I’ve talked about blogging vs. microblogging and do on occasion make my blog solely from my tweets, but I think one of the best uses of both forums is in a case where I want to expand past 140 characters on something that’s come up on the Twitter feed.

This came up today on Twitter – companies using recession/recessionary thinking in campaigns. Is this effective? (Yes, you’ll have to read the below Twitter convo bottom up just like in the Twitterverse.) The gist of this is: recession as marketing tool and is it effective, particularly in lifestyle businesses?

I don’t think so. I think consumers want reality, not recession talk. Instead of inflationary thinking (make your product so aspirational that you can charge whatever you like), they want realistic thinking (good product at an acceptable price point). That’s an appropriate response to recession. I think in olden days they called it “value”. Perceived value can be everything. Will write about that later, especially as it relates to digital entertainment content.

Anyway, the CEO of Citizens of Humanity denim gave me this excellent mini-case study. As a response to the economic climate, Citizens dropped a particular style’s retail price to $149 (Citizens jeans tend to start around $175, standard for premium denim). They did not reduce the quality – in fact they used a slightly more expensive fabric. Like smart businesspeople they asked their retail partners to participate in the bite and set the wholesale price a bit higher than normal, reducing the retail markup.

The jeans sold like crazy. Meanwhile- Rock & Republic, which is a highly aspirational brand- is not doing well with its “Recession Jeans”, which are actually called that, at an even lower price point.

Recession isn’t fun, and when we integrate it into our lifestyles as consumers, I think we want to call it “value” or being “conscious” – something that makes us feel as though we are gracefully relating to reality- maybe even making reality cool (as in, it’s now cool to downsize your lifestyle). I don’t want to wear the recession.

BTW, @bkm55 is Brian Mitchison, VP of Marketing at Blast Radius. They do GREAT work.

@bkm555 I don’t think “recessionista” has worked as a term that resonates with consumers, do you? Who wants to wear the recession?about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck in reply to bkm555

@bkm555 Exactly- the appropriate action in a recession is more or at least the same for less, not less for less with a cute name.about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck in reply to bkm555

bkm555@elizabrooks great example. I understand appropriate actions are required in a recession, but not marketing spin.about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck in reply to elizabrooks

@bkm555 Rock&Republic did “Recession Jeans” at about $120 & failed. Citizens did $149 jeans @ usual quality & no recession talk w/successabout 1 hour ago from TweetDeck in reply to bkm555

bkm555Using recession themes in mrk seems too contrived.about 2 hours ago from web

bkm555Journalist request: looking for companies that are using the recession in their campaigns. Not a big fan of this approach.about 2 hours ago from web