From one-to-one to peer-to-peer, the relationship between consumer and brand has been tipping over the past few years, and the consumer is the one gaining scale.
I first saw the makings of this transition two years ago while writing my book "The Loyalty Leap". In it I shared four forces that were converging to shape the destiny of marketing. They included the rise and fall of the CFO, an evolving scarcity of attention, the burgeoning power of the consumer, and our own abilities and challenges, as marketers, to deliver one-to-one experiences. For some time we marketers have been talking about the customer in ways that now sound almost quaint: put the customer at the center of your purpose; make all decisions from the customer's point of view. But today, the customer has firmly placed herself at the center of our purpose, thank you very much, and she will gladly remove herself if we do not give her what she expects...
Most consumers nowadays own a smartphone and carry it with them wherever they go. So targeting these consumers with a branded message or offer is a no-brainer, right?
Maybe not. More than half of consumers (56%) never want to receive targeted ads on their mobile device because such messages are annoying and interruptive, says a new study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Two of ten survey respondents (22%) were OK with such ads once a week. Mobile coupons and banner ads were preferred over video and text.
KEY QUESTIONS:
Are the results of this study surprising? Do you see acceptance of mobile ads increasing over time? What would make mobile ads more acceptable and effective -- the right frequency of targeted ads, the right message and offer, or something else?
There are lots of myths swirling around the Trade Promotion Management (TPM) space. One in particular is about deductions, also called charge-backs. For many CG companies, deductions are either an ongoing headache with no resolution in sight or an overwhelming pain point they chose to ignore. Many believe deductions are simply the cost of doing business with retailers and are not a controllable expense. The process of contesting improper deductions below a certain threshold is not a good use of company time or resources and will not generate significant savings for the organization.
New Directions in Shopper Technology, the second book from the Shopper Technology Institute. Building upon the foundations of last year's Essentials of Shopper Technology, the book is divided into five sections: Shoppers, Loyalty, Engagement, Analytics and Digital and contains 19 essays on how mobile marketing, social media, sophisticated analytics, Big Data and the like are continuing to evolve.
Those changes-and others-are presented in this book. As well as reading about their area of expertise, progressive executives will gain a fuller understanding of the entire industry.
Click here to read sample chapters and view ordering information for the paperback and Kindle editions.
