Individual and Collective IdentiTEA

Our Midnight Snack of Cookies and Tea

Carrying on from the previous posts, Fetishization of an item is invariably tied to some sort of individual or collective identity, where we feel some ties to a particular commodity. In my case, tea makes me feel more productive; i.e. i normally drink it when i am doing work. I can't explain how it began, but it does become a sort of ritual for whatever reason. This is how an individual identity is born; it begins and then becomes routine.

Consumers identify with products in a similar sort of way, except this occurs over various scales and for a variety of reasons. (*) The four Ps of marketing include: Price, Product, Place (Distribution) and Promotion.

1. Product-  variety, quality, design, features, brand name, packaging, services

 As stated before, brand name is a major selling point of the company as well as the high quality of the teas for sale. The packaging could be designed better however.

2. Price- list price, discounts, allowance, payment period, credit terms
 Red Rose Tea retails fairly cheap on the market (i think i paid $16.00 for a box of 100).

3. Place - channels, coverage, assortments, locations, inventory, transportation, logistics
 Red Rose bases its tea estates in various locations, and has its major packaging in the United States, with  distribution through the multiple arms of Unilever.

4. Promotion- advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations
Red Rose advertises through its website and Facebook page and promotes its product in various ways, by pictures, slideshows and videos.

All of these marketing Ps contribute to the way in which consumers identify with the products. Different consumers will hold different weightings to each of the major groups. For example, a consumer who prefers a product that is cheaper may pass up one which is lower in quality or less boisterous in promotion. Similarly a product that may have otherwise been extremely popular in an area may not be so if the market is not tapped through proper distribution and segmentation.

Through this routine consumption and attribution of tea drinking to a calm, concentrated setting, we can see how an identity that revolves around tea drinking could be constructed. In this same way, collective identities are constructed where people gather to consume items that mean something to them and which represent a good time , a time of reverence, etc.