The 10/10 Rule of 'Aspirational Advertising'

“Aspirational marketing” refers to advertising that targets your prospects not by who they are, but by who and what they want to become.

For instance, I would wager that most of the prospects for Peloton don’t look anything like the fitness models using Peloton exercise equipment in its TV commercials.

The actors in the Peloton spots have great bodies. They go “balls to the wall,” exerting themselves to the maximum when they work out — and, they seem to enjoy it.

That’s deliberate, of course, because the hard bodies in the Peloton TV advertising are what Peloton believes its ideal potential customers aspire to be.

The 10/10 rule of aspirational marketing has been used for decades in exercise, fitness, weight loss, fashion, and beauty advertising.

Simply put, the people you show in your advertising should be about 10 years younger and 10 pounds lighter than your actual customers and potential customers.

Prospects universally aspire to be thinner and more youthful in appearance. But why specifically 10 years and 10 pounds?

Because 10 years and 10 pounds is enough of a difference to be desirable and aspirational. Yet at the same time realistic enough to be seen as attainable.

According to an article in "The Drum" (9/13/23), only 4% of people in ads are over the age of 60, despite the fact that Americans age 60 and older control 25% of consumer spending.

"The Drum" editors see this as being a bad thing: They say it is ageism — and a failure to be inclusive.

What "The Drum" writers may be missing is that many aging boomers wish we were more attractive and  trimmer. And we also prefer looking at images of more attractive and youthful actors and models. Rather than plain folk who look, well ... like us.

Now, there is an opposing and upcoming school of marketing that takes the opposite approach of aspirational marketing: “reality-based marketing (RBM).”

The theory behind RBM is that you engage your prospects more powerfully by showing them reality.

This reality includes images of people who look and seem to be like the prospect — and NOT the idealized versions depicted in aspirational advertising.

For decades, the Victoria’s Secret catalog was the gold standard of aspirational advertising — so packed with glamour photos of hot models that some jokingly referred to it as “the Christian man’s Playboy.”

Today, Victoria’s Secret has deep-sixed the steamy sex appeal supermodels in favor of a broader and more inclusive selection of models, ranging from fit and slim to stocky and even overweight.

In a recent email (9/14/23), copywriter Brian Clark writes that “crafting messages from your personal point of view can backfire spectacularly if you’re not aligned with your intended audience's worldview, values, and attitudes.”

As a marketer, you have to understand your market well enough to know which approach would work best: reality-based marketing or aspirational advertising. And that includes knowing who your market really is.

For instance, Victoria’s Secret catalogs always appealed to men, because men like woman with hot bodies wearing skimpy lingerie.

But are the Victoria’s Secret customers women who wear the lingerie — or men who want their women to wear it?

If the company’s customers are mostly the women who wear the product, then the question is: what images will generate more engagement and online orders?

The sexy bikini models of aspirational advertising?

Or a broader and more inclusive spectrum of reality-based women of all shapes, sizes, and colors?

Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter specializing in B2B and direct marketing. He  has written copy for over 100 companies including Sony, IBM, AT&T, and Intuit. McGraw-Hill calls Bob Bly “America’s copy copywriter.”

Bob is the author of more than 100 books including The Copywriter’s Handbook (St. Martins). He can be reached via email at rwbly@bly.com or on the web at www.bly.com