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Alan Mitchell reads t
he future of marketing, responding to a report by fellow Marketing Society columnist Martin Hayward commissioned by the Royal Mail.
There’s an excellent analysis piece on the future of marketing from the Mail Media Centre, written by Martin Hayward, former director of strategy and futures at dunnhumby.
Martin’s key point is that many long-standing obstacles to achieving communication efficiency and effectiveness are dissolving, basically thanks to the “digitisation of everyday life”.
That doesn’t mean the end of branding and brand building, but it does mean that how brands reach and talk to consumers is changing – towards “continuous and unobtrusive direct contact with customers”.
For me, the most important point in the article is “the end of proxies”. As Martin points out, proxy measures are necessary only where there are no hard data. Over the years, proxies have been getting more accurate but, by definition, they’re still far from perfect.
Common proxies include geodemographic data, psychographic segmentation, and more recently transaction and behavioural data. We need all of them – when they are fit for purpose.
But the new, transforming ingredient is the fact that consumers now have voice as well as choice: they can talk to brands and companies. So, the report suggests, the future basis of segmentation may turn out to be not where you live or what you do, but “what you choose to release”.
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Posted: February 2nd, 2011 | Author: stuart.treasure | Filed under: Customer Champions, Uncategorized | Tags: alan mitchell, digitisation, Mail Media Centre, martin hayward, royal mail, the future of marketing, the marketing society, Volunteered Personal Information | 1 Comment »
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Martin Hayward, former director of strategy and futures at Dunnhumby explains how loyalty is diminishing.
I’ve mentioned my bank in previous posts – I’ve been with them for 30 years, joining as I headed off to university, and probably with a free student railcard or book token thrown in.
Statistically that puts me pretty close to the top of the pile of loyalty measures as defined by behaviour, but emotionally I’m in a very different place.
I don’t like my bank and I don’t think they’re very good, but I haven’t switched. There are two reasons for this. Firstly I’m not sure that the competition are much better, judging by the huge amount of media coverage of their mis-selling and frequent ineptitude. Secondly however, I have in the back of my mind a feeling that it will one day be useful to me to have been so loyal. If I do ever fall on hard times, the voice in the back of my head tells me that my loyalty will be rewarded and they’ll cut me some slack when I need it.
Of course, the other side of my head knows that this will never happen because the banking machine is built upon selling new products to new customers, I have no relationship with my ever changing ‘relationship manager’ and the risk algorithms that lie behind business decisions don’t value the cutting of slack.
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Posted: January 25th, 2011 | Author: stuart.treasure | Filed under: Customer Champions, Uncategorized | Tags: customer, Customer Champions, loyalty, martin hayward, the marketing society | Leave a Comment »
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Martin Hayward, former director of strategy and futures, Dunnhumby says the concept of ‘owning’ your customers is outdated.
The last few years have been a great time for companies and brands that have had good access to data about their customers, and the ability to turn that data into insight quickly. Fast, granular customer insight has proved to be a significant competitive advantage for retailers particularly, but also to many web-based and direct businesses with easy access to customer behaviours.
It is likely however that this competitive advantage may now begin to diminish as customer data becomes an ever more plentiful asset. The tidal wave of customer data that a modern life creates is now starting to reach such scale and detail that it is unlikely that any individual proprietary set of data will be able to match what is potentially available from third parties.
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Posted: December 3rd, 2010 | Author: Glen Dower | Filed under: Customer Champions | Tags: customer, Customer Champions, martin hayward, strategy, the marketing society | Leave a Comment »
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Martin Hayward questions the long term strategy behind online vouchers.At both of the pizza chains in my local town, the waiting staff now spontaneously ask for vouchers before taking orders, such is the frequency with which they’re offered.
We’ve almost reached the point where if you’re not getting two for one, two for £10 or three courses for £10 then you’re really not trying hard enough.
The take up of online and subsequently mobile vouchers has been a fascinating example of how consumers can quickly learn new behaviours if there’s something in it for them. I’ve seen many office lunch trip destinations being decided by whichever voucher someone has printed off, and new mobile apps such as VoucherCloud mean that restaurant selection can be made on the hoof with location-based offers.
There’s clearly quite a lot in this for the retailers and restaurants that have embraced the new promotional channel – no print or distribution costs, and contact details for every user of the vouchers, but what is the long term game?
I now get an offer from Pizza Express by email every week, and if I can’t find that then I know that one of the online voucher sites will find me another.
Even though I always used to think that the chains offered reasonable value for money, my price expectations are being dramatically changed by this perma-promotion and paying full-price again will not feel good. If I eat there significantly more often than before then the revenue benefits will make it worthwhile, but I suspect that most people will eventually revert to the long term average frequency, just with a lower price elasticity.
There’s a danger that a new raft of suppliers and brands will now get trapped in the narcotic promotional cycle that many FMCG brands are now unable to escape. Is there anyone in the country who doesn’t know that every six weeks you can get 12 toilet rolls for the price of nine?
Once the benefits of reduced promotionally delivery cost have become the norm, it will soon be time to think carefully about long-term impacts on price perception and margin.
Why not take the opportunity to read more Customer Champion blog posts.
Posted: October 25th, 2010 | Author: stuart.treasure | Filed under: Customer Champions, Uncategorized | Tags: customer, Customer Champions, martin hayward, strategy, the marketing society | Leave a Comment »
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Spending time in Japan makes Martin Hayward reflect on the British youth and the best ways for brands to engage them
I’ve spent quite a few weeks in Japan over the last month, which has reignited some thoughts I have been having about UK consumers. The politeness and deference that the Japanese routinely offer each other is in stark contrast to the abrasive external face that we present to each other here at home.
There seems to be a self-importance to, particularly young, UK consumers that I can’t quite fathom – a tremendous belief in the importance of ‘Me’ and almost a swagger of confidence. But beneath this exterior I’m not sure that what lies underneath really warrants the public face. Delve a little deeper and I think there lies an insecure and frequently under-educated centre that struggles to articulate itself or justify its actions – the going in position is I’m right, and I’m in control but I can’t really tell you why.
Not only does this make for a rather uncomfortable society, where deference, humility and politeness suffer, but it also makes it harder to serve them as consumers.
This is not the environment to debate how we arrived at this social position, but I do think we need to consider how to engage with audiences who are loathe to take advice or to consider the implications of their actions. How can the financial services industry encourage responsible budget management, how can the drinks industry encourage social drinking habits, how can the hospitality industry impose rules on behaviour and many more.
I’ve a feeling that the new economic reality that we’re entering as the benefits gravy train hits the buffers, the house as cashpoint is switched off, and more employers choose to hire other nationalities because they’re better educated, work harder and do what they’re asked to do, may rebalance our self belief systems to something more realistic and hopefully more pleasant as well.
Posted: September 27th, 2010 | Author: Glen Dower | Filed under: Customer Champions, Customer Stream | Tags: Customer Champions, martin hayward, the marketing society | Leave a Comment »
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Today I used the self-service till at the supermarket, the cash-point machine at the bank, booked ferry tickets online and paid my credit card bill using an automated telephone system. I corresponded by email with work colleagues.
I didn’t speak to or make eye contact with a soul to undertake these everyday tasks.
Even more worryingly, my wife also sent me a text message to remind me to pick up a child this evening – again no personal contact, although she did put an x at the end which I guess is encouraging.
It is now almost possible to pass through commercial, personal and even business life with very little personal, face to face or voice to voice contact and I’ve started to wonder whether this is a good thing or not.
Looking forwards, it will become even quicker and easier to pass humans by. NFC (Near field communication) and RFID (Radio frequency identification) technology embedded in our credit cards and then our smartphones will increasingly allow us to enter venues and pay for transport or goods without even stopping moving (a bit like the business of paying tolls on motorways has evolved abroad).
At that’s if we even bother to go out at all – the availability of internet-ordered goods and services will continue to improve, potentially allowing us to remain completely stationary and alone for our entire life if desired.
I’ve believed for a number of years that if the telephone had been invented after the internet, we would wonder at its ability to allow us to communicate in real time with real people, rather than the anonymous, transactional nature of today’s dialogues.
Should we worry, or are we merely freeing our lives from the boring routines of chores to allow us to have even more wonderful social lives? I wonder. I’m not sure. Life may become very efficient, but a bit dull and lonely if we continue down this path.
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Posted: August 4th, 2010 | Author: Glen Dower | Filed under: Customer Champions | Tags: Customer Champions, martin hayward, the marketing society | Leave a Comment »
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Martin Hayward, former director of strategy and futures, dunnhumby says that if customers are as important as we are always told, then how about talking to, and listening to them directly
This week I received yet another offer from a company I do business with to share my views with them. This time it was my bank, of which I’ve been a customer for 30 years. There does seem to be an encouraging upsurge in these ‘reaching out’ type of activities, but I just wonder how central they really are to the decision making and operations at the organisations in question. I also wonder why so few organisations have truly grasped the potential to interact directly with their customers in a relevant and informed way.
Let’s return to my bank. As I mentioned, they have been the guardians of my personal finances for over 30 years, have more information about my lifestyle and expenditure than anyone bar my wife, and enjoy frequent direct contact with me by telephone, internet, post and in-branch several times every week.
They have detailed information on how much I earn, how big my mortgage is, how much I save, where I go on holiday, which credit cards I use, where I shop, which clubs I belong to and even which charities I donate to. Undoubtedly they are sitting on the richest dataset about me and my life in existence.
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Posted: June 21st, 2010 | Author: elen.lewis | Filed under: Customer Champions, Customer Stream | Tags: banks, customers, financial services, martin hayward | Leave a Comment »
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Martin Hayward, former director of strategy and futures, dunnhumby reminds us that most consumers have been living beyond their means for some time and marketers must respond to their pressure by adding value and acting responsibly
Now the pretence that massive government spending cuts are not necessary has finally been laid to rest, the crucial question for business and marketers is whether the same pretence about household finances will also be exposed.
What we’re learning, as ever, is that it’s not different this time, and the zeitgeist is turning away from it being okay to be in heavily in debt.
Despite the theoretical accumulation of wealth driven by a long-term increase in house prices, the reality remains that many households have been living beyond their means for many years.
It’s always sobering to reflect from our ivory towers that the average income in the UK is not far from £25,000, yet the average debt (including mortgages) for every adult in the UK is over £30,000. Excluding mortgages still leaves a debt of £18,000 for those households that have some form of unsecured loan. (For more blunt statistics visit www.creditaction.org.uk).
Perhaps more worryingly, many have not merely been living beyond their means in the short term, but also failing to prepare for the long term. The long ignored pension time bomb is soon to go off for many in the private sector as defined benefit schemes close and defined contribution schemes currently mature with a pot of only £30,000 on average. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: May 18th, 2010 | Author: elen.lewis | Filed under: Customer Champions | Tags: consumer debt, martin hayward, new government | 1 Comment »
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Martin Hayward argues that while you may presume consumers have never had it so good, they beg to differ
Much has been written by many, including me, over the last few years about the transfer of power from companies to consumers, driven by freer access to markets, more competition, better information and ease of switching. Undeniably all these things have happened, but at a more prosaic level, it is useful to occasionally reflect upon whether the consumer’s life has really got better or has just become different. Let’s take a couple of markets and consider the outcomes.
Air travel
On the face of it, the consumer has been the outright winner in a revolution of airline practices and fares. There are more planes going to more places at generally cheaper fares than ever before. On average, at a rational level, we can safely say, as Michael O’Leary of Ryanair often does, that the consumer has won. However, there is a different side to the coin. The flight experience has undoubtedly got considerably worse – smaller seats, queuing to board, no refreshments, grumpier staff, less baggage allowance and so on…and if you need to book at short notice then the pricing strategy is best defined as rip-off. Like many families I know, mine is determined never to fly on at least one of the carriers due to the way they’ve been treated and overall I have to say that the case for the consumer’s victory is some way from being proven.
Financial services
Again there has undoubtedly been a revolution in the potential for consumers to manage their money between a dizzying array of providers and channels. Choice has exploded and switching is easier if not yet seamless, but there are several major flaws in the market, still woefully unaddressed. Firstly, most consumers do not have either the time, interest or skills to switch their money around the market to keep up with a decent rate and the financial Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 13th, 2010 | Author: elen.lewis | Filed under: Customer Champions, Makes You Think | Tags: airlines, consumer, customers, data, dunnhumby, financial services, marketing, martin hayward, retail, utilities | Leave a Comment »
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Martin Hayward, former director of strategy and futures, dunnhumby will be blogging for us on customers. His first post will appear tomorrow, and until then a short interview.
What’s your golden rule? The future is predictable if you look in the right places
Who has been your biggest influence? The Ogilvy & Mather Planning Heads of the mid 1980’s
What is your most hated business expression? Currently I’m a bit sick of Burning Platforms
What’s the smartest business idea you’ve ever had? Developing ‘Shopper Thoughts’ for dunnhumby, the UK’s largest ongoing single source research tool – a panel of 65,000 Tesco customers who answer attitudinal and media questions to complement the behavioural data from their Clubcard.
Which leader do you admire most and why? I remain consistently impressed by John Lewis and Marks and Spencer leaders who manage to run excellent businesses with both morals and style.
What’s your favourite word? Yes.
Tell us a secret. I’m nearly qualified as a pilot.
Posted: April 12th, 2010 | Author: elen.lewis | Filed under: Customer Champions, Q+A | Tags: customer, dunnhumby tesco clubcard, interviews, martin hayward | Leave a Comment »
he future of marketing, responding to a report by fellow Marketing Society columnist Martin Hayward commissioned by the Royal Mail.
