Brand Anthropology. REAL branding.

Our strategists unlock consumer behavior influencers through brand anthropology

It is an artificial enterprise to evaluate brand and marketing without looking into a much broader spectrum of human behavior. Without the science of brand anthropology, most marketing research studies are deeply flawed. They attempt to understand a purchase behavior or brand preference in an artificial context with limited vision and limited success. Call us. we can help better define your brand’s users and cohorts.

Without taking into account brand anthropology is akin to placing an isolated human population that never heard of an elephant into a dark room. Once in the dark room, armed with only a flashlight and asked to describe what they find produces an odd mix of descriptors. Some describe a large four-legged animal with a tail on both ends. Interesting information, but it is not very valuable or accurate.

For this reason, brand strategy and marketing strategy are more closely aligned with brand anthropology than they are with traditional marketing science. The process means influencing human behavior, creating consumer preference and brand loyalty, and growing market share. To do that, you must better understand the human condition, and you need to see it in the context of a broader palette than just the scope of your category. We call it brand anthropology.

Do you want to win?

So, to influence preference and increase market share, you must have a sharper understanding of your target audiences. It is not enough to understand their usage and attitudes related to your product, service, or category.

Unless you talk to other rebranding companies and believe it’s OK to understand an elephant as an animal with a tail at both ends.

You need to know customers in the broader context of their lives. What they believe to be true about their experiences, values, aspirations, and goals. Your brand needs to be persuasive and not static. To that end, we created persuasive branding.

As a result, you need to see the beliefs that guide their lives and direct their purchase decisions. We developed a model for looking for just that. it is a predictive model of brand anthropology. You can read about it — behavioral modeling in detail here.

Growing market share demands more than simple branding. Traditional brand development has become universal in marketing circles today. It requires the acute vision of an anthropologist.

What is brand anthropology?

Our strategists act as brand anthropologists. Brand anthropology is the science of studying brands in context. It looks at the brand, not as a thing, but as an emotional idea that customers embrace. They embrace it because they believe it reinforces their self-identity. It looks at the brand meaning and messages through the prism of the prospect.

In simplistic terms, this means the brand anthropologist is seeking the WHY your brand exists and now the WHAT it creates. When the brand says why you are here, everything you create and do reinforces that belief. As a result, they are more powerful promises. They feel more grounded because they are rooted in a unifying belief system.

Our marketing experts use this science to make your brand strategy, tactics, and executions persuasive and influential in the market. Customer beliefs about themselves and the world at large dictate how they buy what they buy. Beliefs are different for every target audience because of context.

As a result, our strategists focus on specific targets based on deep expertise in diverse target groups. Each of our teams specializes in particular groups that directly influence the equity of your brand. Brand anthropology is so much more

However, the focus is always on developing strategy and messaging. The stuff that changes behavior and increases market share. Here are just a few of our focused areas of brand/consumer expertise:

Baby Boomers

Born between 1946 -1964 (71.6 Million in the US)
They are still the largest user of what we might call traditional media. But they have migrated to new media in the last five years. While aging out, they have the largest expendable income.

Often marketers misrepresent this group. That is because when viewing age, we all revert to our perspective at the age of 18.

These folks grew up in the 60s. It might be useful to remember that this group includes all the Rolling Stones, the surviving Beatles, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

Gen X

(Born between 1965-1980)
65.2 Million in the US
Newly embraced technology to their parents is old school to this group. They are parents to the latest generation of elementary school students and most of the Middle School.

They are adaptable. Possibly because of their nickname as “latchkey children.” Adaptation to change and a new world order comes as no surprise to these consumers.

Millennials (Gen-Y)

(Born between 1981-1996). 72.1 Million in the US. Some anthropologists split them into two segments. GenY.1 and GenY.2. This is useful behaviorally because they share the context of birth but are in different life phases.

This often baffling group embraces cultural precepts distinctly different than other generations. The impact of technology has given them a sense of control that no other generation possesses. Therefore, they approach purchase decisions and arrive at conclusions differently from all other groups, which, in turn, results in specific brand anthropology development necessities to target this group. 

Gen-Z

This generation is mass consumers of products. And are the heavy influencers of the Gen-Y and millennials that parent them. Tech-savvy and deeply connected to social media. This generation is rewriting the book on how to reach and engage a target market. Currently, the brand anthropologists at Stealing Share are modeling this group to better understand the trending nature of their influences.

 

Female influencers and decision-makers

Understanding and characterizing the female decision-maker sets Stealing Share apart. We have mapped the preceptive structure of this powerful audience and have found ways to create brand preference via messaging in everything from bottled water to real estate. This group defies stereotypical categorization and approaches consensus from a distinctly right-brain perspective.

This group has concerns that are firmly held, often remaining consistent despite cultural changes. Targeting female consumers is a common goal, but is often misled by inside-out marketing strategy that is so rampant in the marketplace.

Male influencers and decision-makers

Contrary to popular thought, the male consumer has changed his preceptive bundling more than his female counterpart. The preceptive modeling for male decision-makers is as unique as that of the female model. Our experience with this audience runs from beers to automobiles to computers.

The male consumer will often change his preceptive structure, so this group is often difficult to narrow the focus. It requires expertise in cultural currents and an understanding of values, consumer behavior over time, and how the male market has changed over the years.

Maturing populations

The mature market is complicated because it overlaps the preceptive models of male, female, and baby boomers.

However, the issues facing them and the precepts that guide their decisions change suddenly, and the sensitivity to messaging and promises also transforms. Our experience with this group runs from executive firms to healthcare.

Cultural trendsetters

Understanding cultural trendsetters provides the preceptive foundation for cultural change.

More than early adopters, these consumers represent uncharted trends and direction and provide early access to cultural currents that lead and influence others. Our experience with this group runs from financial institutions to health spas.