Living in Peru : your everyday companion

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By Peter Smith, brand manager, Alicorp


Masstige: a word used to refer to a massive and at the same time prestigious product, even if it may sound like a contradiction. This new and interesting marketing tendency is awakening the interest of businessmen that face the continuous challenge of positioning products to maximize the impact on the consumer.

Business psychology, and especially that which involves decision making by the potential client, is a subject that absorbs all marketers. With the objective of identifying trends in the psychology of decision making of the American consumer, the marketing specialists of the Boston Consulting Group, Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske, have conducted extensive studies since 1998, and identified an emerging profile of consumption that they baptized as “masstige.” The word derives from “mass” and “prestige,” and has been described as prestige for the masses.

The overall categories of mass consumption consist in general of three segments defined as: i) Super Premium: high quality products, whose price makes them reasonable to a small minority, II) Standard: differentiated products with an average price, and III) Economic: basic products similar to one another and low in price.

The masstige products command high, but not prohibitive prices that are in between Super Premium and Standard, and are perceived as “luxury” and therefore are able to generate emotional satisfaction. Their target public is people with a medium-to-high socioeconomic level, with aspirations to rise in the social scale.

The need for prestige and style, especially in the upper middle class, is ever more important. Silverstein observed that consumers in the medium-high segment choose to save in some categories, acquiring inexpensive mass products, while also choosing to invest selectively in products in other categories that they believe will transmit prestige to them. In other words, they tighten their belts in the categories that do not contribute to their emotional satisfaction, but are disposed to pay more for products that permit them to affirm themselves emotionally and socially.

The products defined as masstige have in common their making those who don’t have them aspire to do so, and that when they are obtained, they emotionally involve their consumer. They are particularly successful in the categories with high emotional involvement of the consumer, for example, underwear, automobiles and pet food. In the United States, the masstige segment represents between 20% and 40% in some categories of the platform of personal care, and it is growing at a rate that averages twice that of the category.

The pioneering sectors of this marketing strategy were automobiles (the Porsche Boxter, Mercedes Class C, BMW class 3), cosmetics (Bath & Body Works), women’s undergarments (Victory’s Secret), energy drinks (Red Bull), spirits (Kendall Jackson wines) and chocolates (Godiva).

The study of Michael Silverstein emphasizes four changes in the psychological profile of the upper-middle class American that sustains the surge in the masstigio market:

• Greater personal valuation in daily life and the home.
• Growth in the taste for adventures and escapades.
• Development of insecure human relations (Internet, cellular phones).
• Admiration for one’s own individual style.

The changes are generated by the increase of daily professional and family stress, and as a result, creates a need to increase self-esteem. The BCG insists that “this self-esteem is not narcissism - you are beautiful if you feel that way, and so, you must invest in yourself.” Self branding in the professional and social media is a virtue, and “demands products that, emotionally, are comfortable and attractive.”

The masstige phenomenon observed in the United States and some European countries has had an accelerated rate of growth in recent years, forcing us to reframe the relationship between consumer needs and the products offered. The phenomenon has been recognized by some global producers, which offer members of this new consumption profile products designed especially for them. It also offers great opportunities to leading companies and innovators to enter a high-price segment, with still higher margins.

It is contradictory to sell prestige and exclusivity in mass (because when something is owned in mass, it would no longer be prestigious) and so, the masstige products, without a clearly established differentiating benefit, would not be successful in the medium and long term. These products may be quickly successful at first, but their enchantment for the consumer would be inversely proportional to their success.

In order for a masstige product to be successful in the long term, it must have a noticeable differentiation in design and/or technology compared to the regular products in the category. This differentiation must be real and marked. Promises of “improvements” are not enough if they don’t really exist or are imperceptible to the consumer. This it is a game that marketers of American automobile brands used for years, which in the long term has resulted in a reduction of their perceived value.

In the April 2003 issue of Harvard Business Review, Silverstein himself describes masstige products as being vulnerable to a “death in mid-stream.” They can be attacked by other products that offer the same emotional benefits, but at a more economical price, as well as by products that offer more genuine benefits for a small increase in price.

Before the masstige segment can be developed locally, the Super Premium segment – a virtually nonexistent segment in Peru - must first be developed. The perception must also be developed that the consumption of these products provides status to their privileged consumers. Only then can the development of the masstige segment, as Silverstein proposes, be contemplated in Peru.