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Conquering Consumerspace

Marketing Strategies for a Branded World

Michael R. Solomon

AMACOM, 2003

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Brands have a major role in determining what people buy. Consumers purchase goods based, in part, on an emotional reaction to brands. A brand can make people feel good, cater to their personalities or give them a sense of belonging to a group they would like to join. Brands can make people seem wealthier or more appealing. But branding has to be kept in perspective, and not everyone buys author Michael Solomon’s viewpoint that consumers’ allegiance to particular gym shoes or soft drinks helps define their roles in society. His book places branding in the middle of the commercial universe and spins off some interesting, but highly specialized, conversations about "aspirational" marketing, "retailtainment" and other developments. Citing his research and sources in sociology, advertising and media studies, Solomon offers solid material that getAbstract.com recommends as necessary background reading for branding professionals. However, readers from other fields need to be really intrigued by branding and marketing to work with the book’s tossed salad of unrelated marketing factoids, its generalizations and its focus on branding as a consumer driver, to the near exclusion of other factors. If the melee of brand competition intrigues you, read on.

Summary

Branded Reality

Today, branding determines what consumers buy, their attitudes when they buy it and, increasingly, how they see themselves or what they want to be. A generation ago, consumers were still becoming familiar with brands, but today people buy certain brands to sustain their identities rather than just to enjoy the products. Consumers buy branded products for their meaning as well as the items’ function - and, of course, this changes the way you market to them. In the traditional marketplace, marketers identified a consumer need and sold a product to meet it. In "consumerspace," buyers select brands that mean something to them.

This represents a sea change in the ways products are marketed. In a marketplace economy, products are mass-produced and aimed at specific targeted segments of a larger market. But when marketers began pitching products not just to consumers’ needs but also to their emotions, they launched a new approach to marketing. The move toward a consumer-centric market was launched by this pairing of need and product, which hinged conceptually on convincing the target audience about the product’s validity. Marketers reasoned that sales would...

About the Author

Michael R. Solomon is the author of Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having and Being, a college textbook on consumer behavior. He is director of Mind/Share, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in online consumer research. He lives in Auburn, Alabama.

Conquering Consumerspace

Marketing Strategies for a Branded World

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Branded Reality

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