Representation

 I've been struck recently  by the difficulty some brands  seem to have regarding knowing and representing their target consumer, as seen through the lens software  their comms and  product ranges.

Just so you know I'm an ex packaged foods marketer  and I leave data and facts to others, so this opinion  piece is to air some thoughts  and maybe spark  a conversation..outside my usual product 'lane'

Representation can be a difficult topic in advertising  as it is sometimes acknowledged that when you're  young  you aspire to being older , and that when you're old you don't necessarily want reminding that your  best years are in the past. Who you show in your  adverts then becomes  symbolically more important.

 Controversially for some I would also argue that its much more difficult to successfully target everyone,  and that leadership within a defined  moment,sector or demographic is potentially  both  smarter and more lucrative.

There seem to be several broad brush approaches :

1.Reflect actual consumers and behaviours, but improved .

2.Ignore actual consumers and behaviours in favour of the Brand's desired vision...

3.Blur or subvert the picture .

It is regularly said  that much of the blame for a  lack of representation lies with the advertising and marketing community who are not representative of the population at large, but never underestimate the influence of those  Titans of the Boardroom either.

When you don't know your brand ,your  audience , or are overly optimistic  about  the  strength and ability of  your established brands to reinvent themselves to a new demographic you invite trouble..

Famous examples of dissonance between brand  comms and consumer  here in the UK historically include approach 2 advertisements for 'friendly' bank managers and tax authorities .

Marketing  funeral plans for instance  is likely to be comparatively  straightforward  as regards product definition and targetting the audience ,as well as being statistically supported, if you want that kind of reassurance.ie in normal times older people tend to die before younger ones. Typically adverts for this  category will feature both the older and the  young,wrapped up in a warm glow, classic approach 1

Another approach is taken by Marks and Spencer, a fascinating UK retail  brand in its own right, and one with a split personality. Their food business has for decades now  been an astute navigator of trends and arguably the gold standard of  food private label to boot. It cleverly avoided  Representation issues  back in the 90' s by  avoiding showing any people in their advertising, and the brand is generally credited with  inventing a new genre of so called  'Food Porn  ' advertising  with hitherto unknown levels of technical wizardry to make the food  look irresistible. Approach 3 if you will. 

By contrast their clothing business has had a difficult  and lengthy series of identity crises because in some businesses if something is worth doing badly,then  its worth doing badly again and again. Historically Marks and Spencers was a byeword  for  middle of the road everyday, sensible  clothing for the middle aged at heart  with a market leading position in underwear  , office suits , cardigans and sensible fashion items..it catered for and knew its target demographic  and served them well and was reliably, highly profitable. With the advent of fast fashion  like Primark and Next ,even before the internet brands ,it just lost its way and especially in ladies fashion  it abandoned  its historic core mid market market position  and tried and failed to appeal to more  fashion conscious, often younger consumers, dissonancein brand imagery if not product range.. In the current iteration of this repositioning it has adopted a subtly different, less fashioniata approach  and is trying to reclaim a broader if ageless ground , but the adverts are still approach 2 , full of people who bear no relation to the likely actual core consumers I encounter when I visit the store for food,  ie they avoid the middle-aged and elderly. Does this lack of representation translate into a negative impact on  their sales though?

No opinion piece on marketing matters can of course avoid the case study that is the Dove  story , which has largely  been built around  the adoption of mold breaking, truthful  Representation in advertising featuring consumers of all ages and classifications. When their advertising  first broke it was both approach 1.and 3 because by showing real consumers  they effectively subverted and rewrote the rulebook on beauty product  advertising at the same time.

I'm going to end this with a couple more observations :

Firstly  I would suggest if you are like me in the camp that believes appeals to emotion are as if not more important than rational/ functionally based advertising and branding,  but  equally belive typically both are needed  then the importance of whether and who you choose to represent your brand becomes  a not insignificant matter.

 Then, finally there's Haribo confectionery advertising  featuring adults ,voiced over by young children , which totally confounds and disturbs me.

Feel free to correct my errors in thinking and matters of fact.

Find me on Twitter : @Runsforcoffee1