Using culture as a marketing method
Strategic acquisitions, alliances and agreements have been popping up throughout APAC in 2018. Cross-border partnerships and commitments are rising to enable deeper relationships and increased market share.
In February 2018, P&G acquired New Zealand skin care company, Snowberry, which uses science and biodiscovery in its snowberry gardens to raise the profile of nature and natural resources in its domestic landscape.
In an exclusive interview with Azelis, the speciality chemicals supplier, revealed that it was concentrating its growth plans in Oceania as it named Australia and New Zealand as “springboards for Asian markets”.
Bringing culture into the story
Authentic content, social media, influencer and affiliate marketing is now not only personalised and targeted by drawing upon the non-commercial aspirational pull to appeal to beauty and personal care shoppers.
Culture, traditions, heritage all forming a vital part of brand stories, ‘about us’ and advertising campaigns to showcase their uniqueness.
Innovative formulations and ingredient usage are then trickling through into mission statements, visions and values to create a strong domestic brand.
Demographics and aspirations
As these cross-border relationships grow, individual brands need to focus on, well, their uniqueness to entice and attract shoppers from overseas.
Travel, leisure and entertainment are high on the agenda for our buyer-led marketplace, where we value time as a crucial part of the shopper journey and seek out experiences over material possessions.
Resonating with consumers through targeted and tailored marketing channels and platform provides an unmissable opportunity to invoke nostalgia, share experiences and encourage an audience that enjoys learning about the culture of the brand, its products and solutions.
A unique proposition
Indie brands “tend to have interesting brand concepts and stories to tell, and are often founded based on an identified gap in the beauty space— something that appeals to consumers these days against the myriad of mainstream products in the marketplace”, Kwek added.
They have the ability to “inject excitement into Asia Pacific’s beauty scene”, enthused Sharon Kwek, Senior Innovation and Insights Analyst, beauty and personal care at Mintel. Making stories relatable and compelling is crucial to generate real conversations with shoppers.
Whether it is a domestic or overseas marketplace, intrigue, interest and aspirations to travel encourage consumers. These are also coupled with sustainable and ecological messages. Together, these encourage beauty buyers to engage and grow loyal to a marketing approach that bridges the gap between company and consumer and draws you into their brand experience, and culture.
