The many facets of what value can mean to different people…

By Robert Wheatley

In our last post we examined the various facets of value that drive brand purchase. Value has many dimensions, and as we indicated, one person’s sense of what is valuable may differ widely from another.

We now market products and services in an era dominated by customization, choice and individualization. Categories have, in amoeba-like fashion, sub-divided into smaller, narrower segments based on the unique needs and interests of distinct consumer groups we affectionately refer to as tribes. So value will have many faces and looks to different tribes.

In the end value comes in an array of types and styles because it exists subjectively in the eyes of the beholder. Our goal as marketers is to meet and talk with consumer groups to better assess and understand what is valuable to them. Value creation is at the heart of brand success and so our collective job as agency and client is to investigate and understand what those perceptions of value look like. Here’s a quick list to show the variations on the theme consumer segments may gravitate towards:

Value possibilities:

Identity value

Mapping the value equation often leads us to focus on the more obvious product features and benefits while overlooking the very important area of emotion and feelings. Ironically it is emotion more than rational thinking that drives purchase decisions.

To quote Tom Asacker, one of our favorite brand experts - Brands are about feelings and how marketers work to deliver an expectation of a feeling when in the presence of their brand or business. “We create them (feelings) by making peoples lives simpler, more convenient, less risky, more fun, less boring, more productive, better informed, more connected, more fashionable, more successful, more alive….”

What kind of value possibilities do you see?

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