Maintaining meaningful consumer connections
BY S YESUDAS Our interconnected world is making marketers look at consumer connection strategies differently. As consumers move through the ecosystem of bought, owned and earned media, where brands are competing with each other to make an impression on the consumer, it’s imperative for media agencies to guide clients, to ensure the impression is relevant enough to trigger a behaviour change. Media plans are no longer based on computer algorithms that drive reach and frequency. Unlike the practised process of ending marketing when the product is sold, I believe marketing can begin after the purchase too. How? Consider the consumer as an individual, with the possibility of making every interaction with the brand a meaningful experience for him; or consider the consumers as a group and enhance the discussions around the brand for others to discover. Changing social/cultural dynamism is welcoming challengers with new beliefs and vision. Nations are brought down, inspirational heroes take birth. Individuals and groups gravitate towards such emergence. Why does this happen? Simply because they provide an experience that has a purpose and it gets refreshed much like a long lost friend’s sudden connection on the social arena. While this dynamism will continue and new challengers keep emerging every now and then, brands need much more sustainable opportunities, capitalizing on this insight. A brand focused on pushing consumers to buy its products, based perhaps on the short-term goal of the marketing head who is doing a job, will always end up in a transactional relationship with the consumers, especially when the marketing endsand the product gets sold. Contrary to that, brands led by visionary leaders will be able to align consumers to a purpose which will work like a gravitational force and can also change behaviour. A research conducted by a global group sometime back asked consumers in many countries if it would make any difference to them if some of the big brands disappeared from the face of the earth. Surprisingly, very few brands found a place in the list which consumers didn’t want disappearing. Apple was one of them. Such brands are more focused on interaction than transaction. As a result consumers end up buying a phone and an Mp3 player from Apple, which happens to be a “computer company”. How many people will want to buy a phone and an MP3 player from any other company that manufactures and sells computers! Purposeful connections that refresh will always be two-way connections since the brand will want to ask what’s in it for the consumers beyond the expectation of his money spent. Media agency partners need to understand this fundamental principle. We have just repositioned Vizeum as a media agency partner that delivers “connections that count”. What’s in it for the consumers is a question that passes our radar before embarking on delivering an experience to them. Our collaboration with technology and innovation partners such as MIT, Boston, helps us to anticipate, navigate and leverage the opportunities created by the ever changing environment. Using our analytics capability, we will be able to count the quality and intensity of the connection we make which will pave the way for brand growth through sustainable relationships with consumers. (S Yesudas is the Managing Director - Indian Subcontinent, Vizeum) Feedback: s.yesudas@vizeum.com
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