Nestore's blog

Homo amarketingus

During the advent of consumer society and gradually marketing, it was obvious that someone was missing: man.

Indeed, brands aimed at men were specialized, playing on the primary need, experts in their field and having for marketing only the quality of their product. We think for example of the famous English tailor Gieves & Hawkes at number 1 of the equally famous Savile Row street. Founded in 1771, it is one of the oldest bespoke tailoring companies and they notably have a Royal Warrants of Appointment, mandates issued to companies that provide goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages.

The man had a utilitarian logic; he became a customer and remained a customer. He wasn't really a target audience. He often didn't even consume himself; his wife often did it for him, or he was essentially receptive to the salesperson's message.

Obviously, this is a caricature. Some consumer products were reserved for men, and he was far more sensitive to marketing concepts that are more widespread today than he let on. But the caricature was short-lived.

Breakdown of family structure and consumption patterns

However, a major change has been taking place in recent years: men have become buyers and brands have made this half of the population their new battle.

The end of the traditional family unit, organized around the working man and the housewife, has led to a shift in consumption patterns. Older, less stable marriages and the widespread adoption of working women have pushed both men and women toward greater autonomy.

This societal factor was accelerated by brands' awareness of the existence of this new, unexplored market to be conquered. Gender marketing was born.

Companies at the bedside of man

However, you don't always sell to a man the same way you sell to a woman. Diet Coke was perceived as a feminine product and didn't reach the male audience. This is one of the reasons that pushed Coca Cola to launch their Zero range. The black packaging and an advertisement that depicts virility and action did the rest . Zero became the man's diet before being adopted by everyone and gradually replacing the latter. The subjects of the TV ads show this well: for Coca Zero, a man evacuates his partner's apartment by helicopter with the special troops so as not to run into his father-in-law in 2009 vs. a group of young women fantasizing about a gardener's abs for Diet in 2013. In 2019, Coca Zero opened up to a wider population with a spot presenting a retiree who goes back on the road to experience new, more rock-n-roll adventures.

Brands have therefore rethought products and communication campaigns. Identity values dear to men are initially taken into account in the presentation and packaging of the articles, in order to instantly create a strong interaction between the merchandise and the target consumer. The design and stylistic code of beauty products thus take on more masculine forms . Colors and formats generally associated with men are used for the presentation of products: emergence of blue, black , silver or matte shades . The use of materials that evoke predominantly ergonomic , aerodynamic , or even technological themes takes on significant importance in the packaging of articles intended for men.

Finally, it is essential to rename these products with themes and language that speak to men. Invictus, for example, brings together all these good practices: a warrior name , trophy packaging, a muscular icon who pushes back his opponents under the crackle of photographers and under the gaze of the gods and five women who await him.

One of the most common illustrations of the gender marketing upheaval is the growing interest in beauty products . An effective strategy has intensified men's need to resort to their use. Gender marketing has thus succeeded in familiarizing men with a category of products long considered essentially feminine. Cosmetic brands have adapted. They have created specific ranges and new brands. All the marketing capabilities of these large groups have been used to convince men that putting on cream is no longer only feminine! From packaging with "manly" colors and adapted to their uses (with pump bottles rather than pots for example), to the Barber Club developed by L'Oréal Men expert, through the numerous tutorials to educate this new target, everything has been there.. So much so that today, it seems to have become commonplace and one of the new trends in cosmetics is unisex!

So who is the marketing man?

So, first and foremost, he is a virile, competitive, warrior man . This is the image of Epinal that the majority of advertisements still convey. Axe goes so far as to reproduce a scene halfway from Koh-Lanta, halfway from 300 with the slogan “The more you put on, the more you get” where women come from the land, the mountains and the sea to jump on the neck of a man who is putting on deodorant.

The values attached to men are also those of simplicity, energy, success, efficiency . In fact, men's campaigns are often embodied by muses from sports or cinema.

However, we can go further and see that he is a man sensitive to ecology more than to social issues, fundamentally gregarious for whom the community is a community of values.

Humans as a marketing concept are not yet fully defined. For many sectors, they are evolving, and it's interesting to note that detailed segmentations are still quite rare.

Towards unisex marketing?

Men have thus become a target like any other for brands, with their own motivations and ways of consuming. Brands have seized this opportunity, and while women remain at the top of marketing budgets, men occupy an ever-increasing place.

Marketing has since shifted some of its energy to unisex marketing, which raises other questions.

The film What Women Want illustrates the vision of femininity by often male advertisers in the 90s, its male counterpart of the 2010s did not have the same success... Wasn't there really material to make a film?