Don’t think of pink elephants! Well you did. Gotcha. You (and I) couldn't help it because our minds think quickly in pictures and associations.
Well, the same, smart marketing psychology underscores Tangerine, an out of the ordinary furniture orchard name and collection that apeels, make that, appeals to a generation attuned to questioning for authenticity.
So, what does Tangerine have to do with furniture? Not much, except as a fresh thought and action path to attract business from an unconventional association. Why? Because it is delightfully and innovative, different, cool, edgy and superbly counterintuitive. The operative word is counterintuitive, a concept the furniture industry needs to know for marketing success.
Ask Ed Tashjian, Pulaski’s (Home Meridian) enthusiastic chief marketing officer, about counterintuitive strategies. “We give retailers a unique and memorable marketing story right for a demographic segment in tune with what is attractively different,” he says, demonstrating that being thoughtfully different can mean business.
What Pulaski has accomplished is to help us think of tangerine furniture, as the fruit of marketing insight. Tangerine is a seemingly incongruous link that immediately prompts the “why” questions from Generation Y who wants to know why.
The Gen Y cohort group, aged 25 to 35, personifies a technology gadget lifestyle, which is a key element in Pulaksi’s marketing strategy. Here’s where the ethnography comes into play.
Pulaski studied how the Gen Y-ers live and work, and that disciplined attention (research) of human behavior is ethnography, an important element in effective marketing. If you don’t know how your market's lifestyle, how can you meet their needs? Guessing or hoping isn't a strategy. Duh!
What did Pulaski learn?: Gen Y-ers have limited disposal income, as most are on the verge of building households. They need smaller scale and functional furniture. That means they can be attracted to furniture whose function is congruent with their tech-savvy lifestyle.
Armed with fresh knowledge, Pulaski is betting Gen Y-ers will be receptive to the Tangerine 30-piece collection, especially its nightstand, featuring an internal gadget recharging station, which is literally and figuratively top drawer in every way.
Given Pulaski's understanding of savvy marketing to Gen Y, Tangerine probably has sustainability, and that means for retailers the new collection can be more than a one nightstand.
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