But if you truly want to understand consumers
you have to operate on their level, go down their street and understand
their lives, including peering inquisitively into their religious
beliefs and practices in a local sense. Yes, religion should not be
considered taboo for marketers when segmenting and targeting
consumers.
And the issue of local understanding is even more important when
it comes to religion. Miles Young, global CEO at Ogilvy &
Mather, recently highlighted the increased importance of
understanding Islam for two reasons.
Firstly, it's about numbers. The GDP of the five large Middle
Eastern countries is the same size as India, but with a population
of just one-third. Fifty-three per cent of the population of the
N-11 countries (Goldman Sach's list of the next generation of
global powerhouses after Brazil, Russia, India and China) are
Muslim.
Secondly, Young argues that while most global enterprises view
the world via the prism of demographics and geography, religion,
especially in the Islamic world, is a powerful vertical segment,
which unifies attitudes and behaviors.
I'd go further and point out that many countries now contain a
tapestry of beliefs and religions, all of which are crucial in understanding consumer values and
choices.
Although most countries will have a dominant system of belief
that also contributes to accepted cultural norms, secondary
religions will be powerful forces for guiding individual consumer
choices. In countries with significant clusters of religious
adherents who do not follow the dominant religion, those choices
may work differently. Local understanding and insight are utterly
crucial.
This is especially important in urban areas. Many of the world's
major cities are now multicultural, which often increases people's
needs to hold on to their own (or their family's) original identity
- often defined by their religion.
It is very important for brands to be sympathetic to this. It is
very easy to offend someone's cultural background by simply
transferring one message from one region to another, or insisting
on the same rules and messages for all staff and consumers.
MediaCom's consumer insight
division has long held the importance of not only talking to
consumers but also interviewing local cultural experts. While
working for the Metropolitan Police in London on a knife crime
campaign targeted at ethnic minorities, we talked our ideas through
with religious leaders as well as community leaders and local
journalists to ensure that our message was well received.
Many in the marketing and advertising industry regard religion
as just another interesting segment, along the same lines as
'greys', the 'Pink Dollar; or Latinos in the US.
These are all very valid targets for segmentation but religion
differs qualitatively. For some believers religion is the prism
through which they view the world.
Is an American Muslim a Muslim first and an American second? Is
an American Christian a Christian first and an American second? For
some the answer will be yes but an American grey is always an
American first and grey is always a demographic qualifier.
Brands cannot afford to segment by religion in the same way they
view age or ethnicity. A religious identity can, for many
believers, be their primary identity rather than a simple qualifier
to their nationality, or country of origin.
Consumer insight needs to be very sensitive to
the expanding and complex religious issues that shape local markets
and if we are to communicate effectively, we cannot ignore or
generalize these.
First published here on
MediaBizBloggers.com.