Page 46 - index
P. 46
HOT OFF THE PRESS
market middle class saw themselves for local products within this consumer brands can facilitate and signal the self PHOTO: GETTY/GALLO IMAGES
as a collection of assets “that must group, which has embraced the success as a continuous improvement project.
be continually invested in, nurtured, of world-class Turkish designers.
managed and developed”. Personal Being i-Average is about emphasising
development and knowledge are highly At the same time, there is a sense of brand heritage, trustworthiness
prized. Clothes, correspondingly, must exclusion based on price and product and being the category’s standard.
signal personal strengths and make availability. Local stores stocking Consequently, even luxury brands should
an individual stand out from their expensive global brands, for example, aim to be the typical choice within a
peers. The self is a constant self- are often seen as rip offs. There is also category. Such positioning conveys both
improvement project. a question as to whether global brands distinction and social group membership
stocked by local stores are authentic or at the same time.
¦ i-Average. While individuals desire to not. A similar controversy raged in South
stand out, there is temperance: they Africa some years ago when Polo SA was A desire to be an (un)Confident
should not stand out too much. They discovered not to be the same as global Cosmopolitan also has implications
are constrained by social and cultural fashion brand Polo Ralph Lauren. for brand positioning, as its members
norms, so they should not be too are part of a world-class global group
distinct. The self is to be benchmarked So, despite a feeling of being part of that is resident in no particular
with others who are perceived as a global world and being able to travel locale. Thus, brands should speak to
similar in order to signal solidarity with extensively, feelings of exclusion and this rather than a particular country
the new middle. difference among the Turkish middle of origin. Understanding the role
class persist. of cosmopolitanism also means
In clothing, this means consuming scrupulously ensuring that offerings
clothes that are acknowledged as CONCLUSIONS across geographies are similar, both
in terms of pricing and launch times.
? The middle class in the developed world
The middle class has latterly become associated with the Perceptions of difference between
shapes demand in notion of ‘escape’ – escaping suburbia global branding and local execution
emerging markets and docile consumerism. However, enhance feelings of exclusion and
what the new emerging middle class alienation. The authenticity of locally
‘proper’ by their referent group. Outfits in dynamic markets seeks is to be available brands is then called into
and clothing ensembles are shared on ‘competently ordinary’. Many come from question and they are equated with the
social media for group ‘likes’. Moreover, poverty and an environment where there pirated copies often abundantly available.
respondents were aware of being are no clear rules and procedures.
appropriate for the corporate world – Although this study was done in Turkey,
where you may stand out, but never To be ‘ordinary’, therefore, is to have it has important implications when it
outlandishly so. rules in a fast-changing environment; comes to understanding emerging middle
to have stability where there has been class consumers across many markets,
¦ (un)Confident Cosmopolitan. Many little. To be ‘ordinary’ is to create a South Africa included.
in the new middle class either grew sense of unity with social peers and
up in scarcity and austerity, or are demonstrate that they are successful Reference
intensely aware of its proximity in their participants in a transforming society. Kravets, O., & Sandikci, O. (2014). Competently
country. They often wish to disassociate ordinary: New middle class consumers in the
themselves with the brands of poverty Turkish consumers do not want to emerging markets. Journal of Marketing 78, (July),
and align themselves with a global be marked as “backward, lacking in 125–140. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1509/jm.12.0190
middle class. This, as the authors put it, competence, unmarketable” which is
“does not refer to a specific place, but to the alternative. Consequently, they follow Kerry Chipp is a senior
a wider imagination”. There is also room shared rules, consume similar sets of lecturer at the University
local and global brands and want to of Pretoria’s Gordon
demonstrate alignment with the ‘middle’. Institute of Business
Science (GIBS), where
As a result, marketers should heed she supervises on
the implications of the three ‘selves’ and oversees the MBA
described by Kravets and Sandikci. research process.
She publishes in the area of consumer
Best Self Inc should be considered behaviour in dynamic markets, with
in terms of how products, services and particular interest in emerging consumers.
44 strategicmarketing October 2016 – January 2017
