Aspirational brand

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (March 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Marketing

Key concepts

Product / Pricing / Promotion Distribution / Service / Retail Brand management Marketing effectiveness Market research Marketing strategy Marketing management Market dominance

Promotional content

Advertising / Branding Direct marketing / Personal Sales Product placement / Public relations Publicity / Sales promotion Underwriting

Promotional media

Printing / Publication / Broadcasting Out-of-home / Internet marketing Point of sale / Novelty items Digital marketing / In-game Word of mouth

This box: view • talk • edit

In consumer marketing, an aspirational brand (or product) is one that a large segment of its exposure audience wishes to own, but for economical reasons cannot. An aspirational product implies certain positive characteristics to the user, but the supply appears limited due to limited production quantities.

An important characteristic of an aspirational product is that the part of its exposure audience that is at present economically unable to purchase it, thinks of itself as having a fair probability of at a certain point in the future being able to do so. This part of the exposure audience is referred to as the aspirational audience, whereas the part of the exposure audience that already can afford the product is called the consumption audience. Consumption audience and aspirational audience together form the aspirational product's target audience, which typically represents 30%-60% of the exposure audience

Weak aspirational brands have target audiences that are almost as large as their exposure audiences (e.g. mp3 player brands), and are therefore slowly becoming commodity brands, e.g. brands with consumption audiences that coincide with the exposure audience (and therefore, brands without an aspiring audience).

As a general rule, an aspirational brand and its products can command a price premium in the marketplace over a commodity brand. This ability can to a large extent be explained by the consumer's need for invidious consumption for which he is willing to pay a premium. The smaller the size of the product's target audience compared to the exposure audience, the more the product satisfies this need, and the higher the premium that such a consumer is prepared to pay.

Larger the ratio of Aspirational to Consumption Audience, more premium the brand, e.g. – Maybach car. To keep the premiumness of a brand, Consumption Audience should not exceed 30% of aspirational audience.