“Consumers are statistics. Customers are people” -Stanley Marcus
Scott Cook has rightly said, “a brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is, it is what consumers tell each other it is.” Indeed changing customer perception is a reality, one we have to accept and embrace wholeheartedly. In the pre 2000’s era, a brand’s proposition was communicated through products that were extremely functional in nature. For instance, a hand-wash had a purpose; to clean hands. Eventually, this was modified for a product that ‘killed germs’. If we go by current advertisements, a hand-wash not only kills 99% germs, but also brings happiness into our lives!
Evolution of Marketing Communication
One of the earliest media of marketing products were newspaper advertisements, where the brand name and its feature would be conspicuously displayed in bold format along with a few functional aspects of the product. Over the years, this era of product centric marketing transformed into one where customers were at the helm. Advertisements began focusing on ways to establish a connection between the consumer and the product. However, a challenge lied ahead of marketeers making consumers aware of a product that had never existed in the market before. Hence arrived the strategy of celebrity endorsements, roping in a popular persona to catch the attention of the consumer. What was the advantage? This known face would introduce the brand/product to the customer, promoting it and ensuring that the brand became as popular as the celebrity themselves. This led to the practice of using ‘known’ faces to promote otherwise ‘unknown’ products. Benefits are aplenty. In a study published by the Journal of Advertising Research, celebrity endorsements by athletes have been found to have a 0.25 percentage points increase on stock values while registering a 4% increase in sales.
From Mass to Direct
Despite the onset of a variety of alternative platforms, television commercials emerged as the most effective media for advertising. Cost per reach was amongst the lowest. However, there was a spillover to this effect; the advertisement would reach audiences that were not a part of the target group; resulting in wastage of marketing spend on audience outside the focus segment.
Innovations in communication technology paved the way for the new age of marketing. This new age was characterized by a tech savvy approach that made sure brands reached targeted customers directly. Earlier, a song could be promoted through radio, television or records, but now; owing to the advancement in technology, these songs can be accessed at the click of a button. Such is the impact of direct marketing swift access to customers through customized modes of communication and assured targeting of the right audience. Furthermore, remarketing techniques such as Google popups, SEO and adwords have greatly strengthened this flow; improving brand recall, increasing conversion rates and reducing loss of leads. An important tool for marketeers is direct access to customer database through email addresses collected by the company over years. This has led to the resurgence of email marketing which has been used extensively by e-commerce brands in India to promote segmented offers thereby fostering higher conversion rates, ensuring top of the mind recall and augmenting the brand’s credibility. ‘Virality’, ‘buzz’ or viral marketing was an offshoot of the remarketing trend, something traditional forms of media could not achieve. IIT Bombay’s cultural festival ‘Mood Indigo’ is a case in point. Through the extensive use of augmented reality enabled posters, the institute was able to achieve a footfall of 80,000 visitors.
On Minimalistic Marketing
Confluence of art and marketing has triggered the birth of minimalistic marketing. Herein, a single image or picture speaks volumes about a product. For instance, Apple promotes itself through the ‘shot on an iPhone campaign.’ These images are displayed on huge billboards at popular spots, indirectly communicating the iPhone’s ability to generate spectacular, high quality images without add-on peripherals or software (which could otherwise only be captured by sophisticated lenses like DSLR).
Paper Boat advertisements have popularized the idea of linking emotions to brands. By tapping on the nostalgia element through their unique packaging and use of Malgudi Days’ background music in their campaign, the brand intends to showcase innocence, a virtue the brand stands for. Through these sentiment infused advertisements, the company aims to evoke the child inside consumers, one who was innocent and highly curious; ultimately instilling a feeling of cohesiveness towards the brand. The point to drive home is that marketing now has become clutter free. Lean, crisp and clean communication leads the game. Less is more. Numerous iconic brands; namely Coke, Nivea and Evian have transitioned across consumer touch points towards minimalism. A standalone attribute is at the center of all marketing and communication initiatives. Making a single feature the focal area of advertising has elevated products to premium statures; creating a highly successful and impactful brand identity.
“What is a marketeer’s delight? Being able to connect to the emotive side of a customer! As humans we feel our way to reason and emotions are the foundation on which decisions are made.”
Author Information:
Sachet Ahuja “Sachet is a TAS Marketing Manager working with Vistara. He completed his MBA from IIFT Delhi in 2013.”
