We all know that feeling when we look at a home, pair of shoes, car or watch that is way out of our price range. Imagining the lifestyle and thinking what if. This is where aspirational advertising comes in. Creating brands and businesses that not only inspire aspiration but refuse to budge from their position of superiority – never offering discounts or reductions. Thereby, when potential customers’ income rises, they become a go-to brand or business that the customer goes to. Fulfilling their aspiration and piggybacking on the status that the name brings. 

What is aspirational advertising? 

Aspirational advertising is not just selling a product or service but an idea. An idea of a future view or lifestyle your target demographic is seeking to achieve.  It takes a bigger picture view of a brand, creating exclusivity and a premium feel across all marketing and sales efforts. From an unwavering stance on discounting to high-end branding, limited stock drops to making customers make appointments for their in-person stores. 

Instead of just relying on demographic data, as standard marketing does, aspirational advertising goes a step further. Thinking about what direction people want to head in, the narratives they want to be a part of and the type of people they want to be. This allows brands to connect to key drivers of behaviour. Is it status, heritage, money, flashiness or discreteness that drives them? Who do they aspire to be – Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian or a more low-key billionaire? It’s all of these aspects which play into aspirational marketing – creating aspirational realities which their target demographics can hook onto emotionally and purchase when they’re at a point they can.

Why does aspirational advertising matter? 

The bigger picture view aspirational advertising builds allows businesses to market and sell higher-ticket or luxury brands, products or services. Not just in a two dimensional way, but bringing the whole brand into the selling context. Think of any luxury brand, for example, whether that be Chanel, Balenciaga or Lamborghini – every move they make is deliberate and maintains a certain level of mystique or exclusivity. Never cheapening themselves, always keeping ahead of the curve and creating brand stories that give consumers something to aspire to. 

This form of advertising ensures three key requisites of marketing are met: relevancy, engagement and brand growth. Rather than moving forward with a strategy that lacks focus, aspirational marketing allows brands to clearly lay out the activities they’ll be engaging in and position them strategically within the customers’ lifecycle. 

How to do aspirational advertising? 

Now you understand the importance of aspirational advertising, we bet you’re wondering how to do it. Here are our initial tips to get started with the right foundations for your aspirational advertising campaigns. 

1. Choose your demographic: pick who you’re aiming for with basic demographic data. Is it Gen Zs, Baby Boomers or Millenials? This initial data will give you something to work from. 
2. Connect to their wants, needs and aspirations: look beneath the surface of the demographic. Tap into their mindset, belief and values. What does psychographic research tell you about their behaviour and what would drive them to purchase? 
3. Understand where they are and why: do they use social media, paid advertising or other forms of communication? This will dictate where you’re spending budget and how you’re telling your brand stories. 
4. Create a cross-channel marketing strategy: in line with their key purchase drivers and channels they use, create a strategy that encourages action and meets them where they are on and offline. With brand assets and an overall selling strategy that highlights exclusivity. 
5. Produce relevant brand assets and content: to speak to their core values, pain points and support the sales process at every relevant touchpoint. Creating a holistic view of the product or service. 
6. Track their behaviour: the key to aspirational advertising is measuring whether your predictions on their drivers and the content they need are correct. Keep track of your campaigns and efforts to ensure that it’s creating their desired effect. If not, what can you learn from the data and how can you optimise your advertising? 

Aspirational advertising plays a huge part in what makes luxury brands successful. It’s what keeps high-end brands at that end of the scale and ensures that they continue to sell high-ticket products and services without friction or questioning by their core demographics. So if your product or service is within the luxury category, using this more in-depth form of advertising strategy is vital to uphold a sense of mystique and exclusivity.

Keen to understand more about how this could benefit your business or want to chat with experts on how to create a killer strategy, we’re here to help. Simply get in touch with us today.