Marketers have always thought that they market to each individual and sometimes have put a single community into a market segment. But this way of looking into the marketing is quickly fading.

Whenever I used to see a Pantene Shampoo advertisement, it used to be really concerning. Since neither the models nor the messaging resonated with me. I am an Indian-American woman and normally I did not see any ads that had models who looked like me. Secondly the messaging was very skewed towards women who for some reason wanted to look like models. It never felt that it was regular women.

And then came social communities – where people started to learn about products and services from people who shared their common interest. This was the genesis of Tribal marketing. In this case, it was not about individual consumption of products and services but people were more compelled by an activity that created meaningful relationships.

After all, we are social by nature and having the capability and social relationships are more important than ever. Now consider, if I went to purchase a Pantene shampoo and was able to build a relationship with a few people in the store who could tell me a little about their experience, share their hair stories and refer me to a promotion – this would create a social environment and a way to build relationships. And this is the essence of Consumer Tribes….