Have you seen the new SheaMoisture commercial floating around the internet?

Please take a few minutes to watch it. 

Posted April 20, 2017

 

Head to the comment section and tell me what you think:

When you watched the cover video from Shea Moisture what were your initial thoughts?

The commercial has many natural sisters ready to boycott and stop supporting a company that cares about our interest as black women.  I’ve worn my hair natural for at least 17 years and I’ve used their shampoo for about 6 years. In fact, my locs love Shea Moisture’s all natural shampoo and in one of my Youtube videos, I mentioned that it’s been one of the products I’ve used the longest. Before you raise your picket signs please understand the magic behind marketing. one of my Youtube videos I mentioned that it’s been one of the products I’ve used the longest. Before you raise your picket signs please understand the magic behind marketing. 

The commercial above was not SheaMoisture’s only new commercial, there were several posted on their Facebook page, but the first definitely caused the company to receive a lot of negative attention.

Posted March 25, 2017

Audience Expansion

When black companies try to enter mainstream areas their products can be ignored and seen as only for minority groups. When I saw SheaMoisture’s commercial I immediately knew that there was more to the story. A black business whose primary customer base is brown women would not just alienate the very people who helped them prosper, would they? I took off my natural hat, and put on my business hat for a few minutes and asked myself, why would a 21-century black owned company need to create a commercial that appears white-washed? It’s simple, just like Dove and Pantene have different brands for different demographics Shea Moisture wants the same expansion. I get it.

Real Marketing Examples

I’m sure you’ve seen Pantene’s brown bottles, which are for people with tighter curls. While, their white bottles are for people with a looser curl pattern or straight hair. Unfortunately, the white bottles would strip my hair of it’s natural oils and make it brittle. Whereas, my friends with straight hair did not need the moisture because their hair automatically created the oils. Instead, they desired to add bounce by reducing the oil in their hair. Thus, it’s commonly known that different hair textures need different care, so the same products may not be best for all textures.

As I learned to embrace my natural curl pattern, I also learned that my hair needed moisture to grow and feel healthy. Ironically, before I switched to SheaMoisture, I used Pantene’s brown bottles of shampoo for my natural hair. Pantente’s shampoo slogan is “Truly Relaxed Intense Moisturizing Shampoo.” Their products goal is to add moisture back into the customer’s dry and weak relaxed or permed hair. However, just because Pantene came out with a product line with a clearly different audience doesn’t mean that Shea Moisture should have followed their branding example. 

Market Wisely

There are ways you can create different product lines without typecasting audiences. Is it admirable for companies to use different ads for different markets? For instance, have you ever watched car ads on OWN or BET or BOUNCE TV or even Telemundo. The ads are often geared towards the communities that primarily watch those televis...