Digital communication, Assignment week 4



What do I want to change:

As already mentioned in the previous post, Lush lacks interest of men customers. I want to change how Lush is perceived as a women's brand and increase the amount of men in their target audience. I want men to get more engaged with the brand and perceive it as something luxurious but masculine. Lush is a brand with strong personality. Buying products from Lush is almost like a statement and I want men clients to associate themselves more with the brand. I also want to increase the brand-awareness more all together through opinion leaders and word of mouth because Lush doesn't use paid advertising.

                                        Retreived from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC-b32F2c9s   

Persuasion Techniques and their Theoretical Background

1. Altercasting:In it's simplest form, Altercasting is telling someone they are "good" and that they should act accordingly: "John, you are intelligent and conscientious person; you should work hard to finish this task on time." Wanting indeed to be seen as intelligent and conscientious person, this traps John to perform the behaviour expected by such a person"  (Andrews, Van Leeuwen and Van Baaren, Hidden Persuasion, 2013). 

Altercasting in real life:
 Since Lush doesn't use paid advertising on tv, radio or internet, it is important that Lush still uses some persuasion techniques in their own social media channels. The messages should be truthful and honest since Lush has a reputation of ethical and honest brand. Lush could reach more men audience by putting out messages that include altercasting. Especially men who are already conscious consumers and interested in sustainable consumerism could catch these messages and become new customer of Lush. 

2.Reciprocity:  "Reciprocation is one of the most fundamental human social rules: we feel compelled to return favours, By returning the favour, we preserve the "give and take" balance expected from any healthy relationship. The technique's effectiveness is partly due to the independence of size between the reciprocal behaviour from the initial favour. In particular, a small gift often lead to a disproportionally large need to reciprocate" (Andrews, Van Leeuwen, Van Baaren, Hidden Persuasion 2013).

Reciprocity in real life: Doing research, I found out that Lush is already doing this. When buying a product, the store puts a little extra product in your shopping bag after purchase. This is a way to leave an impression of generosity and kindness. This increases the likelihood of the customer returning to the store because they left the store with a positive and grateful feelings.  This is a great way to build a lasting customer-retailer relationship. One thing that Lush could do is add small samples of their mens products into female customers shopping bag that the women can give to their sons, husbands, fathers or boyfriends. This will spread word about the company through opinion leaders and word of mouth.  

Retrieved from: http://nicolettasbeautyspace.blogspot.nl/2010_05_01_archive.html

                                  
Sources:
(Andrews, Van Leeuwen and Van Baaren, Hidden Persuasion, 2013)
www.Lush.com