Clueless Ad Agency Strategies: “Urban Consumer” Mistakes

DIAGEO LOSES

Celebrity endorsement is quick and easy but rarely delivers when dealing with a “minority” audience. Let’s first consider the “urban consumer” which, to make the point, I’ll limit to the segment of young black and latino men that actually lead trends, rather than follow.

          • The audience is not gullible (no herd mentality within this market)

          • The audience is very aware of the difference and disparity between          their lives and that of the celebrity endorser.

The thinking that P-Diddy can convert young urban consumers into Chiroc Vodka drinkers was a naive move by Diageo and its high priced ad firm. This audience traditionally drinks cognacs like, Hennesey and Courvoisier in the clear spirit category. Their preferred choice is Gin. Snoop Dogg’s song “Gin and Juice” from 1993 and Busta Rhymes’, “Pass the Courvoisier” (2002) both came from an observation of what was already happening, rather than a call to embrace a new beverage. Vodkas are traditionally associated with other cultures and other tastes than the urban consumer.

Martinis, Cosmopolitans and other Vodka drinks are rarely consumed by this audience. Only members of the community, that have spent time around other groups that traditionally lean towards these liquors, consider Vodka as an option. These particular individuals tend to be higher net worth individuals that have been earning higher-level income, and associating with other groups and tastes for a longer period of time. They tend to watch “the other side” and do what they do in an attempt to emulate the tastes and behaviors they associate with success of the people in power. I’ve never seen anyone an “urban consumer” at a high-end bar order Chiroc. If such an individual of color was in there, he may do like the Jones’ and order Grey Goose, Belvedere, Stoli or Absolut as he may see the people around him doing. The move by Diageo to hire P-Diddy to sell a new brand of Vodka to an urban market is a misstep. They are underestimating the savvy of a very discriminating consumer. This consumer only copies when out of his element but, at his core, tends to lead, not follow.

CRISTAL WINS

The Diageo example is only one of many failed attempts. Now, I’ll get into a more successful strategy which was actually not a strategy at all. Rather, it’s an accident which led to the sky- rocketing of Cristal champagne into the hearts and minds of the urban consumer. Champagne is not a new taste to the pallet of young Black and Latino tastemakers. It has traditionally been associated with celebration which both of these groups tend to do pretty well. The process that got these urban consumers to switch over to a premium, expensive champagne had to do with a cultural shift that was happening in the communities as a whole in the nineties.

Bottle service, a fairly new concept that entered the nightlife scene in the mid to late nineties, began to create another pecking order within the night club. No longer was being inside the club enough of a status symbol, now your drink also moved you to another level within the room.  If you could afford a bottle, that meant you had money. The more bottles, the more money you had, which makes you even that much more attractive to the opposite sex. No one can tell, once inside, whether you came to the club on the subway, a bus or in your Mercedes. If you and your friends could pool together seven hundred dollars and order a couple of bottles of champagne, your “Mercedes” was in the ice bucket in the center of your table. The Cristal phenomenon spoke to the temptations of the urban consumer to spend in a way that some think is wasteful but is really just an attempt to show the world that they can.  Prior to Cristal (Cris), the drink of choice was Moet (Mo).  After 1997, if you were seen ordering a bottle of Mo out at the club, you were considered broke. This transition occurred within a two-year period where Mo was out and Cris was in. It was a fatal and final blow to Mo that they probably still haven’t recovered from.

 The owners of Cristal never targeted the urban community directly.  Their sales grew based on two things. One, how expensive the product was, and two by the fact that many rappers talked about drinking bottle after bottle in their songs and ordering it by the case in the clubs as a status symbol. The hustlers and players joined the young professionals, in this mission to distance themselves from the masses with what became a liquid status symbol. If the owners of Cristal, would have kept their mouths shut, they would still be reaping the benefit of this viral marketing which they had little to do with.  Instead, they released a few poorly planned statements which showed that they took this audience for granted. This in turn got them “blacklisted”.  You do not want your brand to be “blacklisted.” Your money flow will stop and someone else will get the share that you were receiving. One thing about the urban consumer is that he will spend money, and it’s just a matter of with whom? 

Observe and Learn the Lesson

Notice how the names of these brands are changed and in turn owned by the urban consumer.  Cristal becomes “Cris”.  Moet becomes “Mo”.  Ownership is what matters to the urban consumer, and this may come as a by-product of perpetually feeling disenfranchised, and misunderstood.

The consistent theme when targeting this market is to respect their eye and self-motivated behaviors. This market will not “kill” a product’s potential. The urban consumer doesn’t kill a product, they “dead” it. Once dead, you can not return. To some, these two words seem the same. But it’s these subtle differences that may seem like mere semantics that are noticed by those that “know.”

Viral with this market works but you have to be viral in a way that reaches this audience.  Dead “gorilla marketing” it doesn’t work.  This consumer is way to smart for that.  They created the concept and have built a force field against any feeble attempts that aren’t well thought out in a misguided attempt to target them with their own game. You still have to have a superior product which conveys a feeling of exclusivity to those that embrace it, even if it is a mass market product.

 A few quick tips:

    * Do not flood the market

    * This market likes to feel special

    * This market is status-driven in ways different from others

Whatever your “market researcher” claims, design is very important to this market but realize that they often have a very different design sensibility from that of those that are traditionally chosen to target them. Our sense of beauty is very different from that of other groups, races, and cultures, and economic status as well.

Who Knows It Feels It

Without any other alternatives, we embrace what is available, in our own way. But once we find a brand that speaks to our tastes, we jump ship and embrace it fully because it feels right.

After a certain amount of financial success, race is not a day-to-day issue. Yes. You may have to deal with an occasional reminder. But with money, you can almost buy your way out of these annoyances, and buy your way through some of the barriers that come with them. People want you around because of your influence as well as your money. Because of this, Jay-Z and P-Diddy are a bit removed from the problems as well as the dreams and aspirations of the masses because they haven’t been a part of this crowd in over a decade. They are still black, but no longer deal with the day-to-day realities that most people of color deal with.  Not all of these realities are bad. On the contrary, these realities are what help to shape the tastes and design sensibilities of these groups on the fringe and are what motivates the mixing of styles and ideas that allow them to influence trends beyond their communities and on to the greater society. Hence, they influence way beyond their groups and numbers on the way towards leading trends and behavior around the world.

One must not only be an observer, but a participant to truly understand where a particular segment of the buying public is coming from.  Of course, not everyone thinks alike but you have to look at the consumer in mathematical terms where you have a mean.  You throw out the top and the bottom in an attempt to reach the widest, broadest point, which is where your work will bring the greatest results.

We don’t dance in the phone store, as Jay-Z said in his recent NY Times article, but we don’t all wear business suits either in an attempt to be legit.  While a business suit can help you blend in, it can also hide a few extra rolls of fat around the mid-section. It’s an old trick of middle-aged business men.  In this community, we wear a suit because we look good in it rather than the fact that someone told us that wearing one is the only way to fit in. The urban community tends to have its best success when it creates what other groups try to fit into.

We’re already in, are you?

About Chi Modu

Chi Modu is founder and CEO of diverseimages™. As a renowned photojournalist, for his honed ability as a cultural observer, Chi has become a sought-after advisor to companies for whom winning in this market is a must.