By Lindsey Kin

Before deciding on a medium, it important to understand your consumer. One needs to know what they read; watch; and listen to, as well as where there interest lie, before choosing a particular advertising platform in which to place a campaign to reach that specific target audience. With Standard Bank’s MyCard, the group launched a first-of-its kind credit card for women in South Africa, reinforcing the status of South African women who make the majority of buying decisions and have better financial records than men.

On top of TV, Standard Bank made use of Destiny magazine to market this new banking concept. The brand personality of this publication is about the professional woman who sees herself as being quite different from her mother and more traditional female peers, in that she is more rebellious; independent (emotionally and financially); more educated; and more outspoken. This is the reason why Destiny was selected for Standard Bank’s MyCard, in that the magazine’s target market and the MyCard target market is a match – thus connecting with its specific target market.

“Determined to assist our clients in making the right connections, Standard Bank will ensure that they move forward, by changing opportunities into realities. Standard Bank will encourage you to move forward by ‘connecting the right ideas; at the right time; at the right place; in the right way, in order to unlock something better and create opportunities that will move you forward,” says Nikki Twomey, Standard Bank Group Brand Director.

The MyCard campaign has also used the online realm to connect with its female consumer. For example, the ‘Let’s celebrate you for being you’ competition allows female MyCard holders an opportunity to share their MyCard experiences with an online community.

Standard Bank’s new campaign is impressive – and if you too have seen their pop-up print add in Destiny magazine, you will know exactly what I am talking about. I also feel that the campaign has been a success thus far, because it truly connects with the modern female consumer who is financially independent, through many media avenues, with its underlying message communicated on a personal level.

What are your thoughts on this campaign? Post your comments on our blog.

By Kerryn le Cordeur

On Wednesday, 18 August, TNS Research Surveys hosted a breakfast presentation exploring new insights on ‘a spectrum of jewels growing in value’ – the Black Diamond market segment.

TNS Research Surveys Director, Neil Higgs, introduced the topic by explaining that while the popular press has a restricted; superficial view of Black Diamonds, the reality is that they are, in fact, middle class individuals falling into LSM seven and higher, who are well-educated; have good jobs; own homes and cars; and have aspirations for and are confident about their future.

He showed that Black Diamonds fall into one of four key segments, namely ‘Mzansi Youth’, who still live at home and have heard about ‘the struggle’, athough it is a distant concept; ‘Start Me Ups’, who are single and ambitious; ‘Young Family’, the members of which are beginning to establish families with their partners and move up the socio-economic ladder; and ‘Established’, who were part of ‘the struggle’, but who are now living comfortably as part of the middle class. He added that there is a shift taking place from a township mindset, where status quo was important and change was difficult, to a more future-focused mindset, with individuals having a more positive, risk-taking attitude, and living a more suburban lifestyle.

Higgs concluded that Black Diamonds make up 12% of the black adult population and spend an average of R237-billion each year, making this market segment a significant one for marketers to consider.

Kamohelo Mokoena of TNS Research Surveys presented some of the results from the Roots 2010 survey, and asked whether Black Diamonds differ from the rest of the middle class.

In terms of lifestyle, she said that the middle class, regardless of race, participates in similar activities. While half of the middle class doesn’t read magazines at all, Drum and Move! are the preferred publications among Black Diamonds, while the rest prefer You and Huisgenoot. Home is a symbol of the middle class, and a high level of ownership, or renting to own, is seen among this segment. Interestingly, Mokoena noted that the highest level of ownership is seen in Soweto, thanks to the tradition of homes being passed down from generation to generation.

When it comes to transport, Mokoena said that almost half of the Black Diamond population use public transport, and if they do travel by car, they are likely to own one per family, while other middle class families are more likely to own two cars. However, she pointed out that the choice of cars remains the same across the board, with Toyota; VW; BMW; Ford; and Mercedes-Benz ranking highest.

Looking at banking and finance, 70% of Black Diamonds have savings accounts, while other middle class populations are more likely to choose other types of accounts. Mokoena noted that over half of the total middle class population doesn’t have insurance, while those who do choose Old Mutual; Absa; Sanlam; First National Bank; and Standard Bank as their top insurers. She went on to mention that Black Diamonds’ primary financial obligations include school fees and burial societies, while the rest of the middle class cite their financial obligations as including life insurance; medical aid; and car insurance.

Mokoena then moved on to look at technology trends, beginning with a look at cell phone penetration, which she said is very high across the middle class population. The Black Diamond cellular service provider of choice is MTN, while for the rest of the middle class, Vodacom is the primary choice. Most users in this segment prefer prepaid packages.

Most middle class individuals access the internet primarily from work, and Black Diamonds are less likely to have access at home – although the ‘Mzansi Youth’ tend to make use of their cell phones to go online wherever they are. Google and Yahoo! are the search engines of choice among the middle class, and Mokoena explained that individuals in this segment use the internet primarily as a source of information, followed by for ‘personal admin’; social networking; entertainment; and shopping.

Lastly, looking at shopping behaviour, Mokoena said that middle class individuals, and especially Black Diamonds, are astute shoppers. When it comes to grocery shopping, the top three store choices are Shopright; Checkers; and Pick n Pay, and most prefer bulk shopping once or twice a month. For clothing and shoes, Edgars is the firm favourite, and other top choices include Jet; Truworths; Woolworths; Mr Price; and Ackermans, and Mokoena noted that Black Diamonds tend to buy more often.

She ended off by saying that there are more similarities than differences between Black Diamonds and the rest of the middle class, but marketers still need to speak to Black Diamonds differently because they are a relatively small group of consumers with massive spending power and their own individual needs and drivers.

Next, Professor Kopano Ratele, a psychologist with expertise on issues of traditions; race; gender; well-being; happiness; culture masculinities; and sexuality, spoke about the mindset of Black Diamonds in terms of identity; renegotiation of culture; and recognition.

He explained that Black Diamonds have been on quite a journey, from the village; past the township; via the suburb; to the global village, and this has shaped the history of black upward mobility aspirations. He said that there is a need to distinguish oneself and one’s worth from the masses, and that branded items (the manifestation of money and status) help to establish identity – which sometimes even trumps basic needs. Black Diamonds are still on a journey of self-discovery, according to Ratele, and, as such, are class-conscious as they try to align their cultural and political roots with their new identities.

How Black Diamonds relate to where they come from shapes how they view their status, and Ratele also explained that they feel the need to be recognised as a result of the oppression and inferiority they felt in the past. He said this need for recognition is the reason they choose certain brands – in order to be ‘hypervisible’ and not ignored.

Ratele ended off the session by saying that the Black Diamond market is an evolving and complex one, and one worth marketing to in a way that captures the individuals’ hearts and minds. He said that the six most important points to remember when considering this market are: ‘understand me’; ‘represent me’; ‘enable me’; ‘entertain me’; ‘ignite me’; and ‘reach me’.