Stereotypes – An Eternal Behavioral Lever
– Prof. Ramesh Kumar S
Marketing Area, IIM Bangalore
Stereotype is a classical approach to brands as brand imagery is vital to brand associations. Brands may have to create, nurture and modify them as the environment changes. The concept of stereotype enables the mind to transcend these kinds of thoughts when most consumers buy the brand.
Titan Raga was launched in 1992 as an exclusive watch for Indian womenand was associated with Indianess, sensuality, beauty and femininity. After three decades, the brand symbolizes women’s empowerment and a strong sense of gender equality as reflected in its campaigns over the years.
Bru, the instant coffee was launched as a close substitute to the traditional South Indian filter coffee during the seventies and after five decades the brand is strongly associated with urban, progressive, young couples, while hinting at taste.
The world of stereotypes
What are stereotypes? Are they relevant to today’s digital context? How can they address competitive pressure in an evolving ecosystem of lifestyles?
Stereotypes in simple words are the pictures of sensory inputs (stimuli) that readily come to our mind. There are a variety of reasons on how stereotypes are formed in a specific culture but the essential point to be noted is that they are inherent to our mental conditioning and we are able to differentiate between an apple and an orange (to that extent it may be biased images as per the definition in the literature on the subject ), only because the mechanism associated with stereotypes is at work ! There are a variety of ways in which the concept can be applied to branding. Country of origin effects, for instance, are a stereotype. South Indian filter coffee, Mysore sandalwood, French wine and Italian pasta are examples. Barilla over time is associated with world leadership in the category (barilla.com). How does the stereotype work? Does Barilla use the best ingredients? Does it have a consistent taste ?
The concept of stereotype enables the mind to transcend these kinds of thoughts when most consumers buy the brand. “Italy as the country of origin is known for pasta and Barialla is the best brand in Italy” is likely to be the thought blocks that arise spontaneously when the consumer sees the brand.
Stereotypes and Evolving lifestyles
During the seventies, the Swiss watch industry experienced the quartz crisis from the Japanese watchmakers (Seiko Astron was the first commercially available quartz watch launched in 1969). The Swiss watches adored for their aesthetic design and nuanced craftsmanship radically lost their appeal and Swiss watchmakers experienced a sharp decline in exports. Nicholas Hayak, the founder of Swatch (the brand name combines Second and Watch) created a watch that combined technology, designs and fashion in line with changing lifestyles, at affordable prices- he had created a new stereotype of a watch using quartz technology instead of perceiving it as a threat. After four decades, the world over watches, are based on the continuum that is a fusion of designs and technology.
Stereotypes in the Digital Context
Closer home, in a conservative social milieu that is fast changing, Bumble the dating app, has created a stereotype of evolved women associated with the brand name. The dating app has introduced its“make the first move” feature (Opening moves), based on its research on the experiences of users. It has repositioned online dating as being exhausting and had launched a global campaign on the theme. The digital ecosystem is not averse to classical concepts being used in branding provided they are helpful to address the context.
Uniqueness, timing and consistency in a dynamic environment.
Timeline -mid -eighties ——————after two decades
Ms brand of cigarettes was launched in India during the mid-eighties (ads were not banned during this era) and it was targeting a segment of women who had evolved (on the lines of Virginia Slim’s “You have come a long way baby”). The copy of the ad did not talk of glamour or permissiveness; it was more about positioning the offering to professionals and there was a celebrity used too. It was Deepti Naval not known for glamorous roles in films.
Priyanka Chopra figured in the campaign “Why should boys have all the fun?” associated with Hero Honda Pleasure bike launched to the women’s segment whose psychological goals (and perhaps realistic goals too) to be empowered. The campaign brilliantly connected the cultural tradition and evolving idea of women’s empowerment by incorporating the “visiting the prospective bride” ritual. The protagonist in the ad (the celebrity) funnily but stingingly snubs the loose-tongued prospective bridegroom while using the brand.
Both Ms cigarettes and Hero Honda Pleasure created a similar mould of stereotypes. Cigarettes were strongly associated with men. After four decades, it is still not commonplace to find women smoking in public except amongst some cross sections of the society. The point to be noted is the strength of the cultural value and timing in a given context(not the logic of what is right and wrong as associated with a value) needs to be judged when stereotypes are created in culturally sensitive product categories. Over time value shift happens and such stereotypes get accepted at a social level.
In the case of Pleasure, in a durable product category, the brand served as a symbol of women’s empowerment and the idea of gender equality transcends the social filters of conservatism. Timing and context are important in a given category, while stereotypes are being created.
Halo effect aspect of Stereotype
How many of us can relate to Lux, the soap brand without its celebrity associations? A successful brand over a period of time develops its halo effect, which essentially means that consumers will have an overallfavorable view of a brand (object) based on the evaluation of one attribute of the brand (like physical attractiveness in a person being extended to his / her intelligence, good nature, etc.,). For over nine decades, Lux has been associated with film celebrities. It is an aspirational brand that millions of consumers use based predominantly on its association with the reigning celebrity at a point in time and celebrities are associated with beauty.
Stereotype is a classical approach to brands as brand imagery is vital to brand associations. Brands may have to create, nurture and modify them as the environment changes.
Stereotypes will continue to be in vogue until the likes of a mind reader is invented (a university in the US is actively at work on a mind reader!).
Source: The Economic Times