The future of advertising is now

As in any period of discontinuity, major opportunities for growth and market leadership are being created. At no other time has the potential been so great for smart players, whatever their size, to invent new rules for the game. At no other time have marketers and media companies possessed so many compelling platforms to entertain and engage the consumer. At no other time has marketing been so measurable, accountable, and interactive. Together, these factors are sure to ignite a new era of creativity and innovation in marketing, as well as in media and entertainment. The strategies pursued now by senior management at media and consumer goods companies will play a defining role in who wins and who loses relevance with today’s generation of consumers

Its about time others are catching up with Communities Dominate Brands

This is the summary from an article entitled The future of advertising is now

The chapter from our book entitled from disruption to engagement states

We are witnessing the unprecedented convergence of a number of global industries, e.g. telecom, entertainment, computing and electronics, alongside the fragmentation and diminishing effectiveness of traditional media. We know that consumers are looking for relationships with brands and for them to provide complementary, meaningful and relevant experiences to enhance their lives and earn their loyalty. We also know that brand owners are increasingly recognising the importance of integrated, relationship marketing and concluding that conventional brand communication is no longer the answer. And in Claus von Clausewitz's terms, the era of set-piece competition is over. We have entered the era of total competition. No matter your industry, there is a company somewhere working on how to enter your industry, how to steal your revenues, your customers, your future cashflows, your profits, your existence.

AND

What corporations need to do today is to acknowledge the new preferences of their audiences of interest, be they customers, suppliers, shareholder-owners, etc. Corporations need to create the context, appreciate the mood of their audience, identify their passions and interests. Then corporations must build community structures to serve these interests. The most difficult part, but the one that early will bring the biggest rewards, and later will have to be done simply to keep up with competition, is engagement. The brands must find methods to activate the communities and to build bi-directional communications.

We said this in 2005 and we were saying it in 2002.

And we don't stop thinking, and we don't stop researching. Because otherwise, we would not be able to help our clients survive in such a competitive world.

Further reading The emergence of the community

Discontinuity, does it hurt?

What gets measure gets made

socialistic anarchists - new business models and the death of traditional advertising

Comments

[rajAT]

Hi

The sad part is that not everbody is realizing this -

A firm refused to sponsor an event of a community saying that doing this is so micro , who is accountable for the long term relationship and what about the mileage. It is nt helping their brand amd blah blah blah.

Full incident could be read here -

http://rajatgupta.wordpress.com/2006/07/04/why-only-a-few-survive/

No wonder that why only few survive

rajAT

[alan moore]

Dear Rajat,

Thanks for the info and input, I am off to look at the link.

[Tom Chandler]

So true. I'm making a corporate blog pitch; outside of the loyalty/traffic/community benefits, I'm selling the benefit of Internet brand reclamation.

The idea is this: Their brand is already being discussed on the message boards and other online communities. Which means they've already lost control - an unappealing thought for any marketing stiff.

They can still say "no," but it will hurt a lot more to do so...

[alan moore]

Dear Tom,

I suggest you quote Jonathan schwartz COO of Sun Microsystems who says my 1000 bloggers have done more for this company than a billion dollar ad campaign.

These guys have not shifted the needle but moved the whole damn compass

Bloggers, create transparency - transparency = authenticity which can engender a greater sense of trust.

Alan

[rajAT]

Dear Alan,

Thanks alot for your comment on my blog.

Between here in India a premiere event on Entrepreneurship is taking place TiE-ISB Connect.
http://www.tie-isbconnect.com/

I was able to impress them the powers of blogs.

I will be blogging,podcasting, vlogging for them at the event website.

Atleast some people do understand the value in connecting with grassroots. :)

Cheers
rajAT