US – To reach a wider audience, brands are celebrating everyday successes and remaining true to their core identities.
Growing income disparity in the US has left a large segment of the American population turning inwards, holding on to local ties and value systems.
‘The New Heartland is an underserved, overlooked cultural segment that offers a great opportunity for brands that take the time to understand it,’ Paul Jankowski, president of the New Heartland Group, tells LS:N Global, speaking on the values of this vast segment. ‘Faith, ties to community, family, patriotism, keeping your word – these core values bubble to the top.’
Brands such as MillerCoors are scrapping aspirational hipster marketing in favour of more traditional values-based marketing to speak to a demographic outside of coastal cities. In 2016 it scrapped its I Am Rich campaign and revived its 1970s slogan ‘If you've got the time, we've got the beer’.
The Big Picture
- American values such as hard work and community may be more important than aspirational internet influencers in some markets
- For more on why it is essential to consider marketing outside of key cities in the US, see our latest microtrend American Values Marketing