Aspirational Brand: The Ruling Factor Over Consumer Minds

“Brand is not a product, that’s for sure; it’s not one item. It’s an idea, it’s a theory, it’s a meaning, and it’s how you carry yourself. It’s aspirational, it’s inspirational”- Kevin Plank.

“Oh, how I wish I could afford an Apple MacBook!”

Are you asking for too much? Probably not. It is essential to desire something to achieve it one day. This is what is known as Aspirational Branding. It is significant to create a desire amongst the customers to generate an emotional response in them.

Have you ever wondered what made Apple, Samsung, Audi, and Armani such popular brands? What strategies did they adapt to be unique from the rest? Why is there such a craze among the millennials regarding these brands?

These are the brands that have become successful in inspiring customers. So, what have they done to make the consumers crazy about their product?

Shhh! The secret lies in the aspirational brand strategy.

In this blog I am going to discuss the following:

• Definition of Aspirational Brand.
• Strategies of Aspirational Branding.
• Definition of brand strategy.
• Some textbooks on Aspirational Branding.
• Examples of Aspirational brand. 

Let us know everything about aspirational branding.

Aspirational Brand: Definition

When it comes to consumer marketing, an aspirational brand or a product is something that people aspire to own someday when there is a rise in their income.

To put it simply, several potential customers find numerous brands to be attractive. Their excitement lowers down as they see the prices. Over the years, owning commodities of an aspirational brand has become a wealth symbol. When the audience aspires to own specific products manufactured by the brands of choice, it is known as an aspirational audience.

An aspirational product or a brand always has a perfect design, is capable of superior performance, sets social status and creates a brand identity.

For example, A notable example of successful aspirational branding is that of Raymond. The main protagonist is presented as a successful man.  A Raymond man is a complete man, something that every alpha male aspires to be.

Strategies of Aspirational Branding

Now, you have got a comprehensive idea of an aspirational brand or product. Let’s try to figure out the successful strategies of aspirational branding:

Aspirational brand strategy is concerned with creating the dream and generating emotional reactions that are positive.

Aspirational branding works only when the companies are able to create a powerful reputation of quality, fashion, or features of a product. One can implement the following strategies to develop a strong and powerful aspirational branding:

• Premium pricing: Price levels are set to maintain the ratio of an aspirational audience in front of the customers. At the end of the day, only a small percentage of people aspiring to purchase the commodities can actually do so. A high price is set to maintain the constant interest of the customers. If all the customers can afford the brand, it will no longer be an aspirational brand.

• Social proof: It is essential to make your commodities a sign of social status. This is an effective branding strategy. Aspirational customers become motivated typically to own a commodity that will increase their social status.

• Soft sell: One of the essential strategies to promote an aspirational brand of a commodity is to attract the aspiring audience by showing them a luxurious image and not just informing them about the features of the product.

• Storytelling: An effective aspirational branding strategy is to use the heritage of the brand to narrate the story behind the products. Communicating the story behind the products, and explaining the values of a luxury brand is the fundamentals of effective luxury marketing.

• Facebook Ads: One of the most effective forms of reaching the aspirational audience is to use Facebook ads. You can target various audience at the same time by creating a visually impressive ad.

• Aspirational content: Create an aspirational content for luxurious commodities to make the audience desire more for your products.

• Quality SEO: Google is one of the most powerful tools to promote aspirational luxury products. It is a platform that enables the customers to find products, learn more about brands and make the purchase. It is necessary to take proper advantage of it by using accurate SEO keywords. SEO serves as a goldmine for luxurious aspiring brands. If the site isn’t SEO friendly, there are high chances of losing the opportunities for potential traffic and high revenues.

These are some of the effective strategies to promote aspirational brands among customers to stir a desire in them.

What is Brand Strategy?

Now, let us understand what is the brand strategy.

Brand strategy is also referred to as brand positioning or brand positioning strategy. It is a formal plan used by a business to create a specific and unique image in the minds of the customers. It is an initiative taken to attract customers potentially.

 On creating a successful brand strategy, people will be able to identify the brand without being informed about who the company is and what do they do. It is essential to understand the following marketing components to develop a great branding strategy:

• The foremost target of the customer or a client.
• The competitive market.
• Product and Service Mix.
• Unique Selling Proposition.

Having a comprehensive understanding of the components will make it easier to draft a successful branding strategy.

Let us understand by an example:                                    

Coca-Cola is a classic example of a successful branding strategy. In 1886, it started as a syrup mixed with carbonated water. It was sold at soda-fountains in South America. Now, it has become a global product, a multibillion-dollar brand. After the formula was invented, one of the original business partners suggested the name and the design that Coca-Cola still uses today. To build new potential customers, it started out handing free coupons for a free sample. It started beginning its own bottling operation to make the competitors lose. At the same time, it also expanded its distribution network. Throughout the 20th century, it underwent a series of evolutions. Now, it has become one of the most successful soft drink brands due to its successful branding strategy operation. 

Textbooks on Aspirational Branding

If you are curious and want to know more about aspirational branding, there are numerous books available in the market. Some of the famous books are as follows:

• Lifestyle brands: A Guide to Aspirational Marketing by S. Saviolo and A. Marazza

• The Aspirational Investor: Taming the Markets to Achieve Your Life’s Goals by Ashvin B. Chhabra.

• Branding Against The Machine: How to Build Your Brand, Cut through the Marketing Noise, and Stand out from the Competition by John Michael Morgan

• Brand Sense: How to build powerful brands through touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound by Martin Lindstrom.

These are some of the books that will help you to develop a comprehensive understanding of aspirational branding.

Examples of Aspirational branding

To understand some classic cases of aspirational branding, it is essential to learn the difference between aspirational and inspirational marketing. To create successful branding strategies, we must understand the target audience. Inspirational marketing is to attract the audience who needs to be inspired with relevant messages.                           

Let’s look at the examples:

• Apple: Apple is best known for its aspirational branding strategy. The company stirred a buzz among the customers for years together now. Have you ever thought about how it is successful in generating a craze among the people every time it launches a new iPhone or an iMac? It keeps the messages simple and keeps the consumer focussed. For example, the iPhone 7 landing page says “dramatically improves the most important aspects of the iPhone experience.” The customers get attracted immediately and begin thinking of the aspects of the iPhone they already have and how the features of the new one will be different.

• Dior: The primary motto of Dior is to “Translate product to art.” A luxury purchase is more of an incorporeal than it is physical. Its essence is of another world. They make an effort to portray that in their content as well. Dior uses content to transform the process of product creation to an artistic experience. The website of Dior exposes the visitors to the surreal world of Dior’s creation. From watchmaking to haute couture, each content is a reflection of their artistic commitment and elegance.

• Bata: Bata has been a flourishing company for the last 83 years. It has usually been mistaken as a local brand. The new campaign of the footwear focuses on the youth. It is all set to appeal to the young audiences. 

By now, you must have got a comprehensive idea of the aspirational brand strategy. Summarise your understandings, implement the strategies and create an aspiration marketing campaign to promote luxurious brands.

Aspire the masses!

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