Metal Injection

The economic principle I’m exploring is, “People generally respond to incentives in predictable ways.”

My research question to help me study the economic principle is, “Do lifestyle ads work more effective than traditional ads”

The article published in Medium titled, “What it Actually Means to Build a Lifestyle Brand” demonstrates this economic principle by arguing that creating an identity, building importance, and interaction between community members works far more effectively than traditional advertisements.

First, this article argues that creating an identity is very important for new brands as it allows consumers to exclusively purchase their good. This simply means that if you own X company you want your clients to focus part of their life around your product. This for example could be Starbucks because most of their customers drink their coffee everyday at the same time. Medium says, “Regular brands use identity and subculture as temporary means to greater ends; they’ll create shorter-term campaigns that hone in on an audience’s interests/lifestyle to achieve broader goals, such as household penetration or market share growth.”

Second, advertisements that focus on the importance of their product often times have the greatest impact on the audience. This plays an important role in advertisements because it associates a specific product with a specific end result. For example if you make energy drinks you want to tell your consumers that your drink will make them more alert and have increased productivity. This means that whenever a consumer is feeling tired they will remember that your product will make them more alert and have increased productivity. Medium says, “Take Coca Cola’s 'Taste the Feeling' campaign, for example. They clearly position their product at the center of emotional narratives, but more for the purpose of tying it to universal moments than a particular lifestyle or activity.”

Third, advertisements that cultivate interaction between consumers will have a greater impact. This basically means that if a company like Vans were to host a concert, liked Warped Tour, this would cultivate interaction between the consumers. This makes consumers associate shoes to having a good time with friends, and it is actually very impactful. Medium states, “When you think of Harley Davidson, a more distinctive community of motorcycle riders should come to mind. They’ve cemented their iconic lifestyle brand status by uniting Harley riders; the brand famously hosts meet-ups for bikers around the nation, creating brand associations with friendships, rather than just motorcycles.”

 In my next blog post I will research the question: “Does experimental marketing have a greater influence on consumers?”