#2: Sneaker Colors, Transparency for Sustainability, The Oat Milk Fight, and Audience Classification
Marketing Things Editor’s Note
This is the second edition of Marketing Things, if you enjoy it please subscribe and share it around. This week I sorted through lots of content to find what would make it in this edition.
One topic that I read a lot on this week is “sustainability marketing” or how brands should approach sustainability. We know from factual and intuited data that brands do need to jump on that bandwagon if they want to remain relevant.
One thing I tend to believe is that sustainability will become a lot like safety for brands. People want it but it’s becoming less of a proper marketing argument. You expect product you buy to be safe in the same way that in twenty or so years you’ll expect your products to be sustainable.
There’s still a bit of a path ahead before we get there. Some brands go fully transparent (like Ace and Tate mentioned in this edition) others do things but choose not to communicate, and some others like Ben and Jerry’s go beyond sustainability and develop a viewpoint on a range of social causes.
It’s still too soon to know what’s the most effective path but it will be something to keep an eye on in the following years.
In this edition:
We’ll talk about the psychology of colors for sneakers
The transparency efforts of companies trying to become sustainable
Fighting as a viable marketing strategy
Going beyond the customer vs non customer classification for your brand
Bryan
P.S: If you enjoy this post please share it with your friends or subscribe. Since this is quite new for me I’m super keen to hear your feedback so please reply to this post if you have any.
Articles
The Secret Psychology of Sneaker Colors
We’ve all seen countless articles about the “psychology of colors” and while some of the theory is dubious, it’s doubtless that colors still play a big part in marketing. That’s why companies like Pantone name a “color of the year” every year. In this article the NYT digs into how sneaker brands use color to develop affinity and be remembered READ on the New York Times - (6 mins read)
Radical transparency, the next step for sustainable brands?
With 25% of millennials expecting brands to protect the environment, companies have long understood that greenwashing is a viable marketing strategy. However, new generations are now better equipped to sort through the fluff. That’s why companies like eyewear brand Ace & Tate have decided to stop hiding and be super transparent. The new norm is showing how difficult is the path to sustainability by being radically transparent. READ on Vogue Business - (4 mins read)
The Oatly Case: pick a fight to win at marketing
“Beef marketing” is when you decide to use fighting as a core narrative in your marketing. It’s what happened with Mac vs PC, Basecamp’s Hey vs Apple, or more recently Fortnite vs Apple (there seems to be a pattern here). Some of these stories don’t include Apple, that’s the case of the Oatly story. Oatly is a milk-like drink who decided to fight against… pretty much everything. READ on Masters of the Message - (5 mins read)
A new way to classify your audience
The most basic classification that marketers use often follows the path from visit to conversion so we might have visitors, leads, prospects, and customers. This quick read proposes a new classificationn that goes beyond the simple customer vs non customer status. READ on The Sociology of Business - (3 mins read)
Tweet of the Week
I love this tweet (and this entire account) because it gives some insight as to how Apple works with its advertising agencies. While it’s probably not like that every day it’s interesting to see how the agency reacts when the most senior marketing person of a billion dollar company puts them under pressure.
Number
$200M - The amount of money Procter and Gamble cut from its digital advertising budget without noticing any significant negative impact - source