Social identities and Marketing
Part 1
The article addresses the importance of social identities in the light of customer’s behavior. Champniss et all. (2015) showed that the main reason for some unsuccessful campaigns is the missed social identity of the potential group of customers. A person has its own social identity, but it is a complex matter, which differs depending on the circumstances. When performing surveys the marketers and sociologist should take it into account and try to so simulate the condition, so the final evaluation would give the objective result. In any particular moment person associates himself only with the most appropriate one of many social identities which comes from the social status, nationality and so on.
The Electrolux case was an obvious example of the misleading survey. (Champniss et al., 2015, p.4) Here respondents were presented with a question not linked to the social factors. As a result the positive response on the potential new option promising rather high sales was delusive. People were assessing the potential advantages themselves, but not a potential to be useful and/or appealing for a consumer. In the time of the Great Recession such mistakes are inadmissible, as the loss ma by never recovered.
Authors showed that this concept is viable for any product and social group, as people are predisposed to have social identities and to create new ones depending on the stimulus provided
Part 2
The article helps the marketers to identify potential opportunities for a organization of a better promotion campaigns. This is especially true for the international corporations operating in countries, where socials identities can be quite different.
I think it correlates with the idea of market-oriented campaigns, and the fact that all marketers should be well acquainted with national traditions, distinctive features and characteristic properties of the mass consciousness.
Based on the information provided I thought of a potential plan for a marketing expansion or spreading the campaigns from one country to another:
Market analysis
Social identity analysis
Based on the information and potential outcomes either modification of the marketing strategy (logos, symbols or motivation) or campaign for creation of a new social identities
As it was shown, sometime the efforts to change the marketing strategy or to launch the product with a different accents would not be a real option. For example, launching of a new machinery. In such case, the creation of a new social identity would not only favoring the existing goals, but also creates the potential for the future novelties. From my point of view, this article is an answer why products from Apple are so popular. This company has created a quit new social identity and made it something appealing, like a dream. People do not always know their real need, but if gently directed they would except the new ideas and thing and promote them to others.
References
Champniss, G., H.N. Wilson and E. K. Macdonald (2015) Why Your Customers’ Social Identities Matter. Buisness Harvard Review, January-Fabruary, 1-10.
