Skip to main content

Marketing's new normal.

There seems to be a steady stream of books offering breathless predictions about the death of advertising and, by extension, agencies.

I’ve recently come to believe that the Chicken Littles who squawk loudest about the perils of not embracing the new normal in marketing are secretly rooted in the past.

Good marketing professionals – marketers and agencies alike – realized this several years ago, adapted and got on with things. Successful companies tend to do this. Others don’t. They go out of business. Just as Mr. Darwin predicted.  Moreover, the next generation of talent streaming into the marketing field are probably clueless as to what these authors are debating. If you want to make a 25-year-old ROTFL (whether they be a brand manager or a copywriter), refer to the web as “new media.”

Those who still go on about the how the business is changing do so because deep down they still use the wonder years of network television and national magazines as the yardstick by which to measure change.

The new normal banishes words like "traditional" and "nontraditional." Is a print ad with an embedded QR code traditional? Or how about bus board with a mobile call-to-action? You get the point.

The new normal doesn’t view "brand" through the narrow lens of a product’s TV or print campaign because consumers build brand impressions through a complex mix of first-hand experiences, peer opinions and, yes, intangible and emotional imagery.

The new normal views interactive media as a powerful brand-building medium because it has the ability to inspire deep engagement, expose customers to peer reviews and immerse customers in highly emotional brand narratives.

The new normal embraces media as a source of creativity, not as the pipes through which we beam ideas. The context in which we appear in a customer’s life is often as important as what we say.

The new normal embraces metrics, both hard and soft. Those who embrace only one set over the other will struggle. Ignore ROI or store traffic and nobody will care about the awareness gain. Likewise, click-through rates at the expense of relevance, differentiation and likability will not sit well when the brand degrades to commodity status. True professionals work hard to balance these seemingly conflicting goals, and that’s why they’re good at what they do.

The new normal also recognizes the business value of TV, print and radio. Good luck reaching C-Suite executives with a viral video, or my mom, for that matter, through Twitter. And let me know how efficient your street teams are relative to a spot on an NFL game in reaching millions of guys. When we close our eyes to the power and effectiveness of mass advertising, we are as blind as those who ignore the creative possibilities within social media or mobile marketing. True professionals embrace all forms of marketing and know when and how to deploy each.

So let’s just get on with it. The industry doesn’t need to change. It needs a good dose of creative destruction. Let market forces take their toll. Those who embrace the new normal will prosper. Those who don’t will not. Couldn’t be simpler. Don’t you love capitalism?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What makes a premium brand premium?

I was thinking the other day about the DNA of premium brands . One thing is certain -- it's a relative idea. For example, Hyatt is not a premium brand if you're used to staying at a W or a Ritz Carlton. But if your vacations to date have been holed up in a Holiday Inn, then by all means a stay in a Hyatt is a premium experience. Another thing is certain -- a brand is considered premium only when we believe it is worth the price. And that's where we can dig deeper. Why are we willing to pay more for a product when there are others that provide the same service or function at a lesser price? I have spent a good part of my marketing career developing strategies and ideas for a wide range of  premium brands, including American Express, Sony, Callaway Golf, Hilton, Jaguar, Land Rover – even the Toyota Prius.  Through these experiences I have come to believe that a premium brand is built upon specific tangible and intangible attributes that give it a sense wort

Super game. Dull ads

As a passionate Giants fan it is safe to say that I had a good time yesterday. But as an advertising professional I felt a bit underwhelmed by the caliber of the advertising . Many were entertaining. But few possessed that intangible Super Bowl-ness...big, pop-cultural, fun. Even fewer seemed to have anything relevant to say about the brand, such as the Planters "uni-brow" spot. I loved the Bridgestone "screaming animals" spot, but it would have been a much better spot for the Saab featured in the spot than the tires the car rode upon. As for Bud, good spots, but I've seen the dog and horse thing before. Tide's talking stain was funny, but did it have Super Bowl-ness? My fav? The Coke "balloon float" spot. It was classic Coke (for Coke Classic). Big. Entertaining. Unexpected twist. Utterly charming. And Charlie Brown finally won something. Coke is about smiles. And that spot was just that. The Audi spot that I wrote about last week liv

Marketing as a service.

What if we re-imagined marketing as a way to serve customers?  What if we designed it as a way to provide real-time value and utility to customers? Our SXSW panel at explored these issues and more.  Marketing as a service harnesses Big Data to provide more meaningful and helpful experiences for customers.  It is a principle born of the belief that the dynamics of customer loyalty have fundamentally changed.  Loyalty can no longer be solely defined by customers staying loyal to a brand.  Because the internet provides us with unlimited choice, the tables have turned – brands must now demonstrate their loyalty to customers by serving them.