Normcore Marketing is a marketing approach that aims to simplify and reduce the noise, brightness, and aggressiveness in promotion. Normcore emerged from the world of fashion, where it represents a movement towards ending the race for trends and simplifying style to basic clothing that doesn’t distract from a person’s individuality. Examples of “tranquil” marketing include moments of silence in TV commercials and long advertisements for automotive brands.
Why Normcore Marketing Works?
The Proliferation of Advertising
In 2023, it’s safe to say that the number of advertising platforms has continued to grow. In the coming years, we’ll see dynamic advertising on various surfaces, including wearable technology, couriers, vehicles, and buildings. Not to mention news websites and social media, where advertising banners make up 30-40% of all content. In such an environment, there’s so much advertising that it ceases to be effective, leading to what’s known as “banner blindness” and overall information overload, which hampers perception and information processing.
Urban Living
The fast pace of life, lack of free time, and a shortage of nature lead people to seek tranquil and peaceful spaces, to listen to light music, and to buy and wear simple brands. People are willing to pay for the opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city and take a break from consuming information.
There’s Already Plenty of Aggressive Advertising on the Internet, and Less of It
Templates and Clichés
Moreover, bright, flashy, and provocative advertising can no longer be considered original. We’ve seen it all: excessive sexualization inappropriately, shock value, absurdity, and sensational headlines. While aggressive advertising has been around in some markets, in others, it can be seen as bad taste in general. Yes, templates and clickbait still work to some extent, but they can negatively affect how the brand is perceived overall.
Clickbait is the practice of crafting a headline in such a way that it is as intriguing and attention-grabbing as possible, creating a desire to click on the link. However, the headline intentionally misleads, meaning that the content after the headline often doesn’t live up to the promise, leading to feelings of deception and information rejection. Clickbait employs sensationalized topics, threats, “yellow” headlines, and the distortion of information (sometimes to the point of being the opposite).
Effectiveness
“Normcore” marketing can also include native advertising. Native advertising involves placing information about a brand and its products on resources that closely match the content’s theme. For example, cosmetics advertising in the style of a beauty blog on Instagram or mobile phone ads on a gadget review channel. Such advertising is highly relatable to visitors, doesn’t trigger rejection, and is usually presented in the style of the resource, becoming valuable content. This is how advertisers achieve both higher advertising effectiveness and broad reach. It gives the impression that the more natural the integration, the better.
How to Implement “Normcore” Marketing
At the very least, in marketing, you should consider applying an approach that simplifies and eases the pressure in advertising: calm and beautiful video ads, minimalist websites and social media pages, banners with minimal elements, reducing the amount of text in promotional materials and unique selling propositions (USPs). Managing personal social media accounts can also be part of a normcore strategy: people are genuinely interested in following your life and development, and they will become your customers even without aggressive sales tactics.
Tranquil Normcore Marketing is a long-term effort aimed at creating a “quiet harbor” and a sense of stability for customers. It works, that’s evident. However, as always, there’s no one-size-fits-all recipe for success, and not everyone needs this kind of promotion.
