“Oh that is me”, said the poor consumer!!!

Over the years, I have come to believe that anyone in the marketing/advertising fraternity tends to buy into the proposition that an advertisement makes.

Marketers get immune to marketing strategies. They tend to believe in the values or factors that the brand propagates to possess. This is because the execution of a campaign is often a replication of the brand's character, target audiences, differentiator, etc. If the brand is targeted at senior citizens, the creatives involve senior citizens, likewise for youth brands. If the brand is targeted at the middle class, the story is mostly around a typical middle class man/woman/family. If the brand wants to create a unique brand position, the communication is a pure replication of the marketer's desire. I wonder how many in the middle class choose a brand because the person in the ad seems to be of his/her financial/social status.

People aspire, and want to stand a step above. Every one wants to use a brand that makes them look like they’ve arrived. Therefore, do marketers make manipulative creatives? How about using an upper class family in a communication for a lower segment brand? Do people want to be told that they are here and not there? Do marketers risk making manipulative creatives to gain the desired reaction from the consumer???

The new Hyundai Santro campaign positions itself as the best ‘first car.’ Yes it may be true that the car is a great first car, for the economical buyer providing mileage, performance, and lower maintenance. However, with consumers getting more & more brand conscious, how many of them actually would want to look like they are still driving their first car?
Does the goal of a brand and its communications have to be complementary and have a directly proportionate solution?

(For all you non-marketers, the creative solution comes from certain research, which guides the direction to position the brand.)
The way marketers react when seeing a campaign, and the way consumers react to a campaign is quite different. Marketers tend to believe the proposition, because they know that the brand team has come to the consensus based on facts, either technical or research based. The knowledgeable consumer doesn’t try to look so deep.

Maybe it all is just a matter of convenience for the marketer-"We have the brief, we know the brand, we know the differentiator, we know the target audience, and most importantly, the research says this is the path to be tread. We need to put all of it in our campaign, because that is the simplest way to do it and the most justified way to do it”!! Why? Because its complicated? Maybe it involves a a whole new school of psychology that I dont wanna get into.