↓
 
  • Home
  • About SSM
    • Guy Smith – Chief Strategist
    • Vision and Values at Silicon Strategies Marketing
    • Your size company
      • Start-ups – Setting a Good Foundation
      • Mid-sized Companies
      • Enterprises – Aligning Teams and Leading Marketing Initiatives
  • Services
    • Market Research
    • Marketing Strategy Development
    • Marketing Communication and Materials
    • Marketing Operations/Execution
    • Mentoring and Coaching
    • Seminars & Sessions
      • Marketing Strategy Seminars
      • Mentored, One-day Strategy Development for Startups
    • Interim Marketing Executives
  • Clients
    • Selected Silicon Strategies Clients
    • Client Case Studies
      • SuSE/Novell
      • DeviceAnywhere
      • Private Social Networks
      • VA Software
      • Foreign Exchange Translations
      • FundNET
      • Rubric
      • Telamon
  • Contact

  • Technology Marketing
    • Market Definition
    • Market Segmentation
    • Buyer Genotypes/Personae
    • Whole Product Definition
    • Positioning
    • Branding
    • Market Messages
  • White Papers

Post navigation

← Focused Reception
Cost, Effective →

Cultural Connections

Posted on 2014/10/23 by admin2014/10/21
Culture determines how to market

Culture determines how to market“Donate tonight,” said the actress at a local community theater, using a shrill and fake British accent to warm-up the audience for the evening’s production of Spamalot. “After all, it is the arts. Our culture. Just the very basis of civilization as we know it!”

As uncultured as advertising often is, it connects to culture or it fails (and if uncultured advertising works, then the culture needs an upgrade). The antiseptic dictionary definition of culture is “the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group.” It is the sum of the social fabric in which individuals wrap themselves, typically from indoctrination or attraction (the latter explaining why red-headed proto-yuppies sing gangsta rap tunes).

Culture includes things that are familiar, and thus comfortable. Advertising that attaches to specific cultural beliefs is more rapidly accepted. It is little wonder that billboards for American political candidates are almost always red, white and blue, because it attaches to almost universally shared cultural dispositions (in Berkeley, California the signs tend to be red only, because Berkeley has a different culture).

Likewise, elements of other cultures can make buyers uncomfortable because the unknown and unfamiliar generates fear, a normal survival instinct. Less than 50 years ago, having anybody but white people in television advertisements was practically unknown because white America had lingering fears about cultures attached to anything not white American. Today, white-only advertising is openly mocked because the desire to understand other cultures has taken root in our culture.

Two problems confront advertisers. First is that there is no such thing as universal cultural elements. Attempting to find one is an attempt at making everybody like you, which is guaranteed to fail. Secondly, one cultural element may be repugnant or inane to another cultural group (I suspect prom dresses are not sold into many Hell’s Angels households).

The question then devolves to:

  • What is your market?
  • What are their cultural elements?
  • Which elements are safe to associate with?

Nail those three questions and you grease your way into the buyer’s wallet.

Posted in Advertising, Communications, Marketing Tagged advertising, cultural, culture, Marketing, subcultures permalink

Post navigation

← Focused Reception
Cost, Effective →

Sidebar Area

  • Add Some Widgets!
    This theme has been designed to be used with sidebars. This message will no longer be displayed after you add at least one widget to one of the Sidebar Widget Areas using the Appearance → Widgets control panel.
    You can also change the sidebar layout for this page using theme options.
    Note: If you have added widgets, be sure you've not hidden all sidebars on the Per Page options. You could switch this page to One Column.
  • Log in
Copyright © 2001-2023 Silicon Strategies Marketing — Marketing Consulting | Silicon Valley, Asheville NC
The infamous Facebook Non-Support Saga
↑