since the lower social class will somehow to intimate the living style the higher social class adopts, the aspirational approach will increase consumers’ willingness to buy luxury goods. The middle class is increasing at a very rapid rate in emerging markets, and these people want to define themselves not only by what they do, but also by what products they use, which provides luxury brands with a great opportunity to boost their sales in emerging markets.

When targeting the upper classes, advertisings often emphasize on this group’s status, and certain offerings can be adverted as coveted status symbol. Messages for the working class might focus more on home, friends and social activities. Every time when I watch Wimbledon, the Rolex watch TV commercial will be seen throughout tennis games, and the theme Rolex wants to convey is precision and excellence, which tapping into the upper class’s distinctiveness.

Marketers target upper-class consumers can make goods available through channels that sell exclusive merchandise with personalized service. Even now mass merchandisers are selling products with more appeals, trying to blur the social class sidelines. For example, Target sells cheaper apparels, compared to other pricier retailer, but Target would like to state itself like a fashion chic clothes provider, not a cheaper price provider.

Pricing strategy and purchasing decision making process

Many consumers are looking for good value product, that is, product quality can justify its price or a high-quality product at a good price. Fast-food chains seek to satisfy consumers by offering value meals. However, value does not necessarily mean lower price since consumers will pay more if they believe the offering worth its price. There is another way for brands to deliver value without lowering prices is to provide a differential benefit and convince consumers that the brand is worth the extra cost, which could be a better approach to avoid tarnishing the brand equity.

If marketers use pricing deal too often, consumers will perceive the special price as the regular price and will not buy the product unless the products are on sale. Therefore, it turns out to be a vicious cycle which can significantly lower the profit margins. Furthermore, too many deals could also damage brand loyalty as consumers become too deal—oriented. Consequently, it is important for marketers to identify deal-prone consumers because this will help them directly targeted this group of consumers. However, consumers react differently to different types of deals.

Selling Luxury to the Masses...

Tiffany is a great example of offering the affordable luxury to its new target segments, young fashionistas, Tiffany released a collection of its silver accessory designs, providing customers with lower entry price. Since the richest customers are becoming harder to please. Finding the balance between an item's price and its perceived worth is increasingly important in the luxury market. In an attempt to market goods with a high-end feel to both wealthy and not-so-rich consumers, Tiffany started to open approximately 170 small format stores in smaller US markets to make its products more available, cooperate with swatch and launch a product line with lower entry price.  

By doing so, Tiffany has a strong growth in its revenue, however, it has diminished Tiffany’s well-known brand. According to a recent study by the Luxury Institute in 2008, Tiffany didn’t rank in the top three luxury jewelry brands.  Harry Winston was first, followed by Buccellati and Van Cleef which tied for second place.  Graff placed third in a list of twenty jewelers.  That’s in contrast to an earlier study that placed Tiffany in the top three brands.            

It is because Tiffany was selling too much product to a particular market segment, which could hurt the brand in its core customers’ perception. Many people argued that brand dilution is evident everywhere in the new Tiffany strategy, and this could weaken customers’ perception with respect to Tiffany’s pricing strategy, where customers may think Tiffany should not charge such a premium for its merchandise. Further, the dilution of the Tiffany brand name among ultra luxury consumers could severely hurt Tiffany’s brand equity. Therefore, Tiffany adjusted its brand strategy and start not dropping prices and trying to go mass-market.

           I think here is a quite interesting observation that Tiffany adopts different strategy outside the U.S. so Tiffany still perceived high-end product in the emerging markets. In Taiwan, the price of Tiffany’s jewelry is almost one and half times than in the U.S, even for the entry product line of the silver jewelry. Moreover, the distribution channel selection of Tiffany still remains the exclusivity, which still represents prestige and targets at high-end consumers. Hence, when I first time read the article about Tiffany’s brand dilution, I couldn’t believe it, and I started to think what kind of role do emerging markets play in Tiffany’s brand strategy. Cash cow maybe? Great markets to exploit?  I felt a little bit disappointed about Tiffany and the high-end brand image developed by Tiffany was broken.  I will still buy Tiffany’s accessories but only in the U.S, not in Taiwan.

Ethnic groups…..

Marketing to any consumer group requires research and get beyond stereotypes and to identify specific and behavioral patterns that can be addressed using appropriate strategies. Ethnic groups are bound together by cultural ties that can effectively influence consumer behavior. Here, I will specifically discuss the Asian American consumers since I feel close to them in terms of emotion and culture. Most Asian culture strongly emphasize on the family, tradition and cooperation. These consumers are shopping frequently and enjoying shopping with friends. These consumers want brand names and are willing to pay for top quality, even though they react positively to bargains. Moreover, Asian Americans frequently recommend offerings to friends and family members. I’ve read a research, which indicates that Asian Americans are more than twice as likely as the average consumer to check prices and products on the internet before purchase.

To reach this diverse group, which comprised by Chinese, Pilipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese, etc, marketers often use native-language to reach this audience. Message delivered to Asian American in their language are often more effective. For example, HSBC has sponsored the Chinese language World Cup Soccer site to build the connection between its brand and target audience.

The U.S market is a great place to conduct multicultural marketing, and the advertising should be reflective of the multi-hues the U.S accommodates. I think the different ethnic groups in the U.S not only nurture the American culture, but also enrich the way marketer conduct marketing campaigns. Though marketers may have various approaches to reach their target group, the emotional marketing can help break the ethnic fences and easily generate resonance of different ethnic groups.

Chrysler Commercial in 2010 Super Bowl

Voice starts the commercial off asking viewers "What does a town that's been to hell and back know about the finer things in life?"  Then, the ad takes you on a tour of Detroit. From northbound I-75 you see manufacturing and industry. With shots of historic buildings and snow,Eminem to star this commercial, which can generate audiences’ association with the metaphor of rising again. However, audience may only get few shots of the Chrysler 200, which should be the leading character in this ad. the ad implies that it makes this city strong. Further, this ad also invites

I remember I was touched right after I saw this ad, but when I saw other ads, I think I turned my attention to other humorous ads. However, when I logged on the facebook, I found that this ad successfully creates a lot of conversations with respect to this ad. I think it is because the ad reminds people of the old glory past and has a strong emotional projection. 

I’ve never been to Detroit, and for me, Detroit is somehow like a geography noun, which I don’t have any emotional attachment with. Most information I learn about Detroit is from textbooks or TV channels, and I think I am like an outsider if this ad didn’t generate your emotional attachment.

For me, this commercial was advertising the Chrysler 200 vehicle, but the main theme of the ad was basically how great Detroit is.  The star isn't the Chrysler 200-- it's the city of Detroit. Therefore, this commercial could used as Ford or GM’s commercials, and the only thing you need to do is replace the Chrysler 200 with Ford’s Lincoln or GM’s Cadillac.

            But I really appreciate the concept of imported from Detroit, because it turns around people existing concept of luxury cars and lets views rethink that we forget how great Detroit is. The commercial reminds customers that Detroit has the ability to make the luxury cars, since after 2008 financial crisis people may only remember the large amount of government bailout.

 Anyway, the two-minute long Imported from Detroit Super Bowl ad for Chrysler seems to have done exactly what commercials are supposed to do — generate a lot of attention, and most of it is good.