Free Essay

Marketing Strategies and Subcultures

In: Business and Management

Submitted By nhunique
Words 959
Pages 4
Running head: MARKETING STRATEGIES AND SUBCULTURES

Marketing Strategies and Subcultures:
Flavored Cigarettes

Abstract Most recently, TRIAAD Research Group developed marketing strategies for Exotic Smokes Cigarettes. These strategies were identified to attract 18-to-25-year-old customers to the flavored cigarette market. This young adult market is lucrative however focusing on specific subcultures within the market provides additional opportunities. The African American subculture, the Hispanic subculture and the Asian subculture are emerging multicultural markets with cultural and cross-cultural differences that must be explored by marketers.

The United States is more ethnically diverse than ever before. The emerging multicultural markets offer opportunities for marketers to determine what marketing strategies are most effective to market flavored cigarettes within the African American subculture, the Latino subculture and the Asian subculture. After determining the marketing strategies to be used, the environmental factors, cultural differences, and cross-cultural differences must be identified for each subculture. The goal is to understand how consumers’ cultural identities relate to purchasing choices.
Subcultures
African American Subculture The African American market is not a monolithic group. Marketers must be aware of the diversity within the African American subculture that includes African-Argentinian, African-Cuban, African-Ecuadorian, African-Latino American, African-Mexican, African-Trinidadian, Black Canadian, African-Native American and the list goes on. Until marketers recognize that the African American subculture is as diverse as the world languages it will be difficult to target the market. Just as the subcultures vary so do interests, religions, occupations, and levels of education, family structure and socio-economic status. Attempting to target descendants of the African Diaspora with one formula is a mistake that marketers continue to make. Understanding the subcultures of the African American community is complex. For example, hip-hop culture is not the sole representative of young adult culture in the African American community. It is a subculture. Having said this, I recommend marketing campaigns that are classy and non-stereotypical. African-American subcultures must see positive representations of themselves in advertisement and promotions. There are several African American entertainers and athletes who smoke cigarettes. They can be spokespeople for flavored cigarettes and their endorsements will present the image of success and status. Marketers must move away from creating campaigns that represent corporate fantasy of “black ghetto mentality – no more advertisements of young thugs, drinking forties and smoking.” The advertisements should be as diverse as the African American community.
Latino Subculture Hispanics represent the largest and fastest growing ethnic subculture in the United States. It is currently slightly larger than the African American segment but the gap is expected to grow substantially by 2020. While Hispanics have a variety of national backgrounds (Mexico = 66 percent, Puerto Rico = 9 percent, Cuba = 4 percent), the Spanish language, a common religion (Roman Catholic), and national Spanish-language media and entertainment figures have created a somewhat homogeneous Hispanic subculture. (http://www.csustan.edu/market/williams/chapter_summaries.htm) There has been a lot of debate surrounding immigration, specifically as it relates to the Latino population. Often ridiculed and blamed for some of American’s problems, such as under employment for American born citizens and over population, marketers must be conscious of not offending this subgroup. The goal is to use American culture without negating Latin culture. Marketing strategies for this group must embrace Latin culture, celebrities and beliefs.

Asian Subculture The Asian subculture includes Chinese American, Filipino American, Asian Indian American, Japanese American, Korean American, and Vietnamese American. According to Hawkins, Best and Coney (2004) “Subculture is “a segment of a larger culture whose members share distinguishing values and patterns of behavior” (p. 152). Subcultures are usually further classified based on ethnicity, religion, geographic region, and generation while ethnic group is the most portrayed. “Asian-American subculture is the group that is the most diverse of all of the major ethnic subcultures. It consists of more than 29 countries, each with unique sets of values and traditions (Hoyer & MacInnis, p. 112). Urban hip-hop culture is popular among teens of all races. The way to reach this subculture is to incorporate their love of everything that is cool about American culture. Young Asian teens have different values and interests from their parents and with entertainment being an international genre, Exotic would be successful in this market by incorporating Asian interpretation of hip hop culture and other forms of popular culture and its music into niche advertisements. Using advertising agencies that specialize in Asian-American consumers will be the best way to attract such a diverse subculture.
Marketing Strategies Associating images or themes to appeal to the subcultures is not a new concept for the tobacco industry. In the past the tobacco industry has targeted specific subgroups through strategic campaigns. Identifying marketing strategies to segment the subcultures will result in creating flavored tobacco products that resonate with each group. Additional marketing strategies include placing advertisement in publications that target the subgroups, sponsoring events that target and support the subgroups, and using social and global marketing via the Internet.
Recommendations
Every subgroup wants to feel that they are being respected and their purchasing power is recognized and not taken for granted. The African American, Latin and Asian subgroups have often been neglected by marketers with the use of harmful stereotypes. The main things that marketers should focus on for all three groups is creating campaigns that embrace diversity and show respect for each subgroups values, desires and needs. If marketers target each group by looking at their humanity first, they will steer clear of damaging images.

References
Hawkins, D.I., Best, R., & Coney, K. (2004). Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Company.
Hoyer, W.D. & MacInnis, D. (2000). Consumer Behavior (2nd ed.). Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Marketing Strategies and Subcultures

...Marketing Strategies and Subculture O’Terral Maze MKT/554 October 28, 203 Professor Sandra Payne Marketing Strategies and Subculture Using promotional strategies to achieve successful product positioning is necessary to reach the appropriate market segment. According to Peter & Olson (2008) ” market segmentation as the process of dividing a market into groups of similar consumers and selecting the most appropriate group(s) and individuals for the firm to serve” (p. 369). TRIAAD Research Group has been tasked with marketing flavored cigarettes to European and other international markets for the Exotic Smokes Cigarette Company. To build a consistent brand message across all markets, TRIAAD will use a standardized marketing approach. TRIAAD will have to use different market strategies to market flavored cigarettes within the different subcultures. Subcultures are “cultural subgroups differentiated by status, ethnic background, residence, religion or other factors that functionally unify the group and act collectively on each member” (“The Free Dictionary”, 2013). This paper will provide the market strategies used to market flavored cigarettes to the subcultures of African American, Hispanic, and Asian. African American The marketing strategies that would be used to market flavored cigarettes within the African American should first start with the brand name. The brand name should be printed in languages like Gullah and Creole. Further the pricing of the...

Words: 865 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Doc1

...paper on marketing strategies and subcultures. In this week, you research subcultures to determine what marketing strategies you would use to market flavored cigarettes to the target market group. Address the following in your paper: What marketing strategies would be used to market flavored cigarettes within the following subcultures: African American, Hispanic, and Asian? What environmental factors need to be considered when marketing within each subculture? What are the cultural and cross-cultural differences that influence the marketing strategies selected for each subculture? Using your research, justify the reasons for your marketing selection strategies as recommended for each subculture. Ethnic subculture is a tightly knit group of consumers who are held together by common cultural or genetic ties, and is identified both by its members and by others as being a distinguishable category. The group members tend to be tightly knit, and they are likely to imply meanings that go beyond the spoken word. De-ethnicization of which refers to a process where a product like flavored cigarettes that are possibly formerly associated with a specific ethnic group is detached from its roots and marketed to other ethnic subcultures. These are all important factors for TRIADD Research Group to keep in mind when determining marketing strategies to specific ethnic subcultures. One goal that the TRIAAD Research Group has for Exotic Smokes Cigarette Company in its marketing strategy is for...

Words: 562 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Tapping the Ethnic Housing Market

...agents across ethnic subcultures. Lenders and real-estate agents face different opportunities and challenges among the African American and Hispanics in regards to the housing market. African Americans make up one of the major ethnic subcultures, representing 13 percent of the American population, where on average, are younger than the white population, have less education, and lower household incomes. “One-third of black households earn $50,000 or more and nearly 10 percent earn $100,000 or more” (Hawkins). African Americans are segmented as market leaders or market followers. Within those are generational differences which pose challenges when it comes to marketing because they don’t follow the stereotypical images that they have been subjected to. Many are “driving growth in income and purchase power through education and professional achievement. African Americans represent $799 billion in buying power, which is expected to grow by some 34 percent through 2011” (Hawkins). This fact gives lenders and real estate agents opportunity to implement specific marketing tactics. Internet usage among African Americans is on the rise, allowing marketers to leverage online-based advertising for example. Hispanics represent another major ethnic subculture and have diverse nationalities including people of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South/Central America or any other Spanish ethnicity. “The Hispanic market is now the largest and fastest-growing ethnic subculture in the United States”...

Words: 1366 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Tapping the Ethnic Housing Market

...Case Study: Tapping the Ethnic Housing Market MKT 87505 – Consumer Behavior Theory & Analysis California Southern University Case Study: Tapping the Ethnic Housing Market “A subculture is a segment of a larger culture whose members share distinguishing values and patterns of behavior,” (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010, page 156). Subcultures are frequently encountered in America due to the ‘melting pot’ nature, continual immigration into the United States, and various religious and ethnic viewpoints experienced in modern day society. A collision of all these subcultures in America has led to difficult marketing approaches to address both the core values and norms of the American culture and unique market behaviors, values, and norms that may be specific to other subcultures. In the case study, “Tapping the Ethnic Housing Market,” Fannie Mae evaluated ethnic groups to determine the different perceptions associated with the home-buying process (e.g. reason to purchase a home, knowledge about the overall purchasing process, and confidence in the process). The case study will discuss the opportunities and challenges facing housing lenders and real estate agents today based in the perceptions of each ethnic group. Analysis “Ethnic subcultures are those whose members’ unique shared behaviors are based on a common racial, language, or national background,” (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010, page 158). The Fannie Mae case study analyzes the different perceptions of the home-buying...

Words: 1938 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Malaysia Cultural Compatabilities

...period between the years 2011-2015. GDP is predicted to increase in the future years and investments in the country will be the main factor of this economic growth (Economic Forecast, 2011). With a population of 28.3 million and an expected population growth rate of 1.7%, this country provides an excellent opportunity for exporters looking to invest in another country by way of goods and services (Profile, 2011). In order for exports in Malaysia to be successful however, one must understand the values and subcultures Malays possess in order to market to them appropriately. This report will focus on the influences of these concepts on the behaviour of Malaysian consumers in comparison to Australian consumers. This report will also highlight the importance of understanding certain cultural differences and their implications for marketers if Australia is to export goods and services to Malaysia. Religious Subcultures The concept of subcultures, more specifically religious subcultures, is an important aspect of consumer behaviour to consider. Strongly held religious beliefs and customs can exert a significant influence upon the values people hold. These values may include choosing to adopt a simple and humble existence devoid of materialism or choosing to lead a lifestyle that balances simplicity and materialism. The Population and Housing census of 2010 revealed that in Malaysia, 61.3% of the population is practising Islam, 19.8% Buddhism, 9.2% Christianity, 6.3% Hinduism and 1...

Words: 2775 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Mkt 506 Assignment 2

...Kevin Tullis Marketing 506 11/14/14 Segmented Beauty Products VS Luxury Fashion Line Introduction The potential of product sales is highly reliant upon the understanding of consumer behavior. Because the actions, feelings and outlooks of consumers play such an essential component to product sales, it becomes imperative that the desired message of any product’s marketing strategy is communicated with the most effective approach, catering to the thoughts, needs and interests of the targeted consumer group. This assignment will analyze the advertisement of a new line of segmented beauty products and compare it to the advertisement of a highly recognized luxury fashion brand. Upon identifying the overall intent of the advertisements, the targeted consumer group will be identified, appropriate communications channels will be selected and potential risk factors will be addressed. Comparison of Message & Customer Groups In Chapter 4, there is an advertisement introducing a new line of lotion and cosmetic products. Though beauty products can easily be appealing to diversified groups of women, the products being introduced in Exhibit 4-7 have a distinct approach in that they have embraced specific sub-cultures and developed a product that caters to their particular desires. There are several subcultures throughout the United States with African-Americans (blacks), Hispanics, and various Asian groups being the largest of those subcultures. These racial and ethnic subcultures are important...

Words: 1344 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Sales Relationship

...Professor Church March 18, 2012 Data Memo MJB MARKETING INC. MEMO To: Kudler Fine Foods Management Team From: Robin Horton Date: 03/18/2012 Re: The Importance of Demographic/Psychographic Information within the Marketing Strategy Over the next few weeks the marketing executive of MJB Marketing Incorporation will be assisting Kudler Fine Foods in the process of evaluating the opportune times to implement psychographic, demographic, behavioral, and geographic segmentation into their marketing assessments. It is imperative that Kudler Fine Foods realizes the magnitude of demographic and psychographic data and the pertinent information these data’s convey about their current and possible future consumers. MJB Marketing Corporation will devise a positioning strategy for Kudler Fine Foods while contemplating the possible arrays of segmentation to assess the various competitors within the market. During all phases of the project MJB Marketing Incorporation will provide clear concise reasoning’s for the recommendations. Kudler Fine Foods must estimate the demographic characteristics such as age, occupation, gender, income, education, and other like values to properly proceed to expanding their stores. In order to create the best location and store attributes it will be necessary to pinpoint geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral segmentation. These variables must be accounted for to create the ideal marketing mix. Kudler will need to determine the answers...

Words: 1425 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Consumer Buying Behavior

...industries in the automobile sector of global market. Being the leader in product and process technologies in the manufacturing sector, it has been recognized as one of the drivers of economic growth. During the last few decades, well¬-directed efforts have been made to provide a new look to the automobile policy for realizing the sector's full potential for the economy. The liberalization policies have led to continuous increase in competition which has ultimately resulted in modernization in line with the global standards as well as in substantial cut in prices. Aggressive marketing by the auto finance companies have also played a significant role in boosting automobile demand, especially from the population in the middle income group. Presently many international brands like Honda, Suzuki, etc. are competing with Indian brands such as Bajaj, Enfield etc. to capture Indian markets. These aggressive marketing strategies have resulted in making the consumer the major key for success in the industry. Each product offering is now designed to meet and exceed the expectations of the consumer. But understanding consumer behavior and knowing consumers is never simple. And it is more difficult that to understand what a consumer perceives about the product. Customers may say one thing but do another. They may not being touch with their deeper motivations. They may respond to influences that change their minds at the last moment. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF STUDY Market The term market may...

Words: 2329 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Marketing

...Implementation and Standardization Strategies Success in today’s business world implies that all aspects of planning be utilized to the fullest. This includes the analysis segmentation and targeting of a potential market to facilitate sales whether retail, local, or global. When these protocol are combined this results in implementation and standardization strategies. Current research also show that, “targeting implementation also implies developing media and message strategies to reach each selected segment”(Johansson, 2009). Team A will construct a document that reviews the implementation strategy for their products which includes the protocol to be used in the global standardization of the merchandise. Factors influencing local and foreign buyer behavior There are many factors that could influence the local and foreign buyer behavior but in this paper, we will focus on four major aspects of influencing. The four key components that we will elaborate on are Cultural, Social, Personal, and Psychological factors. These four key components can be interchanged on the local and foreign buyers market. Understand these particular factors will not only be a good basis for a successful product launch but it can also help bridge the gap within global affairs and communication. Cultural factors involve many situations depending on the country of orgin, or if there is a specific need for the product within that country. According to Perrau, Culture is essential when it comes...

Words: 2556 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Gm522 Marketing Plan

...(Note to USER: please rename company if you use this; ALSO NOTE: instructor had us leave in his quideline questions; those need to be edited out.) Cosmic Cosmetics Marketing Plan Cosmic Cosmetics: Reaching for The Stars Analyses and forecast of the first year of sales for an independent cosmetics company aimed toward a collectible cosmetics niche market, and focusing on an astrology theme. | 1.0 Executive Summary ~ The Executive Summary appears at the beginning of the paper, but is written last. This introductory section is the hook to grab the reader's interest. This section should summarize your plan with enough information to convince the reader to keep reading. If you were showing this plan to an investor, this section may be the key to your success. …excellent, to the point summary…should have year 1 sales in here. People want to be beautiful on the inside and the outside. The quest for outer beauty has driven the cosmetics into a multi-billion dollar industry, and the number of product and manufacturers in this competitive field are numerous. What all the existing cosmetics companies lack is the ability to make consumers feel beautiful on the inside, too. Cosmic Cosmetics is a new line of color makeup products with a goal: to make consumers feel special and unique on the inside while they make themselves feel beautiful and unique on the outside through color and glitter. Since Astrology is the art of defining people’s unique personality traits...

Words: 4316 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

Mkt 435 Week 1 Dq's

...individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society.” Hawkins, D., Mothersbaugh, D., Best, R. (2007). Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy, 10th Edition [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. The McGraw−Hill Companies. Retrieved January 24, 2010, from University of Phoenix, MKG485 – Consumer Behavior Course Web site. Question: What considerations do you feel a marketing manager in today’s world should make in terms of consumer behavior? In terms of your current or past employer what processes did consumers go through to become your client? What was the impact of this process on your client and or society? ANSWER: According to Hawkins, Mothersbaugh & Best (2007), “At its current state of development, consumer behavior theory provides the manager with the proper questions to ask. Given the importance of the specific situation or product category, it will often be necessary to conduct research to find the relevant answers to these questions.” (p. 7). In terms of consumer behavior, Marketing managers in today’s world should know the following about their customers: * What they think about the product of the company and the product of competitors. * What they think of possible improvements in the company’s product. * How they use the company’s products. * The attitude of the customers...

Words: 1083 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Lgbt in the Market

...Within the thousands of subcultures we obtain here in the United States, today I will be analyzing the gay community. With 41% of Americans promoting gay marriage and an increase of 1% support annually, our American society is changing at an astronomical pace. Before the 1980’s, practically nobody supported homosexuals or their beliefs. Today, it’s mainstream; and through marketing, we’re going to find out why. Members, participants, and supporters of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) movement are influencing every single one of us whether we realize it or not. According to a Williams Institute review conducted in April of 2011, approximately 4% of Americans identify themselves as belonging to the LGBT community. The number of same-sex couples grew by more than 30 percent from 2000 to 2005 (from nearly 600,000 couples to 777,000). There are over 10 million declared gay individuals in the United States with California having the largest population, and Washington D.C. having the highest percentage among population. The homosexual community enjoy nightly outings, parades, and most similar events heterosexuals do. The most globally recognized and perceived symbol of the LGBT community is the rainbow flag. The flag represents sexuality, life, healing, the sun, nature, art, harmony, and spirit. Another main symbol LGBT has derived their name from is the Lambda; which is a Greek letter that represents unity under oppression. Many other symbols such as labrys, the purple...

Words: 886 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

A Study on Consumer Behaviour Toward Dr. Martens

...core values11 5. Conclusion15 6.Bibliography16 1. Introduction In fact, for most British people, Dr. Martens need no introduction since the brand has already become a British icon. Dr. Martens is known as a British footwear brand; however, they also make other ranges of products like clothes, bags and shoes protection. The air-cushion sole and yellow stitching is famous features of Dr. Martens shoes. (Employment Wikipedia, 2012) For so many years, Dr. Martens has linked with youth subculture, Brit-pop and rock music. Thus, Dr. Martens is no longer a fashion brand. It has become an essential element in the different lifestyle. This report will divide into two main parts. First is the discussion about the subculture involved with Dr. Martens in UK and China and compare the marketing activities in those two countries. Second part will tend to find out the motivation and core value of UK customers toward Dr. Martens, then tries to in depth to understand its influence on the marketing activities of Dr. Martens. In order to narrow the scope of this report, the analyze of the first part will focus on China market, and the second part will focus on UK market Origin of Dr. Martens (Streething, 2012) 2. History of Dr. Martens The origin of Dr. Martens can trace back to 1945 during The World War II, when a German army doctor Klaus Märtens injured his ankle, and he could not wear his army boot because it was terribly uncomfortable. In order to recovered from injury, he...

Words: 3702 - Pages: 15

Premium Essay

International Marketing

...International marketing Introduction to Global Marketing (polycopié 1) fidéliser les clients : to build customer loyalty un ensemble de : a set of Définition d'un marché : A market is a set of actual and potential customers. Actual customer is the customer that the company already have. One product is design for one market. One product is design for a set of customers. Market are customers. The marketing process : 1 – Analysis => SWOT analysis - company strenghs & weaknesses (internal analysis) - market opportunities & threats (external analysis) 2 – Planification => setting goals => designing strategies 3 – Implementation => implementing Marketing mix strategies 4 Ps : Product, price, place, promotion 4 – Control => making sure strategies have delivered expected results Global marketing Global marketing is the coordination of marketing activities across various countries that satisfy customers needs. To go global : selling products on a worldwide basis. A) Why do firms go global ? Brand image : a set of mental representations that customers have about the brand. Survival and growth - limited growth in domestic markets eg (équivalent de exemple : exempli gracia en latin) : Nestlé - High growth potential in emerging markets emerging markets : have a fast growth eg China's growth rate around 8 %, BRICS Gaining increased competitiveness - Achieving economies...

Words: 3798 - Pages: 16

Premium Essay

Behavioural Characteristics Australia Malaysia

...clothing) in Malaysia. The reports fundamental goal is to further understand how religiosity and materialism influence and affect consumer behaviour. ------------------------------------------------- Religious Subculture Introduction The following report focuses on the specific influences of Religious subculture and Materialism in consumer behavior which shape our values and understanding of purchase behaviours. Religious subcultures are groups in society with homogeneous beliefs and experiences. The global marketplace is exceedingly becoming more influential and powerful than ever before, thus the need to understand consumer behaviour in different cultures and nations is ever so important in our modern world. The concept of religiosity is accountable for differences in consumer behavioral characteristics across the world. The study of religious subculture has found that religion appears to influences a persons behaviour and may also influence well being and life in general. (Hirschman, 1981). The affiliation of religion within a culture has the ability to influences personality, beliefs values and specific characteristics. When analyzing Australia and Malaysia’s consumer behaviour one must be able to effectively note the differences in religious subculture. Australia is predominantly a Catholic Christian nation 26%...

Words: 2456 - Pages: 10