What Can You Learn from the Housewives Franchise?

Whether you are hooked on reality TV or not, you have to respect the empire rendered by the Housewives franchise.

Why is that?

This very popular TV franchise has struck a chord with viewers. It manages to take you on a journey and allows you to feel an array of emotion; everything from luxurious fantasy to vile loathing.

This is important for marketers to pay attention to. Not just for the obvious reasons regarding popular pop culture and its impact on consumer behavior, but the subtleties of why these shows are so popular and subscribed to across the offerings.

Emotion. These shows make you feel. As said earlier, the ‘feelings’ range and are varied, but each episode is usually a roller coaster ride, taking the viewer along to love and hate and fear and protect all in one episode.

Good marketing does the same thing. But I caution that just evoking emotion is not enough. There must be content and branding.

I am certain that you can all cite examples of commercials you recall or remember but do not know who or what the Product or Company is associated with the spot. This is poor marketing.

Good branding is like the Housewives franchise. Each episode, across the various versions, evokes emotion, provides an experiential ride and continuously delivers consistent branding in imaging, format and content. While flipping channels and landing on one of these shows, you know it right away and you know the ‘real’ Housewives shows versus those that are spin offs or replicas. That’s good marketing.

So as the characters … um real people… in NY, OC, NJ or BH are sharing their lives with you, pay attention to the consistent display of emotion,  format, branding and content. Then ask yourself how you can inject this consistency into your marketing across channels, venues, media, etc.

Happy Marketing!