The Future in Marketing
The beauty industry has come under serious scrutiny recently in terms of how businesses go about advertising their brands, and the way that they target consumers. Modern consumers seem to be more concerned about the effects that the beauty industry is having on society and what we see as the norms. Dove’s real beauty campaign was introduced to try and change the way that consumers see the beauty industry. By claiming to use ‘real’ women in their advertising they are hoping to regain consumer trust not just in their brand, but in the beauty industry as a whole.
Dove have also created media campaigns which appear to be critical of the whole beauty industry, warning consumers of the dangers the current advertising within the industry can have on young girls.
The Dove advertising indicates to us that their consumers are changing as they are radically changing the way they promote themselves to their target market. One aspect of this change is seen in the age of their target market, we can see this change represented through the increasing use of older models throughout their advertising. As these older consumers, known as the grey market, are living longer healthier lives, they are becoming more willing and likely to want to spend money on their appearance. Dove are recognising this and are responding by targeting their brand towards this new market as well as their traditional target market
Consumer Needs
Beauty Industry
Dove [online] 2013
Tim Piper [online] 2006
Tim Piper [online] 2007
Dove campaing for Real Beauty [online]
The Grey Market
The grey market has become a huge section of the consumer market over recent years and their power as a buyer is continuing to grow. With technology becoming simpler and easier to use, the grey market are joining in with the digital revolution on a large scale, with many now owning smart phones, tablets and laptops. The grey market are going wireless! The grey market is becoming increasingly technologically active and are getting more involved in online shopping and social media such as Facebook. As people are living longer with good health, older consumers are feeling and thinking younger, and this means the older consumer is becoming more active and more interested in being targeted by advertising, whether it be in the form of television adverts or online marketing. Over 75% of UK and American wealth is owned by those over 65, and a majority of them being women. In Italy by 2026 there will be over a million people living to over 90 years of age (Patrick Dixon [online] 2008). This grey market is becoming ever larger and richer, with a huge amount of purchasing power. As a result marketers are having to consider the needs and expectations of these older consumers. The grey market are now expecting companies to target and reach out to them with their brands to show them that they value their customs and want to build a relationship or bond with them. This Coca Cola advert shows how brands a realising the power within the grey market and as a result are willing to invest money into giving them the advertising they want targeted towards them.
(Coca Cola [online] 2009)
Relationships
Modern day consumers, including myself, are expecting more from firms in terms of establishing relationships with their customers. With the explosion of social media platforms, customers are expecting businesses to become actively involved online, which allows them to communicate with individual customers about their wants and needs. Customers know that firms who use social media such as Twitter are able to reply to their customers almost instantly. Before the widespread use of technology such as this however, customer’s expectations for the time taken for a firm to respond to them was far longer than they now expect. Modern day firms must match these new expectations. Nike have set up a whole Twitter profile purposefully for customer support services, aptly named Nike Support.
Customers are expecting services such as those that Nike provide to be available to them 24/7, rather than having traditional daily opening times.
Modern customers also want the firms to put them first. They are expecting more reward and discounts for their loyalty, and they feel they deserve this as they like to think that they hold the power in the relationship as they could easily switch to a different firm if they’re not happy. Waitrose introduced the My Waitrose card as an incentive to keep customers, with the card customers can receive discounts on certain items and claim a free hot drink every day. Some companies have tried to make their customers feel valued by making them the centre of their advertising campaigns. One such example is seen in Nationwide’s ‘people’ advert, shown below.
Nationwide Building Society [online] 2014
Green Consumers
Grant (2007 p.35) includes statistical data in his book looking at the changes in consumer habits between 1999 and 2005 in terms of green issues. It shows that consumers are caring more about their environment, with 94% of people recycling in 2005 compared with 73% in 1999, and in 2005 55% avoided companies based on reputation and 61% chose products based on the company’s reputation. This information leads us to believe that consumers green expectations are increasing. Customers want companies to be ‘green’ wherever possible. This rise in green consumerism could see consumers expecting global firms to locate to where their consumers are based rather than where cheap labour is. The expectation may see a big shift in consumer habits, from purchasing globally available goods to buying from local companies that appear to be more ‘green’. Linking in with green consumerism is the rise in popularity of C2C markets, where consumers are selling their unwanted and used goods rather than disposing of them. Websites such as Ebay and Gumtree have been instrumental in facilitating these transactions. Ebay have produced advertising appealing to these consumers who want to be seen to ‘do good’ for the environment and other people. In the advert they highlight that they believe that people are good.
Ebay [online] 2007