who's doing your selling?

06/27/2003 03:41:00 PM
Stuffy old brand images are hard to shake, especially for a brand like Avon, which is best known for its aging fleet of lipstick-peddling 'Avon Ladies.' Consumers' experiences with these salespeople are what shape their perceptions of the brand. This is true to some extent for the retail or customer service dimension of any brand, but for Avon it's especially important.

In releasing their new teen-targeted brand extension called 'Mark,' Avon brand managers had a difficult situation: how to translate the 'Avon Lady' image and business model into this far more discerning market. Their solution was to recruit a new fleet of young, hip 'Mark representatives,' to work parties, cars, dorm rooms, football games, quads, English classes and so on. The idea is that a thirteen year old girl, anxious about whether or not she is cool, trying to seem older than she is, will look up to and listen to a confident, comfortable, stylish seventeen year old even if it is a saleswoman.
Avon's "Meet Mark" release
Forbes Article

This trend of leveraging teen social hierarchies in retail situations is not new, but it is becoming a more evolved and systematic practice. This radio piece from NPR highlights the ways some brand managers in teen retail markets are planning not only for the look and demeanor of their salespeople, but for those subtle, intangible qualities and styles that win credibility and esteem in target teen subcultures.

Here at Influx, our anthropologists often remind our clients that in any market, retail or sales interactions and transactions are complex social events. Brand managers who really confront this fact are asking themselves, 'how sophisticated is our understanding of the particular social dynamics at play when our products or services transact? And in our recruitment of salespeople, are we looking for those often subtle and intangible but far-reaching character qualities and styles that will evoke the kinds of reactions we want our target consumers to associate with our brand?'
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