Page 156 - 100 Great Marketing Ideas (100 Great Ideas)

74 FIND THE LOST TRIBE

Although we like to think we have moved on a lot from the days
of living in the jungle, human beings still retain most of their
instincts from our cave-age past. For example, we like to be part of
a tribe. Anthropologists recognize that urban people still develop
tribal groupings, complete with rituals (secret handshakes, special
language or jargon, even special clothing), in order to have a sense
of fitting in.

In our hunter-gatherer days, being part of a tribe was essential to
survival: fighting off predators and finding food would have required
a good-sized group. In modern times, being part of a tribe (whether
it’s a local street gang or a Rotarian group) is essential to our social
well-being, and certainly helps us to survive better.

Tapping into tribal associations offers marketers a chance to create
fierce loyalty as well as selling to a larger group than might otherwise
be the case, at no greater expense or effort.

The idea

Tatoo is a French telecommunications company, specializing in
pagers and cellphones. Pagers were, at one time, the communications
tool of choice for teenagers throughout France. Tatoo decided to
target the product at primary social groups (groups of friends and
family) and so they used images of in-line roller skaters to promote
the product. “Tribes” of in-line skaters were recruited to appear in
the adverts (rather than use professional actors) so that the adverts
conveyed an authentic image to the teenagers.

100 GREAT MARKETING IDEAS • 147