The Consumer is King

Last year, the Economist ran a special section on how the consumer has become king (4.2.05). It seems that things happen first in the world of private sector sales. Politics and culture catch up and/or mount resistance later. When Eisenhower ran 60-second commercials on TV in 1952, many commentators were horrified that the General of the Armies would try to sell himself as one would sell a box of soap. The rest is, as they say, history. Capitalism teaches democracy how to sell.

Here is some of what the Economist had to say:

• “The days of mass marketing are over.”—Larry Light, McDonald’s.
• Consumers do not trust ads.
• Network TV and newspapers in decline.
• 92% of the ads recorded on DVRs are skipped.
• Consumer attention is becoming a scarce resource.
• Advertisers have to be able to measure results of advertising.
• “Below the line advertising”—new media, direct mail, public relations, promotions, sponsorship, product placement—is worth more than 2x that paid for traditional display ads.
• Top ad agencies now include interactive ads, direct marketing, public relations. PR is the runway for the ad plane.
• Ad agencies have to put all the pieces together for a client.
• Brands belong to the people who use them.
• Brands help people navigate through complex markets.
• To build a brand, 1) have deep insight, well beyond traditional research, into what consumers want, 2) relentlessly attend to their needs, 3) make consumers part of marketing.
• People “cross shop”—for the very expensive and very cheap.
• Chinese consumers want brands they can trust and afford. China may become P&G’s number two market.
• Nestle provides Japanese consumers recipes on their cells so that they know what to buy on the way home.
• South Koreans consider e-mail “so last week”; it’s all TXT.
• Mobile phone marketing must respect users’ time.
• 30% of those who built their Mini Coopers on line bought the car they "built".
• A website typically holds a browser for 2-5 minutes.
• Internet ads work because the advertiser pays only for clicks.
• Online sales are rising fast, with mobile phones the new platform.
• “The market will get more fragmented, customers’ needs will get more diverse, and sophistication and empowerment will continue to grow.”—Mike George, Dell.