Perhaps one of my favorite aspects of marketing is studying lifestyle brands, lifestyle marketing, and consumer behavior. After taking a consumer behavior course, I felt I was one step closer to finding my desired career path. Lifestyle marketing is something I find truly fascinating – targeting consumers based on their interests, attitudes, values, and beliefs. This is such a simple concept, but also a genius one.

A great example of a lifestyle brand is Bethenny Frankel’s Skinnygirl Empire. First, let’s start with Bethenny Frankel. Is there anything she can’t do? Absolutely not and she’s continued to prove this time and time again from every new season of her hit Bravo TV series to every new product launch in her empire – cocktails, weight-loss programs, body shapewear, and a multitude of beauty products. And of course, she juggles work with family life and motherhood. I could gush about Bethenny Frankel, her many accomplishments, and how she personally inspires me, but I’ll save that for another post.  

My point is to discuss how Bethenny Frankel’s brand and the Skinnygirl brand represent the epitome of a lifestyle brand and lifestyle marketing. I even argue that Bethenny and Skinnygirl are so closely intertwined, almost interchangeable, because Bethenny is Skinnygirl and vice versa. Skinnygirl appeals to a very specific demographic, though I believe that this demographic is expanding because of her celebrity status and popularity. I found two articles – What is a Skinnygirl and 30 Days to a Skinnygirl Lifestyle: Are You Ready to Get the Results You Crave? - on the Skinnygirl Daily website, which is their own description and interpretation of Skinnygirl and her lifestyle. I want to expand on this interpretation through the lens of a 20 year old with an amateur marketing perspective. 

The healthy lifestyle theme can be found throughout the entire Skinnygirl website, which is key to their success. This message is consistent with their Mission Statement and is reinforced in every aspect of the site. When I think Skinnygirl, I picture a woman in her late 20s or early 30s - young urban professional, successful, works hard but still finds time to go out with her girlfriends, and of course she is up to date on fashion trends and beauty secrets. The Skinnygirl consumer is the ultimate Millennial woman (which is further explained in my post, Social Media and the End of Gender, and supplementary links). This demographic epitomizes the Skinnygirl brand, but this is also expanding to women in their early 20s who also fall into this Millennial segment. Part of this expanding age group can be attributed to Bethenny’s influence in the media. My friends and I are huge fans of Bethenny Ever After and as college students we are naturally also lovers of the Skinnygirl cocktail family. Part of the appeal of the Skinnygirl brand is that it not only creates, but also supplements an already existing lifestyle. Skinnygirl is relevant to every aspect of the Millennial woman’s life, from what she wears, what she eats, what she drinks, and even what she reads. Marketing is about creating needs and lifestyle marketing is about taking that one step further and fitting into the consumer’s everyday life, fitting into their lifestyle. The Millennial woman’s life fits around the product while the product is meant to be flawlessly integrated into the consumer’s life – Skinnygirl products aren’t forced into her life and as a lifestyle brand, it just fits into it.

This is the beauty and essence of lifestyle brands and lifestyle marketing: it is what it is. In a way, a consumer of the Skinnygirl brand doesn’t have to be convinced of anything because this brand is something that naturally fits into her life. But regardless of whether a brand is promoting a healthy lifestyle as in the case of Skinnygirl, an athletic lifestyle as in the case of Nike, or a yoga lifestyle as in the case of Lululemon, lifestyle brands are successful because they fit seamlessly into lives without feeling bombarded or persuaded by marketing tactics. These brands create cultures and these cultures create cult-like followings, brand loyalty, even brand love. 

Related Links: 
http://www.bethenny.com/
http://www.skinnygirldaily.com/

Another great post about lifestyle brands and overall great blog about branding and social media marketing :)
http://fansofbrands.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/lululemon-the-lifestyle-brand/ 

This TED Talk addresses the effects that social media has on advertising and media companies. Johanna Barkley explains how old (traditional) forms of media are becoming quickly outdated, particularly by social media. Demographics, such as gender, age, and income, aren’t seen as particularly useful anymore and getting increasingly harder to monitor. Advertising and media companies are more interested in what people’s interests are, what they’re doing, thus focusing on “taste communities” that are found online. Barkley describes social media as an escape from the “ demographic boxes” and “rigid segmentations” that consumers have been put in by these companies.

I found this TED Talk particularly interesting because it’s relevant - to my own life and to the current times we find ourselves in, surrounded by technology and countless social media networks. As a consumer, I wouldn’t want advertising and media to bombard my social media networks, but rather function as a way to engage with my favorite brands if I choose to do so. Social media is about having options – we shouldn’t be forced to engage with brands, hence why we have the freedom to choose who we “Like,” Friend, or Follow. For example, Twitter is an excellent way to demonstrate one’s interests. By choosing to follow certain brands and/or celebrities, this speaks volumes about one’s consumption behavior. If Twitter users decide to actively interact with these brands whether it is through tweeting at them or simply just tweeting about them, that shows a level of engagement and tells us things about that consumer that age, gender, and income might not be able to tell us. Companies that successfully utilize social media can be more in touch with their consumers, both on a personal and professional level – thus allowing us to build an emotional relationship with our favorite brands.

Another key topic in Barkley’s TED Talk is women. Women “drive the social media revolution” in that they outnumber men at every age level in terms of their usage of social networking technologies and how often they use these sites. She presents the question “If social media dominates old media and women dominated social media, does that mean women are going to take over global media?” Women may not take over per se, but their increasing influence over media will have profound effects on what we see in the future. Advertising and media campaigns will need to be shaped to target and appeal more to the feminine ideals as opposed to masculine ideals. This is not to say that masculine ideals are less important, but it would be more beneficial to appeal to the Classic, Centered, and Alpha Woman because women are dominating the social media sphere. As Millennial Women are becoming increasingly powerful, this is a key demographic to hone in on because as the Prosumer Report describes them, they are “more mobile, more multicultural, and more fluid adopters – and adapters – of new technologies than any other generation that has come before” (1). As a very trendy and in-tune demographic, Millennial women could arguably be the most powerful group of consumers, thus social media is a powerful way to connect with them. 

I’m sure at some point we get tired of using and hearing Apple as an example in our Marketing courses; but hey, that means they must be doing something right. Or if we’re hearing about it in terms of labor practices, then they must being doing something terribly wrong. Either way, we talk about Apple for a reason – it’s relevant. It might be cliché, but Apple was the first thing that came to mind when I read Schwartz’s third opportunity cost strategy, “Don’t be tempted by ‘new and improved.’” I always like to refer back to what I concluded in my first blog post – I am the ultimate maximizer. In all honesty, none of these strategies look at all appealing knowing that I am a maximizer, borderline perfectionist. I’d rather not stick to what I always buy out of fear that there could be something better out there. How can I have “the best” if I don’t have what is “new and improved?” And I can’t help but “ scratch” that non-existent “itch” because I wouldn’t want to miss out on a better product, offer, or opportunity. Finally, it would be near impossible for me to practice the last strategy because it just wouldn’t be in my maximizing nature not to worry about all of the potential missed opportunities as mentioned before. However, avoiding the temptation of new and improved would be the most practical strategy for me, especially when talking about Apple products.

 It’s hard to keep up with the constant innovation of Apple technology because everyone knows that your brand new iPhone, iPod, or iPad will be outdated by the newest model coming out in a few months. I received my first iPhone as a high school graduation gift in May. As excited as I was about my new 3G iPhone, I should have known that the 3GS would be coming out in June; so on the 29th day of my 30-day return/exchange window, I exchanged my 3G for the coveted 3GS. I may have gotten lucky that time but I now avoid the temptation of constantly updating my gadgets. Not only is it impractical economically, but most would also agree that it’s just not necessary. Now that I have an iPhone4 and as much as I wish it was equipped with the new Siri feature, the 4S really isn’t all that different and the same could be said for most Apple products. I have also implemented this strategy in that I have avoided the iPad craze altogether. Though tablets are seen as what is “new and improved,” my iPhone has the same capabilities except on a smaller screen.

Marketing plays a huge role in making people feel like they do need the latest models of whatever is the latest gadget. In a way I feel like Apple’s innovation goes hand in hand with their marketing in that because they make new models so frequently, your ‘what you thought was new’ iPhone/Pod/Pad is now inferior and outdated when in fact it is only missing a few new features. Constant innovation is how brands like Apple create needs that don’t necessarily exist. Though I may not have fallen for it this time, there are plenty of other Apple fanatics willing to stand in line for countless hours, giving them their incomparable success and cult-like following.