Inviting consumers to imagine themselves

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), April, 2004

A "product is not really how you see yourself, but it is an idealized image of what you'd like to be," explains Carolyn de la Pena, an assistant professor of American Studies at the University of California, Davis, and a former branding strategist who worked on national corporate accounts. "Advertisers aren't typically trying to make people desire something they don't want; more often, they're trying to attach a set of things that consumers do desire--status, relaxation, love--onto materials that may or may not have anything really to do with the actual thing desired.

"Advertising is more about figuring out how consumers want to imagine themselves and claiming that a product can make that imagination reality."

She points to the Prada fashion company, which is rebranding itself through a showcase store in New York. Although pricey, the Italian fashion house has developed a negative image of being a brand that engenders cheap knockoffs throughout the world. To combat this, the location in Soho has erected large video screens portraying unpleasant, chaotic images of global commerce. Meanwhile, the store displays upscale Prada items in a sparse museum-like setting to show the consumer that the brand essentially is about high-quality and luxury.

Prada has embraced the criticism and, by doing so, reshaped its image. It asks customers to think about the contrast between the screen and the store's merchandise, thus offering people the choice of which type of consumer they want to be.