Random Thoughts

Anarchy causes confusion

Posted at February 1, 2012 // Random Thoughts

Now, appealing to the opposite gender seems to be the new trend this year. Axe announced Anarchy for both men and women.

As a marketer, I’m confused, and I don’t think I’m the only one. Axe built its brand on a borderline racy message targeted specifically to male. That message is one that’s hard to translate to attract female. So, how can you have a consistent brand message?

Looking at Axe’s commercial for Anarchy, one can see that Anarchy is still about this crazy sexual attraction. Men attract Women. Women attract Men. Thus, Anarchy.

But, I wonder what’s the strategy behind this message. Similar tactic have been deployed before by other brands. Victoria’s Secret has Very Sexy for the ladies and Very Sexy for Him for the men. Victoria’s Secret is no doubt a female brand that’s all about sexy. How does this brand attract men? Well, I would argue that it wasn’t trying to get men to start buying fragrance at VS. It’s attracted female shoppers to buy for her men. The target never changed.

There are even occasion where the target may possibly have changed. Dove Men+Care is a good example of such. True, there is a good chance that the girlfriend or wife does the shopping and is picking this up for the man in her life. There is also a chance that men are actually picking it up for themselves. But Dove has a clear message that could cut across gender. Men I understand also have dry skin. If there is a shower gel that works to fix this problem without going all girly and putting on lotions and other skin products, it’s not a bad solution for men. Therefore, Dove can stay true to its brand – moisturization.

But I don’t see that being the case for Axe. First of all, I think they are not targeting the same shoppers. I don’t think it’s ever a good idea for a man to buy his significant other personal care products. “Are you saying I stink?” would be the inevitable question that would land the man in the dog house. So, is Axe trying to attract female shoppers? If so, is this message of sex, sex, sex appropriate to women? As a women myself, my personal opinion is not. Men and women view sex and attraction differently. Some may argue that sex is the end-goal for men, and attracting the girl is how they achieve that goal. Some may argue that sex however is not the end-goal for women. Attracting the man is to attract her prince who would love her forever (yeah, I read all those happily ever after stories as a kid).

Try as they may, these two point of views cannot be succinctly communicated in the same 30-second commercial. Good attempt though, there is a love song playing in the background… yeah…

And let’s look at their campaign. It’s a graphics novel. Do women read graphics novels? Oh, yeah, we must be reading it because of the bombshell babes we aspire to be…

For the purpose of research, I thought I’d at least give the product a try before saying it wouldn’t be successful. After all, I give a lot of credit for having a good product. A good product can survive without good marketing. Good marketing cannot save a bad product. But alas, I couldn’t find any in my local drug stores (and I checked several). I did find the Axe Anarchy display, but they only had the male products. The female product was a trial size of sort attached to a male product. As a single gal, I didn’t see the point of buying the male product to try the female one. Also, looking at the product bundle, Axe Anarchy has a male body spray, a male shampoo/conditioner, a male body wash, and a lonely female body spray. As a woman, I find it hard to feel like this is a product that’s designed for me.

Yeah, I’m confused. Are you?

Let’s get the discussion started. Here are some tweetable bits:

Axe launches female product. Love it or hate it? http://bit.ly/xjIzeG @jeannie_chan

Axe targeting female shoppers. Make sense? http://bit.ly/xjIzeG @jeannie_chan

Let’s be Friends

Posted at January 30, 2012 // Random Thoughts

Many brands start with talking to a specific group of people. Soon they find that they have outgrown the potential of that group. To continue to fuel growth, they need to start talking to a different group of people. Hmm… how does that work?

People are separated into groups in different ways. By location. By age. Or by gender. It’s very common for a brand to talk to a specific gender. After all, it is one of the easiest way to target or to differentiate. People move. People age. But even in this day and age, few people change genders. So, it’s pretty easy for a brand to expand across locations. To age with their consumers. But, it’s a whole different ball game when a brand wants to talk to the other gender.

That seems to be the hot idea of the new year.

In the new year, Lego launched Friends collection, targeting girls.

The new Friends collection is the result of years of research by Lego on how girls play. The toys are not just different because it’s pink. It’s also different in the sense that it’s not just focused on building, but it’s also focused on playing, storytelling, play pretending. The girl figure is also a departure from the known and loved Lego figure of the past. The figure is more curvy and less blocky. The head also has a hole that allows for accessories such as bows to be added on top of the hair. The fact that there is a bow is already a departure of the typical Lego experience. The old, boys targeted Lego, focused on building. Therefore, Lego would basically tell you EXACTLY how the finished product should look. The finish product included that sword in that figure’s hand. In Friends, girls play as they build. To add a bow, to not add a bow, that depends on the story the girls want to tell with their toys. Lego couldn’t dictate that. These are the subtle, yet important, elements that could potentially make Friends a great success for Lego. This is how Lego does dollhouses.

Many have their doubts, as often would happen whenever a brand deviate from the tried and trued. But in this case, I would like to think that Lego will succeed. Because while the toys are targeted to an entirely different audience, the target consumer hasn’t change for Lego. Lego is still targeting PARENTS. Lego is offering good wholesome toys for parents to give to their kids. So, they are staying true to their product promise. While I was wandering the Lego store the other day, I saw quite a few parents picking up the Friends collection. If Lego stays dedicated in developing toys that allows girls be girls and boys be boys, Lego could very well make products that will have parents pick up a set for each of their kids!

Let’s get the discussion started. Here are some tweetable bits:

Lego for girls. I think that’s cute. Do you? http://bit.ly/xePs7e @jeannie_chan

Lego is not just for boys anymore. Neat idea! http://bit.ly/xePs7e @jeannie_chan

Sea of the Same

Posted at January 8, 2012 // Random Thoughts

So, one way to reach new audience is to launch new products to attract this new audience. But there are countless problems with line extensions. First of all, how uniquely different is this offering from the existing offering? Is it truly attracting a new audience, or are you just asking your existing consumers choose? For example, there are 62 different Oreo products, according to company website. Does each one of these 62 product serve a specific purpose to attract a specific set of consumers…?

Worst yet, if the choices are not vastly different, you may be asking consumers to choose base on value. For example, if your “new and improved” formula is not truly differentiating to your consumers, they may pick the cheaper “original” version. In another scenario, if all SKUs look the same anyway, consumers may just pick up whatever is on promotion. This trains consumers to shop on deals, which reset the price your brand is able to command.

So, the question becomes how to provide real choice to consumers?