Over the past few years, ad campaigns have shown a definite trend toward taking a more inclusive view of what is beautiful and what is cool. For example, Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, which launched in 2006, is a worldwide effort to expand the stereotypes by which beauty has been defined. Dove’s campaign “aims to change the status quo and offer in its place a broader, healthier, more democratic view of beauty,” a view of beauty that all women and girls, no matter what their age, shape or size, can own and enjoy every day.

Owning the concept of what is beautiful or cool is all about attitude, about having the self-esteem to thrive even when one is not in conformity with the norm.

Advertising that targets men is also venturing farther down this attitudinal marketing road. The “Not your father’s Oldsmobile” campaign in 2000 was a notable flop, seemingly reinforcing the brand’s identification with the older generation, but there’s a fresh new crop of ads that seem likely to succeed.

I was amused to read in Business Week’s November 5, 2007 issue about the new Canadian Club ad campaign with its slogan, “Damn Right Your Dad Drank It.” The provocative ad with the headline “Your Mom wasn’t your Dad’s first” is supposed to celebrate the moment a son “realizes his Dad is a regular guy,” said Marty Orzio, creative chief at Energy BBDO, which created the campaign. The ad will appear in magazines like Rolling Stone, that reportedly don’t usually (and maybe never before) have run ads for whiskey.

Whether you’re amused by the Canadian Club ad or not, the new LensCrafters ad is one you will want to notice. This particular ad ran in the October 2007 issue of Esquire magazine. It reads: “your crazy cufflinks let you whisper your rebel yell, do your glasses?”

Are you marketing men’s jewelry as something cool, something with attitude? Are you marketing women’s jewelry that way too? The self-purchase market is out there. Customers with attitude are looking for jewelry that reflects attitude too. 

JCK