Women Consumers, Lifestyle Trends and the Red Experience - Essay Example

Tapping into a new zeitgeist: women consumers, lifestyle trends and the Red experience Introduction Introduction of new products in the market and maintaining the customer’s awareness calls for business organizations to use the most effective marketing strategy. Turley and Milliman (2000, p. 198) observe that innovation continues to characterize marketing with and technology playing a key role in marketing. Caterall and Maclaran (2002, p.407) explains that gender is a salient factor in marketing although they observe that it is not always well conceptualized in the marketing practice. Today, marketing trends are inclined in the use of social networks and mobile marketing as explained by (Lash, 2001, p. 7). In this paper, I will base my discussion on the case study of tapping into zeitgeist of attitude and lifestyle to reach out to women consumers in the Red experience. The Red Experience EMAP Elan came to a decision of launching Red into the already crowded market of magazines targeting women in UK as explained by Stevens, Maclaran and Brown (2003, p. 36). The company based its idea on the consumer trend where they believed that there was rising sensibility in the women. According to Stevens, Maclaran and Brown (2003, p. 36), the new zeitgeist utilized by in the Red experience was founded on the belief that age is a state of mind which is flexible idea. To this end, women were seen to be maintaining youthful behaviours and ideas even when they are past thirty years. Consequently, the production team of the Red Magazine was persuaded that concentrating on the lifestyles and attitudes instead of demographics was probably going to have more appeal in the new spirit in women as described by Stevens, Maclaran and Brown (2003, p. 36). The target market was referred to as the middle youth. Moreover, Red production team realized that their target group was mostly women in established careers and with children and therefore they have high demands due to their roles. Stevens, Maclaran and Brown (2003, p. 37) explains that since this group had little time for themselves, the marketing strategy of Red was emphasizing the experience and indulgence of reading the magazine. The campaign also stressed on the value of having time for oneself and coined the slogan ‘Red Time is Me Time’ as described by (Rainey, Kelly, Campbell, Roalfe/Y&R 1999). EMAP Elan Annual Report (2000) note that Red was successful in capturing the new market with its circulation increasing by 12 % in 2001 to 174,000 copies per month. Its TV advertisement is composed of three short commercials ‘Defining Moments’, ‘Me Time’ and ‘The Strip’. Stevens, Maclaran and Brown (2003, p. 36) observe that the Defining Moment was intended to capture the attention of women while the other two pieces of advertisement brought out the fact that reading the magazine brings a pleasurable feeling. Stern (2000, p. 58) argues that the method used in the Red Magazine Campaign stressed on the experimental dimensions of reading the magazine and the gratification of self-indulgence. Use of Experimental Appeal in Marketing There is increased use of experimental appeals in marketing where the target market is invited to have a personal experience in the use of a certain product. O’Donohoe (2002, p. 103) argues that from the beginning, modern marketing relies on gender to understand and describe consumers and their trends. Kerwin (2000) asserted that the new strategy in marketing of women’s products is simplicity. In perfume market, there are so many products and understanding the attitudes and lifestyle of the target group determines ones success in capturing the market. Stevens and Maclaran (2007, 36) describe the marketing of Touch of Pink which is a new fragrance produced by Lacoste. The advertisement features a young beautiful woman with blonde hair wearing a short pink dress. Stevens and Maclaran (2007, 36) further notes that the advertisement points that the perfume is for genuine and spontaneous women with true zest for life. In the advertisement, the perfume is described as fresh, intriguing, floral and fruity fragrance. Stevens and Maclaran (2007, 36) argue that this campaign centers on femininity as both joyous and energetic. The advertisement shows the lady walking actively in the sun which demonstrates that after use of Touch of Pink, one would have the confidence in walking in the sun without the fear of sweating and in turn spoiling her joyous moment. This advertisement is using the experiment appeal to reach out to the target market. It appeals to them to use the perfume and test the perfume by walking in the sun. The campaign is based on the consumer trend of femininity and a feeling of joy which comes with comfort. Web-based marketing campaigns make use of experiment as a way of appealing on the target group. Brunner (2004, p. 37) argues that the attitude towards a particular website has a positive impact on the attitude that the viewer has towards the advertisement. In addition, the website influences the attention of the consumer, the attitude towards the brand and purchase intention. Chakraborty and Govind (2008, p.3) describe the marketing campaign used by HP company to market the personal computers. In the campaign, HP recognized there was need for more people to own personal companies. The campaign was based on the understanding that there was need for individuals to own computers rather than using computers as a group. They therefore came up with ‘The Computer is Personal Campaign as described by (Chakraborty and Govind, 2008, p.3). This campaign showed celebrities such Jay-Z using personal computers. It carried photos take using HP computers based on the fact that more users of computers use them to take photos. This marketing campaign by HP is using experimental appeals in marketing since it is inviting consumers to try using Hp products and experience the real value themselves. Conclusion Marketing is an innovative process where a particular company uses different strategies to gain a market niche. When planning a marketing campaign, it pays dividends for companies to understand the target group’s gender and lifestyle trends. In the Red experience case study, Red Magazine defied the use of demographics and instead focused on the attitude and lifestyle of women to gain a market share in the already crowded women magazine market. In the Red Campaign, Touch of Pink and Hp campaign also relied on the use of experimental appeals in advertising. In the use of experimental appeals, the company focuses on bringing out the advantages of using their product and invites its consumers to use this product and experience these benefits themselves. References Burner, C. (2000). ‘Web based commercials and Advertising Hierarchy of Effects’. Journal of Advertising Research, 35- 37. Caterall, M and Maclaran, P. (2002). Gender Perspectives in Consumer Behaviour: An Overview and Future Directions. Marketing Review, 2, 405-425. Chakraborty, B. and Govind, S. (2008). The Computer is Personal Again’ A Global Marketing Communications Campaign Case Study. ICFAI Center for Management Research (ICMR) Ref No. 508-068-1, 1-16 EMAP Elan Annual Report, 2002 accessed January, 30th, 2012 from Kerwin, A. (2000). Sex and the Modern Magazine 'Edinor:" Advertising Age. Pp 12-20 Lash, S. (2001). 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