"I believe today's marketing model is broken. We are most certainly applying antiquated thinking and work systems to a better whole world of possibilities...The standard marketing model is obsolete."- Jim Stengel, Global Marketing Officer, P & G, Association of National Advertisers, Oct 2004.
The notion that marketing and advertising attitudes ought to change is not a theory just banded about by Online marketers. Including the big boys as well as the major world players are accepting the fact that mass marketing techniques, of a typical last 50 years, no longer penetrating audiences like they employed to. There is certainly going to ought to be a shift within the whole approach of advertising should it be about to maintain any relevancy which includes an increasingly cynical consumer.
When discussing marketing it does not have to get any larger than Proctor & Gamble, among the list of largest suppliers of household products on the planet, and certainly among the biggest advertisers. With brands like Ariel, Head and Shoulders, Pampers and Crest, they ought to go in the lead in utilising new methods to obtain their products into people's homes. Together with the mega brand not any longer revered as some sort of deity, P & G may must discover ways to communicate with the influential consumer networks, also to persuade them to talk positively about their products.
P & G has a long tradition of innovation and groundbreaking in the way they've broadcast their messages. These were the first one to start advertising nationally, long ago in 1880, and still have taken the thought of product placement to another level with their Soap Opera productions designed to hook female viewers onto their shows and shampoos.
Recently, P & G enlisted an army of 600,000 'connectors' to spread the answer with their 'Vocalpoint' campaign (an extension of their total earlier 'Tremor' scheme amongst teenagers). Their 'connectors' were supplied with coupons to distribute for their colleagues, and free samples to impress conversations about P & G products. As Steve Knox, Vocalpoint CEO, recognised, "we understand the most imperative form of marketing is definitely an advocacy message coming from a trusted friend." With Vocalpoint, P & G are utilising the rule and relevancy of social networks in promoting some through interaction and trust. People might no longer hearken to brands, however will always hear the advice of friends.
The perception that shift was in the horizon had already been identified by their former global marketing officer, Bob Weiliing. Within a 2002 interview, Bob's view could be that the Internet might not replace the mass 'push' medium of TV, but instead might be tailored into the individual. A web environment can be used for when there exists personal passion to find out more a couple of service or product. Gaining advice, direction along with the latest product news are services not readily available on merely a 'push' medium. TV concerns the mass market message, whereas the internet is flawless for individual relationship building.
Bob's conclusion, on the way ahead for P & G's marketing success, lay in figuring out how you can combine the two. That they had to sustain the relevancy of many 30 second TV ad, whilst also utilising the extended attention and interaction accessible online. This also meant persuading the 2 warring marketing factions to operate together to discover a solution - to obtain the technophobes actually talking to the internet evangelists. It was been obvious recently that Bob's successor, Jim Stengel, subscribes firmly to the latter camp.
In 2005, P & G cut their TV ad spend by 8% to a mere $677.3 million, a bold move as well as a definitive shift onto non-traditional media. Just recently, they contacted digital and interactive agencies in the united kingdom to set together its first digital agency roster for Western Europe, also to find innovative new ways of populating their brands online.
We are now noticing the rise of interactive websites built to keep hold of eyes and encourage return visits. A year ago a music themed site for Old Spice was launched with free downloads and song samples to appeal to the 16-24 iTunes generation. Another notable example was the campaign for Pringles crisps throughout the FIFA World Cup. A website created where people could upload videos of themselves imitating the TV ad, mirroring the appeal of YouTube to have a young internet savvy audience. Both content driven sites built to develop the brand through interaction, relevancy and value.
P & G have also learnt the teachings preached by legions of corporate bloggers. Giving information worth you develop trust and confidence; consequently, folks will want to have a relationship along with your brand and you become customers. Their Pampers website builds an affinity having its audience in the provision of advice and help. To be a valuable resource for young mums, it enriches their association with the name and can provoke an appealing response the next time journey buying nappies.
P & G's Hand-crafted Simple website is usually a flagship in online marketing, possessing own Tv series and guides on good housekeeping. Rather then being blasted with product placement, the site simply develops relationships with its audience through its news and articles. Once your trust is gained you certainly will inevitably join the newsletter, with further promises or free samples, coupons, special offers and sweepstakes all pulling you into their trap of becoming a convert with their products. 'Home Made Simple' creates the perfect buying environment by developing trust, as well as the craving to have got a relationship with their brand, just what new form of web marketing is about.
For the Association of National Advertisers Conference, earlier this month, Jim Stengal and P & G's CEO, A.G. Lafley, outlined their mission to carry their brands on the 'pull' age of relationship marketing.
Lafley reinforced the views of Bob Weiling, they had to get familiar with ways to make relationships with their audience from the various 'touch points'. Their future lay in mastering the way to integrate their strategy across all of the mediums available, instead of depend on the existing one approach 'push' bombardment of promotion messages. His crucial point was which they were required to understand how to "let alone" as "the better in complete control we are precisely the better from touch we become." P & G had the need to move beyond focusing your attention on merely transactions, and instead specialise in building relationships by being more responsive and receptive to what their audience, the 'boss', wanted.
Jim Stengal opened his speech which has a plea to his fellow marketers to "stop thinking about consumers and commence thinking about people." He was suggesting a paradigm shift in how they approached marketing and advertising. Their clients were no longer just demographics, but individuals to be empathised and engaged with. That they had so that you can take heed to what individuals wanted out of your brand compared to telling them just what brand should mean your family. A new level of understanding had the need to be produced on why people should place trust in a relationship P & G's brands as an alternative to simply superficially appealing to their desires (a tactic that has served copywriters for generations).
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Many proctor and gamble Internet marketers are eager to hammer the nails into TV's coffin, whilst traditional advertising execs sit down on their hands expecting the 'web 2.0' bubble to burst. P & G have, considering that the start of the decade, been steadily moving by a monolithic, lumbering marketing dinosaur into a website savvy, feedback focused livewire. When you are an early adopter of your new 'trust' focused marketing philosophy, P & G ought to be properly to solving the puzzle of promotion online and maturing their brand's message for proctor and gamble coupons sceptical consumer.
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