The use of cultural icons in marketing is prevalent during the holidays.
While businesses can influence the perception of the holiday spirit, to others these icons are a way to bring joy and nourish cultural traditions.
“Corporations send messages to consumers about their products,” said Louise Heslop, a marketing professor at Carleton University.
Price, product, location, and advertising are all important aspects of marketing a product and showing customers their needs will be met, she said.
One way businesses encourage consumer purchasing is by offering promotions, such as discounts and coupons, “especially during tough economic times,” Heslop said.
Cultural icons are also important in drawing business, particularly during the holiday season.
“The role of an icon, for example Santa Claus, represents something,” Heslop said. “We associate the icon with a memory, and this memory to the product. It has an emotional level to it.”
Just as the image of Santa prompts many to recollect childhood memories, the Christmas wreath prompts the same for Linda Bergeron, who has been creating her product since the age of 13, carrying on an important family tradition.
“I kept doing the wreaths because my grandmother was doing the wreaths, and then my father,” Bergeron said.
To Bergeron, who sells fruits and vegetables in the ByWard Market during the summer months, the cultural icon of the Christmas wreath is an especially important part of her business.
“We basically do a fundraiser,” Bergeron said. “Sports teams buy them from us, and then they resell it. They make a profit out of it, to help their organizations.”
This perk keeps customers coming back for more each year.
“They’re very happy, very satisfied because [the wreaths] keep longer than Christmas,” she said. “Sometimes they don’t throw them out until February because they keep very well and have a nice smell.”
A good first impression is important for catching the consumer’s attention, and prompting them to return.
While “businesses didn’t create Christmas . . . or Halloween or Easter, they certainly are interested in using the opportunity to encourage consumers to buy their products,” Heslop said.
But due to the state of the economy, “businesses are facing difficulty motivating customers to come to the marketplace and spend money,” she added.
Bergeron sells her product for only $10, as a way to help others, and “keep the Christmas spirit.” Selling wreaths is as much about her customers as it is for her, she said.
“Christmas is a very important time,” Heslop said. “It’s a chance for businesses to get a jump start on sales.”
While Heslop said businesses do play an important role in redefining holidays, to Bergeron, selling the icon of the Christmas wreath is about preserving tradition and “making people happy,” just as much as it is a livelihood.