The Third Class of Marketing

The third class of Marketing started with a advertisement of a "Slide Projector" in the movie Mad Men. The ads is full of nostalgia and uses a carousel to show the childhood. At the end, the presenter gives the product's emotional need, time machine, which infects all the participants. A successful marketing should be like this: meet the emotional needs rather than the basic.

As reviewing the Kotler's five levels tool, we did another example.

Red Bull:

Basic need: energy

Generic product: - coffee, tea

                              - chocolate

                              - ...

Expect product: - cheer up 

                             - boost

                             - easy to buy

                             - stay awake

                             - dance to the morning

                             - ...

Augment product: - sports

                                 - nightlife

                                 - portable

                                 - thin ( healthy)

                                 - taste sweet (taste not good which means it works)

                                 - ...

Potential product: - "I'm the best"

                                - "I'm the superstar" 

                                - can fly

                                - lasts longer

                                - strong, muscle, aggressive, charging, winner...

And what is the really meaning of the picture? Red bull is not only a drink, but a rocket! Products are not purchased for functional reasons is the Bible that all marketers should aware.

Later, we watched a commercial of the San Francisco 49ers:

Using the Kotler's five levels tool, the emotional products are:

- strong

- proud

- passion

- inspiring

- part of history

- nostalgia ( Joe)

- true self ( barbaric)

- legends

- I'm special

- paramount

- family - God

- faithful- trust in team

- ...

Using 3 levels analysis:

1. fun, family together

2. tradition, atmosphere, physically close, gods

3. member of war, history, successful, and church

So, if you do not join the game, you are an American loser, an unpatriotic.

Paul wrote an uncompleted sentence on the board:"When         goes to a game, they feel         ." As we filled different words in the first blank, we got different answer. For example, when college kids, 17-21 years old, they feel belong, sporting, powerful and athletic. Moreover, when a man, who is married and have kids, goes to a game, they want to feel young, free of family, responsibility, and nostalgia, as well as they have a bond with sons. Also, when a woman  goes to a game, they feel free from house work, enjoy the family happiness and show her better marriage, as well as she is the best mother.

After we did those practices, Paul uncovered that this is marketing segmentation, which including science and art. Marketing could have several segments, but marketers should choose the most profitable one or more. This kind of segments are always meet following requirements: affordable, enough size, purchase decision makers, geographic, most profitable and having consistent behaviour. But, Paul also mentioned that people attend to buy what they can't afford is the dark side of market.

I feel segmentation is not a easy one to deal with, so I tried to find some explanation or figure to help understanding. There are four customers characteristics segment consumer market: geographic (where?), demographic (what?), behavioural (how?), and psychographic (who?). Also, I found a figure that would help me to understand: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

To understand and really use this knowledge needs times. I think as we do more exercises and analysis our group product, we will become more skilled.