CONSUMER MARKETING

Consumer Marketing and Branding Strategies

Consumer Marketing and Branding Strategies

Introduction

Green consumer behavior is an area of concern for automobile manufacturers and marketing consultants, but it has also come to function as a prism for disputes among environmentalists and social scientists. One debate, as simple as it is straightforward, pits “liberal consumerists” against “counter-consumerists.” For the former, the roots of environmental crisis lie in the nature of mass consumption. They emphasize the ability of consumers to make a difference such as purchasing auto mobiles that are eco-friendly and fuel efficient. As the awareness of environmental crisis spreads, and as individual consumers respond by opting for environmentally friendly products and services, the purchasing power of the mass market will come to force businesses to green their products and their manufacturing and distribution processes on pain of being shunned in the marketplace by green-leaning consumers. In contrast, for ascetically inclined “deep greens,” the crisis results less from the quality than from the quantity of consumption. For them, the primary aim should not be consuming discerningly but, rather, consuming less.

Analysis

Recent studies have shown that consumers today are more likely to be driven by a commitment to ethical and sustainable methods of automobile manufacturing than by the other attributes of automobiles. Environmentally conscious individuals attach aesthetic quality to environmental friendly automobiles. Green consumerism is on the rise, yet its environmental effects are contested. On one hand, green consumerism can contribute to the greening of consumer consciousness, yet it might also encourage corporate green washing. This tenuous ethical situation mandates that eco-marketers carefully frame their environmental friendly automobiles such that they appeal to consumers with environmental ethics as well as to buyers who consider both natural products and conventional items.

Marketing and Branding Strategies

Marketing strategies for social network sites converge around the themes of targeting and tracking. Facebook, for example, has set up many features to lure marketers and automobile brand advertisers. These include automobile brand profile pages and social advertisements. With automobile profile pages, advertisers can create dedicated pages for customers to sign up and express views, while social advertisements allow users to evaluate automobile brands on the basis of their eco-friendliness and fuel efficiency. Additionally, features such as Beacon on Facebook allow consumer purchase behavior to be tracked, which is used to provide relevant advertising (Cowan & Jonard, 2004).

Branding is the practice of adding an artificial identity to a product, company, or person. Originally, branding referred to the practice of marking slaves or cattle with signs of property. Branding is a strategy used by automobile manufacturers to differentiate automobiles and manufacturers, and to build economic value for both the consumer and the automobile brand owner. As a maker's mark, brands thus have a very long history, dating back to classical times. In UK, the postwar years saw three important developments in consumer culture. Rising wealth radically increased the space of consumption. Within the marketing profession, this growing complexity of consumer demand led to an emphasis on the brand, or “brand image,” as distinct from ...