From Shouting to Conversation

Marketing rookies and brand afficianados alike could stand to benefit from Strategy magazine. Scaling the pages of last month’s issue, I came across a dual-authored article by Tony Chapman & Ken Wong on the “blandvertising” of modern marketing initiatives. The article makes some convincing distinctions between marketing for the “mega account” (Coca-cola, RBC, etc.) and the market-leading initiatives spurred by entrepreneurs and private labels. Essentinally, what Chapman & Wong conclude is that the mega account’s creative initiatives are stunted by their responsibility to please the masses, whereas private labels can afford that risk because it’s a win-win: if they offend anyone, the campaign is seen as edgy and risque and if they succeed.. well you get the idea.

Of particular interest to me, though, was Chapman’s comment on the state of modern marketing: “We might have to wait for the next generatiom of marketers to move the agenda and investment from shouting to conversation, from impressions to meaningful interactions and from mass to my.”

What Chapman has done here is perfectly paraphrase the approach that I believe is THE deal in the future marketing arena. Gone are the days of cold-calling and cold-lead lists; enter emotional marketing. Juice has long been an advocate of the feelings economy: Gen X and Gen Y employees are as, if not more, concerned with work-life balance and having their core emotional needs met as they are with pay and benefits. Such is the case with our target audience, too. As Bill Bacharach says in Values Based Selling: “People don’t trust you because they understand you, they trust you because you understand them.”

Chapman is onto something big here. It is our role as next-gen marketers to fullfil the role that is bursting with potential; cater to your audience’s needs, take the time to reach them on a personal level and watch the sales cycle take new shape.

~ by Brandon Carlos on July 14, 2008.