12 BANDT.COM.AU APRIL 03 2009

We often hear that the consumer is king. But thatdoesn’t mean kings are all-powerful – they can stillbe the victims of a marketing crime. Consumershave the power to make a direct complaint to acompany at any time, but what if the companydoesn’t give a damn about you or your issue?

If whinging fails, it might be a job for theprofessionals – the marketing police. Cop numberone is the Advertising Standards Bureau. If you feelan ad has metaphorically groped or mugged you (oryour kids) you can lodge a formal complaint with theASB. Many of the complaints they process involvesex, sexuality or nudity in ads. For example, last yearthe third most complained about ad was the “Wantlonger lasting sex?” billboard for AMI. The ASBupheld the complaints and the ad was prematurelyejected from the outdoor medium.

Some consumer crimes relate to marketingpractices such as telemarketing. Cop number two isthe Australian Communications and MediaAuthority which runs the Do Not Call Register andalso patrols any complaints that broadcasters failto address directly with the public. If you arestarting to get hang-ups about telemarketers, youcan simply add your name and number to their list.Although I find the surest way to get rid oftelemarketers is to ask them personal questionsabout their underwear. They quickly hang up on you.

Many consumer crimes have less to do withmarketing comms and more to do with marketingethics. When marketing is deceptive, misleading,unethical or just plain illegal – call in the policecommissioner, the ACCC, guardian of the TradePractices Act 1974. It also would be remiss of me toneglect to mention the other good cops – thevarious industry ombudsmen and the marketingindustry bodies, such as ADMA and the AMI.

But I mustn’t forget bad cop. Consumers canharness social media to take unresolved customerservice matters into their own hands. If a companydoesn’t seem to be listening, the blogosphere has alurking army of like-minded brand detractors justwaiting to show their solidarity. For example,disgruntled commuters recently set up the I HateConnex Facebook page, which now boasts over8000 members.

The Cluetrain Manifesto first developed thenotion that markets are conversations, which also implies that marketers need to be goodconversationalists. This all starts with activelistening. Good marketers know when to shut the fuck up.

We are entering a new paradigm and the question onthe marketing community’s lips is what should we bedoing? I don’t claim to have the answer, but I waswatching a wildlife documentary recently and foundan analogy that made some sense to me.

In nature certain species of bird and fish grouptogether, they synchronise. As the narrator put it,they are naturally attracted to each other and lineup together. Importantly, however, they do not thinkas a group. They stay together for the benefits(security, communication etc) but throw a predatorinto the mix and selfish Darwinian behavior comesto the fore – they scatter in self preservation.

In marketing we have had a (fairly) long period ofstability, allowing us to build an understanding ofconsumer patterns and synchronicity, or so youwould think: “60% of ad spend is wasted” (FournaiseMarketing Group). To me this means that either halfof all marketers (and agencies) are no good, or thatwe all don’t know the half of it. This is a problem.The biggest predator of all is on the loose – fear –and we are poorly equipped. I recommend wequickly find out what has worked. Now is the time todevelop your love of spreadsheets. You really needto understand the contribution of eachcommunication, but not just in isolation.

This means extracting as much learning aspossible from our historical activity. The key wordsin this exercise will be “diminishing returns” and theanswers will lie in data you already hold. It will becrucial to find out when to cap those TARPs, whatpublic holidays to avoid and when our advertisingbecomes wallpaper. Sure the paradigm is changing,but learning what works is timeless. By finding outwhat works you can generate about 5-20% extraefficiency. We must then turn our attention tounderstanding the new paradigm – the emergingpatterns of consumer behaviour. Thankfully there isno shortage of real time data out there: GoogleInsights, Facebook Lexicon, DIGG, Twitter, EPOSdata, your own analytics and many more. Get on topof these right away and find out how behaviours arechanging. Consumers are scattering, but they willregroup in new patterns. Innovate strategically tomeet these new needs. Our work has shown thatstrategic innovation can improve marcommsefficiency by up to 50%. Add these percentagepoints up and you should be OK.

My advice? Learn what you can quickly, stay ontop of what is happening daily, innovatestrategically and you will be in a good position tobenefit from the new paradigm.

comm

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CONSUMERS RELY ONGOOD COP, BAD COP

FEAR IS LOOSE IN THEMARKETING JUNGLE

TO MAKE A COMMENT EMAIL EDITORIAL@BANDT.COM.AU

Adam JosephInsights manager,Herald Sun

Andrew LittlewoodHead of direct andanalytics, PHD

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