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Content Adds Life (even in a downturn)
Coca-Cola Advertising
It has been well documented that great brands do not necessarily contract spending in an economic downturn and that the brands which seize the opportunity and continue to invest tend to ride through unscathed. As a result of this they create an ever-more powerful brand (one that is turned to in troubled times) and which is valued even more when the economy bounces back.
Where will marketers choose to spend their marketing budgets in 2012 and beyond?
With the squeeze well and truly upon UK and European businesses and even the most esteemed economists unable to predict our economic fate in 2012, how will this influence marketing spend? Overlay this with a real shift in investment from paid to own and earned media properties and 2012 could be caught in a crossfire of step-change in marketing investment, in which the strong and brave rise triumphantly (potentially Coca-Cola and Unilever brands) and the weak and fearful fall apart.
Will investment in CONTENT shine through in 2012?
My burning question is: Will marketers finally soften financial controllers who demand hard ROI metrics against all marketing activity? In my opinion, the true value of investment in content (or content curation) within the marketing mix cannot be understated, but it is still a tricky investment in terms of clear definable metrics.
Connecting with a time-poor, on-the-move consumer
Consumers are flooded or, in most cases, bamboozled (I love that word) with stuff (advice, information, gimmicks, offers, etc) and it is all competing for our time and attention (of which we have increasingly less of). Juggling this alongside life’s challenges is tough going – and who has the time to wade though it all these days?
Relationships will matter
Brands that are able to provide us with a solution (and not simply a product), a positive desired experience, to filter out the clutter and complexities in our world, and provide us with solutions to any one of life’s problems (whether it be “what on earth am l going to cook tonight” or “what can I do to entertain myself?”) will be welcomed into our busy lives – delivering a deeper connection and in doing this will achieve a greater sense of ‘social capital’ for that brand. (Social capital is a central idea that “social networks are a valuable asset” and interaction enables people to build communities, to commit themselves to each other – see http://www.infed.org/biblio/social_capital.htm)
Content Curation and Customer Experience will reign supreme
The best example to highlight here is Coca-Cola’s marketing mission statement, Content 2020, developed by Coca-Cola’s Jonathan Mildenhall, VP Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence. Coca-Cola’s Content 2020 strategy clearly demonstrates this leading global brand’s marketing future rests on the ideals of content marketing. A lovely strap – Moving from Creative Excellence to Content Excellence.
This investment is linked to three key drivers:
1- The need to double the size of the business
2- Accepting the wider distribution of creativity (crowd-sourcing creativity)
3- Understanding the distribution of technology – the on-demand society and forging important relationships with tech companies (such as Google).
Most importantly, it recognises the power of storytelling.
I urge every marketer to watch both of their videos:
Coca-Cola’s strategic vision
Coca-Cola’s definition of content
Coke Advertising
More on Marketing in 2012
The opportunities
The golden CHANNEL of social media, the importance of mobile (“talking to me on the move”),the increased value of a brands-owned media properties, and the all-important value of lovely “sticky” content–to attract, and grow a brands equity, and further build a quality exchange between a brand and a customer, are for me, the key marketing opportunities for 2012.
The pitfalls
Brands who solely rely on continuous discounting, will eventually get stuck in a “Daz cul-de-sac”. These brands will just end up annoying customers (Oh, and I could mention so many brands here). There is every risk that these brands will actually lose market share (even with their impressive, incessant discounting), and trigger the click to the instant ‘unsubscribe’ button for the continuous intrusion, or even worse, create a real sense of anger as a result of receiving continuous ‘wasted on me’ DM that goes through the letterbox (a meltdown I routinely experience). These brands will ultimately fail to sustain any redeeming value in their brand, let alone manage a connection with its desired customers.
Customer insight
Again, any sound marketer will know this. The brands that take time to listen to their customers and really ‘get’ them will be better placed in 2012 than if they don’t invest in insights. It will be up to brands to convince a customer to turn to them over their rivals. The clever brands will demonstrate a real understanding of them and can increase levels of engagement through tactics such as dynamically served content. Moreover, they will aim to ‘delight’ rather than simply service.
The importance of community and conversations
Yes, I know, its been said before, and I am going to say it again! Brands who cleverly persuade and build great like-minded communities, and can also capitalise on our desire for social connectedness (even if it is an increasingly virtual one) will win over more customers, and of these many will be referred on via social communities and features. Brands who panic and just blatantly push more product at us (that we know we don’t really need), will lose out. Harnessing these built-up communities, and leveraging and rewarding your most loyal customers (or brand advocates), will be the winning formula. Social sharing, word-of-mouth referrals, product recommendations and ratings are all powerful influencing forces.
Customer experience will be key for retailers (both online and in store)
When it comes to experience – you may or may not like her, but Mary Portas is right on the money when it comes to retail. I really love her straight-talking style. (Are you sure she’s not Australian?).
Portas rallies up some very sound and quite frankly refreshingly uncomplicated advice for British high street retailers (and I know she has travelled further afield to share more of her wisdom –such as Australia. For me, she has the three key principles of thinking:
1) Know your customer (and make sure you understand what they want/like);
2) Deliver an exceptional service (segue to John Lewis) and, finally;
3) Create an experience, not just a room of products (take Apple as one great example). Both above-mentioned brands are premium brands and have recently posted their post-Christmas results – see below.
1-Know your customer (and make sure you understand what they want/ like)
2-Deliver an exceptional service (segue John Lewis & Apple as examples)
3- Create an experience, not just a store of products.
Both above mentioned brands are premium brands, and have recently posted their post Christmas results – see for yourself.
John Lewis reveals impressive results by Iain Laing, The Journal Jan 5 2012
AB 🙂 x
AgencyBelle’s 2012 Marketing predictions
If, like me, you subscribe to far too many trade bulletins and community forums, then you will know that they have been all hard at it from December, right through January, with round-ups for 2011.
2011 was a real techno-media frenzy – so much going on and I am not ashamed to say I was having trouble keeping pace with the technological and web developments. It was as if we were all on fast-forward. (And I think we still are).
I have also noted a plethora of reporting on research initiatives relating more often to social media. There will be attempts to try to account for the so-called soft investment. It demonstrates to me that social media is now a significant marketing channel and finance teams across the nation are scared about its non-standard measures in terms of ROI.
Marketers still need to justify their expenditure, so this year will be a year of trying to get a grip with fine-tuning these metrics – well, excluding The FMCG giant Unilever, with its “More magic, less logic” approach to marketing, which was revealed in 2011: “It wanted to shake up its numbers-led strategy to reward marketers who are prepared to take risks, and back creative ideas.” From Marketing Week (source: http://bit.ly/AfozDb)
Bravo! to Senior Global Marketers: Keith Weed & Marc Mathieu.
The Expert Predictions for 2012
So what do the experts predict as key marketing trends for 2012? For those interested, here are a few to browse through:
- Marketing Magazine: Top 10 Marketing Moments
- Mashable: 5 Tech Trends to Watch in 2012
- Five key marketing trends for 2012: Are you being served? by Chris Gorell Barnes
- Social Media today, Predictions for 2012 – A live webinar
- 6 Customer engagement & behavioural trends for 2012 (thewisemarketer.com— a US site) although still relevant to UK
- Customer communication trends for 2012 (from thewisemarketer.com)
- How to reach your consumers, according to Keith Weed, global chief marketing officer of Unilever http://bit.ly/y1GczG
AgencyBelle's viewpoint 