Marketing Unmentionables
Lessons in Overcoming the Challenges of Marketing Taboo Products
I know what you’re thinking, and no, this isn’t a blog about crafting the perfect spam email for male-enhancement supplements (or is it?). Instead, it’s an opportunity to address the elephant in the room: How do you go about marketing to people who don’t want to admit that they need your product? And how does consumer reluctance affect brand identity and engagement?
Keep it personal, keep it light, and keep it considerate, and you, too, can keep consumers interested in products they’d otherwise be too shy to buy.
It says a lot that, in my efforts to research this topic, I found very little had been written on the subject. I even doubted whether I would have the didactic dexterity to write about unsavory topics in an upbeat, understandable way. But there is an entire facet of consumer behavior that is being ignored by the reluctance to discuss certain topics, and we wouldn’t be the hard-driving, overanalyzing, get-to-the-heart-of-things marketers we are if we neglected to examine it.
What I did find in my research was this: A study was conducted in 2005 by Ainsworth A. Bailey and Agnieszka K. Waronska of the University of Toledo’s Academy of Marketing Science. Bailey and Waronska made an effort to begin discourse on consumer behaviors surrounding what are classified as “stigmatized products,” as so little research had been done previously on anything but “socially acceptable” products. This paper — “Stigmatized Products: Fostering Discourse on Those ‘Products I Would Never Be Caught Dead Buying!’” — demonstrated just how hush-hush these topics are, even (ironically) by dint of its own failure to elaborate on consumer behavior surrounding said products.
Bailey and Waronska did, however, expand upon this: When a consumer is aware of the stigma surrounding a condition, feelings of embarrassment, shame, and guilt become irrevocably attached to the purchasing experience. Studies show that these feelings are contingent upon social pressures (real or imagined), and can be gentled by familiarity with the product in question. In other words, personal education of the products and their intended use tends to drown out the social influence. Many brands are harnessing this twofold power of information and inundation to develop successful campaign strategies.
What separates the best from the rest in the case of “unmentionable” brands is a concerted effort to send a message of inclusivity.
Because of the apparent lack of information on this topic, apart from the odd academic paper, I’ve wrangled some empirical evidence of worthwhile marketing tactics within these controversial industries. In doing so, I’ve found a common thread. What separates the best from the rest in the case of “unmentionable” brands is a concerted effort to send a message of inclusivity. The campaigns of taboo brands succeed when they manage to create a sense of togetherness among consumers. Humanizing the brand experience is an incredibly effective selling tool, and with these types of products, it’s actually easier than it sounds.
Marketing Inclusivity Is Key
It’s strange that the things we most fear admitting to or talking about are the things that the vast majority of people experience, often on a regular basis. But the feeling of shame associated with certain products, and the conditions they seek to ameliorate, is a very real, very deep-seated one.
Each in its own way, these brands demonstrate how honesty and humor, rather than veiled insinuations or taking a product too seriously, make inroads in removing a stigma.
Modern consumers look to advertising not so much for information as for entertainment and relatability. Ads on YouTube or a favorite TV channel are viewed as annoying interruptions and can now be easily skipped, so engaging content is essential. And this is especially necessary for products that no one wants to talk about.
Removing a stigma by creating conversation is half the battle — if not more than half. So who’s mastering the art of the marketing icebreaker? We have to give some major props to the brands that have managed to make the most of a bad situation, and are setting consumers’ minds at ease as they stealthily — or perhaps more socially — shop stigmatized products.
Spicing Things Up
Old Spice Reinvented Marketing and Branding
In 2010, Old Spice reinvented itself from a brand that once exclusively targeted older male consumers to a much younger, trendier brand. The brand used survey results to tailor its brand message to the people who actually buy its products: primarily women, and, thanks to Old Spice’s renewed digital and social efforts, younger ones to boot. The resulting campaign was a doozy of a double hitter: “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” starring a very droll, very shirtless Isaiah Mustafa as the Old Spice Guy, shamelessly beguiling viewers with harlequin romance clichés and “tickets to that thing you love.”
Old Spice proved once and for all that developing (and committing to) a mascot — especially when it works really, really well — is a smart strategy. After discovering that women were the most likely buyers of Old Spice products, the brand pivoted to get their attention with a campaign that made body-odor management sexy. (Or is it just that Isaiah Mustafa is sexy? Feel free to debate this in the comments.)
Not only did the brand achieve enormous success with the new ad campaign, but it also kept up the momentum long after, interacting with fans and online influencers via social media through the Old Spice Guy’s personalized video responses to fan questions. Viewer reactions were proof positive that a singular-but-solid advertising effort, especially when coupled with a consistent, interactive follow-up, makes a lasting impression and can forever change the face of a brand.
Old Spice is still churning out ads that are funny and professionally executed. But none of its triumphs would be possible if “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” hadn’t come up smelling like a rose.
Hitting “Below the Belt”
Each in its own way, the brands below demonstrate how honesty and humor, rather than veiled insinuations or taking a product too seriously, make inroads in removing a stigma. Marketers in these industries realize that the problems their consumers face constitute a goldmine — and one upon which shoppers are quite literally sitting.
Nothing to Hide — Depend’s Awareness Campaign
Depend’s “Underwearness” campaign brought the ubiquity of incontinence to light, especially since such a vast portion of the population — the baby-boomer generation — is nearing retirement age and seeking solutions for waning bladder control. By casting younger actors to strut around pantsless in these spots and employing a clever, highly hashtag-able slogan, “Drop Your Pants,” Depend fought discomfort with a welcome dose of edginess to eliminate the chief obstacles of selling adult diapers: consumer fears of being caught in the act of purchasing or wearing them and the dread of needing the product in the first place.
A New Look — K-Y Marketing Transformation
K-Y, the well-known brand of intimacy products, has recently revitalized its packaging and advertising with the addition of the Yours+Mine product to its portfolio. This transformation involved a change in color palette, which is now moody and cool — with electric teal, vivid magenta, and inky black — rather than the anemic, clinical pink the brand once favored. Something as simple as selecting a new color (or even, as in this case, making the packaging of a nighttime-use product glow in the dark) can change perception and reception of a brand’s offerings. And, in tandem with the updated look of its products, K-Y’s recent advertising is fresh, funny, and suggestive without being too on the nose or tacky.
It’s Funny AND It Works — Poo-Purri Banishes the Stigma
Poo-Pourri scores points for being both humorous and original. The ads — starring a prim-and-proper British woman boasting about product benefits while perched on a porcelain throne — banish the stigma associated with bathroom odors by refusing to sugarcoat the purpose of the product, and its claims of usefulness pique consumer curiosity. There’s no discounting the power of word-of-mouth when you’ve got a product that does what it claims to do, and hilarious advertising can certainly help spread the word on social platforms. The brand’s advertising and packaging make for a product that is highly shareable, whether as a purported joke or because the buyer is genuinely interested in testing its efficacy and acting as an unintentional ambassador for the brand.
It’s Normal and It’s OK — THINX Breaks Through Censorship
Some stigmas have proven difficult to remove, and feminine-hygiene brands are no strangers to operating within keep-mum markets. In these cases, it’s been necessary to get a message across by making a stand, and THINX underwear brand had to do just that. Although executives have successfully prioritized keeping THINX online-only, to retain clarity and control of brand message, the brand encountered resistance when submitting print ads for its “underwear for women with periods” to the New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Outfront Media, the company that handles the MTA’s advertising, struck down the submissions, citing “inappropriate content” as the reason.
Appalled that the honest portrayal of its product’s purpose would be deemed inappropriate, THINX went public with the controversy, and the resulting outrage forced detractors at the MTA to bend and run the ads as originally submitted. The THINX ads are compelling and eye-catching, and their hard-fought victory over stigmatized censorship provide insight into the changing public perception of what is and isn’t acceptable in advertising taboo products.
A Pandering Parody — Quilted Northern Pokes Fun
Quilted Northern has managed to stand out in an industry that boasts more brand options than actual product variations. In 2016, the brand released an April Fools’ Day ad for its “new” (and totally fictional) “hand-perforated, artisanal toilet paper,” poking fun at current hipster trends. Many toilet-paper companies have let their advertising get stale, while Quilted Northern has continually created side-splitting spots to set itself apart in a crowded marketplace. By playfully pandering to an Etsy-obsessed, responsible-source-hounding demographic, Quilted Northern’s “Rustic Weave” ad was timely, unexpected, and spot on.
A Strategy That’s Anything but Thin — Rogaine Rewards Loyalty
Rogaine’s Results & Rewards program, which was developed based on research that confirmed that a better-educated consumer is more likely to give Rogaine a try, combines information and incentive in one neat loyalty package. Rogaine offers rewards points for purchases and for interacting with the brand in an educational capacity. Points can be redeemed for gift cards, related products, magazine subscriptions, and entries in sweepstakes. By using education to empower consumers to act, with a product that is backed by scientific evidence of its authenticity, Rogaine positioned itself to reach the consumer who might be reluctant to try the product without the added incentives and guarantee of results.
Connecting Customers — Weight Watchers Digital Influence(rs)
Weight Watchers has been a force within the weight-loss industry for over 50 years. The tried-and-true SmartPoints program, unveiled in 2015, received ringing endorsements from Oprah and boasts countless member-success stories. What the brand has done in recent years, though, has completely changed how that success is measured.
The decades-old brand has become a digital dynamo. Weight Watchers has introduced a top-notch app — despite the slew of similarly intentioned apps floating around out there — with an element that sets it apart: a social platform that arose from its 2015 acquisition of Wello, an online community for people engaged in weight-loss efforts. Weight Watchers’ interpretation, called Connect, is an outstanding social media component that provides a supportive space for users embarking on personal journeys marked by vulnerability and struggle.
By creating an extensive internal network for its members, removed from the top social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, Weight Watchers has struck a chord while meeting a specific need. Social media users may be accustomed to openly sharing even the smallest details of their lives, but most are totally unprepared for (and certainly undeserving of) the ridicule that comes part and parcel with divulging one’s struggles with obesity or disordered eating to a mass of faceless internet trolls. According to one researcher, over 500,000 Weight Watchers members use the secure, simple-to-use platform on a daily basis, where they receive encouragement from other community members to achieve their weight-loss goals — and to do so by sticking with the pay-by-month program.
More Convenient Than Convenience Stores
Although purchasing alcohol is not by itself usually cause for embarrassment, buying large quantities of it at one go has been shown to cause social discomfort in consumers. Enter the new trend of wine-club subscriptions, which are convenient and graciously remove the stigma one might assume goes along with buying a case of wine at a nearby liquor store while dressed in one’s favorite, threadbare pajama pants. With subscription clubs like Winc or Vinebox, one can participate in pajama-clad purchases without scorn.
And there are other ways to avoid trips to the store for potentially embarrassing purchases: Amazon Dash buttons are available for everything from adult diapers to feminine hygiene products to condoms, and subscription services offered by online pharmacies like PillPack are being used by people with socially sensitive conditions to have medications shipped straight to their doors. This not only eliminates the time, energy, and self-consciousness of a trip to the store, but it also takes some of the thought out of it as well. The less time given to American consumers to dwell on their “shortcomings,” as psychologist Kit Yarrow terms them, the better.
Tone and Tact
Finding that sweet spot between fun and faux pas isn’t easy, but keeping a light tone doesn’t have to be difficult. Stepping away from the all-too-prevalent technique of “sadvertising,” and refusing to treat common complaints as serious conditions (also, by extension, taking their treatments too seriously), is a step in the right direction.
The brands that have managed to reach the widest audience — further normalizing and destigmatizing their products’ aims — have succeeded in pinpointing the priorities that will best serve the brand’s purpose and message.
Humor, honesty, and a sense of community go a long way, and also contribute to the humanizing, “what can you do?” shrug that has been playing well to audiences when it comes to selling these products. Keeping the purchasing experience as painless as possible doesn’t hurt, and a stylish change of packaging can lead to a change of heart for reluctant shoppers. When all else fails, it’s worth bearing in mind that exposure can often be the best way around tricky topics; so proudly proclaiming a product’s worth can have a reassuring effect on self-conscious customers.
The brands that have managed to reach the widest audience — further normalizing and destigmatizing their products’ aims — have succeeded in pinpointing the priorities that will best serve the brand’s purpose and message. Keep it personal, keep it light, and keep it considerate, and you, too, can keep consumers interested in products they’d otherwise be too shy to buy.
Photos: Shutterstock
Originally published at www.brittonmdg.com.
