Women & Responsible Advertising: A Difficult Relationship

Special K’s 'Shhhhut Down Fat Talk' campaign in the US follows in the same welcome steps as Dove’s ‘Real Beauty Sketches’. Both campaigns remind us, women, of how we unnecessarily put ourselves down on account of our looks and encourage us to quit this relentless self-criticism. These brands are leading the way in creating a new kind of feminine ideal to strive for – not the polished ‘Barbie’ look that is impossible for real women to attain, but a healthy, natural confidence that ultimately makes women happier and more attractive.  

Whilst this trend is highly commendable, it is clearly driven by a commercial market opportunity. Women who buy into these brands are tired of ads telling them they are not young, thin or beautiful enough – instead they want to identify with the real-looking self-assured women from the likes of Special K, Dove & No7 (see below). Marketing directors of these companies can deservedly pat themselves on the back - they are delivering shareholder value AND driving an ethical cultural trend. 

That advertising is critical to shaping our social and cultural views (including the role of women) has been clear for long enough. But when the commissioning CMO’s KPIs are sales figures and market share, the campaign’s objectives have to reflect that. It is wonderful when brands can successfully differentiate themselves on the grounds of meaningful values (e.g. Patagonia), yet marketing’s success is defined in commercial terms. Whilst all advertising has to be responsible, its primary role is to represent the brand that pays for its existence, rather than being the moral guiding light of cultural and social norms.*

This raises interesting questions for brands that are not specifically positioned as ‘empowering’ contemporary women. Asda’s Christmas 2012 ad caused an uproar because some felt its portrayal of the tired mum doing all the work reinforced outdated gender stereotypes. At the same time, many mums loved the ad and felt that it was a realistic representation of their roles. In fact, market research showed that in 86% of Asda’s customers’ homes women were indeed in charge of the Christmas preparations.  

It would have been ideal if Asda had found a way to engage their target audience at the same time as promoting gender equality. But is it fair to hold them accountable for not pushing this agenda further than their customers would have been comfortable with?   

We are right to recoil at the sexist ads from the 1950’s. Their objectified representation of women owes a lot to the fact that most advertising executives were men, who (in the absence of women in their midst) propagated the existing conservative attitudes towards gender roles rather than challenging them. Yet we also have to be sympathetic to these men, much as we might hate their views. After all, their livelihoods depended on selling a particular product - not on liberating women.

As a society we have done very well in recognizing the importance of responsible advertising and holding accountable those who trespass it.  However, commercial brands will always have to promote the values that can deliver the best commercial returns. It is therefore our responsibility as consumers to make sure that companies’ commercial and ethical objectives are aligned, by choosing products and services from the brands we respect. That way the marketers’ challenge will become ‘how do I do the right thing in a differentiated way’ rather than ‘do I prioritise my job or my conscience.’ 

*This excludes campaigns commissioned specifically to promote certain cultural and social values, e.g. anti-discrimination campaigns by public services

The Travel Agent is Dead: Long Live Travel… Curator?

Ask a discerning young traveller what they think about travel agents and package holidays - and prepare to be rebuffed. High street travel agencies and large buses lead by ex-pat guides have little relevance to them. Baby boomers used to rely on the likes of Thomas Cook for recommendations, assurance and contacts. Yet now there is little they can offer that cannot be done online with a little help from Tripadvisor and Lonely Planet.

Yet recently a new wave of travel services has been emerging aimed precisely at the younger holidaymaker. Consider Festicket, the one-stop shop for festival fans offering packages of flights, transport, accommodation and the festival ticket. Trips to foreign festivals are a nightmare to organize because the quantity of logistical options takes days to sieve through to get the best price. Critically, Festicket - like Expedia – searches the web to find the best deal amongst all suppliers rather than merely selling their partners’ offers.

Young holidaymakers are independent and comfortable exploring new places without any handholding, but do appreciate tips from locals who share their interests. This has spurred on new players such as the budget Couchsurfing as well as Valet and Lime&Tonic at the luxury end of the market. Many of these premium brands term themselves ‘curators,’ thus communicating their function as selectors of the best amongst the best as well as differentiating themselves from the stuffy ‘travel agent’ category.

There is clearly still a place for the ‘traditional’ agent model amongst more mature customers. But when it comes to younger travellers we are seeing a radical shift in the types of benefits that an intermediary can offer. Firstly, information ‘filtering’ or ‘curating’ is far more important than information access. But most importantly – all of these new travel service brands allow the customer to remain in control and make use of many suppliers, rather than locking them in with one brand and its associated partners.

Boutique Budget Hotel: Redefining Luxury Customer Experience

Once upon a time, luxury brands were premium and budget brands were mass-market. Yet as consumers become more demanding, brands are becoming ever more creative in meeting multiple, seemingly irreconcilable customer needs.

The launch of Bloc Hotels is in Birmingham is the latest in a series of such feats. A ‘Boutique Budget’ hotel brand, Bloc has developed a new model based on an in-depth understanding of customers’ behaviour and needs when travelling on a budget (rooms start at £30).

As most short-stay travellers do not unpack and prefer not to eat in their hotels, Bloc has chosen not to offer storage or dining facilities. The resulting savings mean that its hotels can focus on those elements that cue a premium accommodation experience for guests: for example luxury linen, powerful drench showers, state-of-the-art WiFi and HD TVs, and a superb location.

By focusing on the brand touch points that make a real difference to its customers, Bloc is able to provide a luxurious experience in spite of its failure to tick all of the customary ‘luxury hotel’ boxes (with associated price tags). This innovative challenger model has potential to shake up not only the travel industry, but also potentially any luxury product category.

Even if you can’t build your customer experience from the ground up, do you have a full understanding of what’s important to your customers and what isn’t? Focus on the elements that have a real impact on consumers’ perceptions, rather than wasting resources on those that don’t, and you can create a superior experience without an associated increase in cost.

Understanding Consumer Identity: The Dangers of Ethnicity-Based Segmentation

Last week some fascinating new research was published by WARC.com regarding the media consumption habits of African Americans, Asians/Pacific Islanders and Hispanics in the United States. The findings have serious implications for media planners, since they point to strong differences in behaviour amongst these ethnic groups.

Any research that points to consistent correlation between multiple variables is useful. Yet as an anthropologist I feel uneasy about an ethnicity-based segmentation in the 21st century – for reasons that have nothing to do with political correctness.

‘Ethnicity’ is a funny term and should not be used unquestionably. Like ‘race’ before it, it’s the kind of word that derives its power from the assumption that it is something physically engrained in us, passed down from our predecessors. But ethnicity is not inherent. Rather, it is part of our (also frustratingly fuzzy) ‘identity’ which is fluid, situational and constructed in our daily lives – in the way we dress, the food we eat, the language we speak and so on. It is through such practices that we come to identify ourselves as belonging to one group or another. 

If we start talking about how media and technology consumption affects identity we get into a whole new ball-game. There is so much you need to take into account – Facebook, online forums, Apple versus LG – the list could go on forever. What’s more – the phenomenal speed with which technology and media trends emerge and become mainstream means that the next big thing is just around the corner. For a young American of Chinese origin his iPhone and Twitter profile might well form a much greater part of his identity than his grandparents’ immigration story.

A good segmentation is typically predictive of consumer behaviour. If the present study helps media planners devise more effective campaigns, it will have fulfilled its role. My note of caution goes out more against the implicit assumption inherent in this research – that ethnicity is a concrete stable variable against which other variables can be plotted. Instead, both ‘identity’ and ‘ethnicity’ have never been as fluid and fast-changing as they are today, and media and technology consumption are central to our ever-changing concept of ‘self.’

Just as segmentations used to be based on demographic data such as age groups before we realised that needs and attitudes are often more indicative of consumer behaviour, so too ethnicity-based segmentations might fall behind with the times unless we really understand the effect that ‘ethnicity’ has on consumer ‘identity,’ and what effect that, in turn, has on behaviour.