What is your favourite brand? And why is it your favourite brand? If you have a favourite brand or a brand you have been following for a long time; chances are that lifestyle marketing got you here.
What is lifestyle marketing?
It is the marketing strategy that promotes the product or services as it possesses the ideas, aspirations, and aesthetics with which the customer identifies.
It is not just selling the product. It sells the idea with the product or services. Customers feel like they are buying the lifestyle or the idea itself by buying the product. It sells dreams with products.
Marlboro Case Study
Marlboro is a 120-year-old daughter company of Phillip Morris.
It has survived two world wars. Malboro occupies a 14% share of the global cigarette market in 2021. The company comes second to the China National Tobacco Corporation.
In 1994, Marlboro revenues suddenly declined. And not only Marlboro but all the cigarette companies faced a sudden decline in revenue, as the government of the USA declared tobacco to be carcinogenic.
But Malboro, which had only a 1% market share, became the world’s 4th biggest cigarette company by 1996.
How did this happen?
Marlboro launched an ad campaign named ‘Marlboro Man’.
Rather than denying and disapproving the government’s declaration; Marlboro approached a new marketing strategy. That strategy is the lifestyle marketing strategy.
In their ads, they showed how an ideal man should be. They hardly showed the cigarette on screen, but they showed how a masculine man is who also likes cigarettes. He stood as an icon.
They navigated customers’ focus from cigarettes to the Malboro Man who is strong and affectionate and has every quality that a man should have. Malboro Man stood as the epitome of masculinity for men of the late 1900s.
How does it work?
Customer values affect their buying behaviour. A person chooses the brand which shares their values and dreams. To implement an effective strategy, brands need to understand customers’ values and how these values help them choose a product.
When Marlboro Man came on television ads, it elevated men’s expectations. All the men wanted to become like him and live his life. Buying the cigarette gave customers a sense of getting closer to the goal of becoming like Marlboro Man.
Buying the product affirms a customer’s feelings. It is the affirmation they are buying. This affirmation makes customers loyal to the brand.
Wrap up
Ads work by making ideas popular. Good research and effective execution of the data will help your brand stay in the game for a much longer period. A good product is good, but a product with some value is the best.