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Following up from yesterdays blog post, Alex Steer discusses the future of social media. Last week social media was blamed for fuelling urban riots across the UK, this week The Futures Company considers the future of social networks. These riots show social networking at its best and worst – from @Riotcleanup on Twitter galvinising citizens to tidy the streets of their local communities to the role of Blackberry Messenger in organising criminal activity.
#4: Pivot Points – pervasiveness, utility, and worldview
Alex Steer writes: Yesterday I wrote about how different consumer decisions about scale, privacy and specificity create very different outcomes for social networking. Today I’m going to explore the other three Pivot Points.
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Posted: August 16th, 2011 | Author: stuart.treasure | Filed under: Features | Tags: alex steer, marketing society, social media, the future of marketing, the future of social networks, The Futures Company | Leave a Comment »
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With just eight days to go before the entries deadline for The Marketing Society Awards for Excellence, one of the judges, Gary Hockey-Morley, marketing director at Post Office Limited, offers his thoughts on the ingredients for marketing excellence today.
Great marketing in 2011 isn’t about the skilled flexing of traditional models which too often start with a finished product or a TV script; it’s about a mindset that’s hungry to understand and an ethos that wants to do things collaboratively within an organisation and with customers.
Customer insight
Great marketing today, more than ever, has to be about starting the journey with real customer insight and using that to uncover needs and desires that as customers we may not be able to articulate. We must then use that insight to lead our organisations and align them around the customer. For example, we should help HR understand the skills and values we want to recruit, and shape the employment brand that attracts those candidates.
An integrated story
We must also design the sales and fulfilment experience from the beginning not as an afterthought. That experience must be branded and be inclusive. Quick, reliable, multi-channel self service is not a lifestyle choice; it’s just how we survive in today’s world. So we must design products that fit into this model, not try to crowbar an experience around our finished products. Turning to communication, at the heart of any campaign there must be an idea, a story, a cause or some entertainment that people will want to talk about or share with their friends, families and online communities. Social media isn’t a fad: it should now be at the heart of great communication.
Some good examples of this in 2010 are the launch of Metro Bank, John Lewis and Waitrose, and the relaunch campaign for Ikea.
Find out more about the Marketing Society Awards for Excellence 2011. Closing date for entries: Friday 11 February 2011.
Posted: February 2nd, 2011 | Author: maddie.york | Filed under: Awards, Customer Champions, Digital | Tags: Awards for Excellence, Gary Hockey-Morley, the future of marketing | Leave a Comment »
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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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Customers don’t have all the answers, especially where technology is developing so fast that no-one knows what will come next, or how we will respond. So marketers need to be brave – they need to have great judgement and they need to use it imaginatively to influence their business’s decisions. They need to be commercial – to understand which thing customers want can be delivered profitably. And finally, they need to be able to turn great ideas into great execution.
Don’t miss out on the view from the top of leading-edge companies in our book Future of Marketing. Order your own copy of this hardback, limited edition book, priced just £29.99, by clicking here.
Posted: September 2nd, 2010 | Author: Glen Dower | Filed under: future of marketing | Tags: argos, innovation, sara weller, the future of marketing, the marketing society | Leave a Comment »
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We must continue to grow in those markets where we are already strong. Competition is fierce; so we must innovate to stay ahead. In some lines of business that requires ever more sophisticated products and services; in others, it requires simplifying what we do and integrating that within our customers’ ever busier lives. We can do neither without a fundamental understanding of what our customers need and want.
Don’t miss out on the view from the top of leading-edge companies in our book Future of Marketing. Order your own copy of this hardback, limited edition book, priced just £29.99, by clicking here.
Posted: August 26th, 2010 | Author: Glen Dower | Filed under: future of marketing | Tags: barclays, john varley, the future of marketing, the marketing society | Leave a Comment »
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Successful companies will use software-based tools to invite customers to participate in creating brands and developing products, and to deepen the emotional connection between brands and customers. In the process, software will shorten the journey from engagement to purchase.
Don’t miss out on the view from the top of leading-edge companies in our book Future of Marketing. Order your own copy of this hardback, limited edition book, priced just £29.99, by clicking here.
Posted: August 12th, 2010 | Author: Glen Dower | Filed under: Digital, future of marketing | Tags: microsoft, steven a ballmer, the future of marketing, the marketing society | Leave a Comment »
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This is an exciting time to be creating and building brands. On the one hand, it seems like everything is changing. On the other hand, one very important dynamic has not changed: the consumer is boss.
If we listen closely to consumers, if we understand wants and needs, if we offer simple solutions, if we provide delightful experiences and build meaningful relationships – we advertisers, we brand creators and brand builders, we communicators will enable our businesses to grow and to thrive for the long term.
Posted: July 1st, 2010 | Author: will.armstrong | Filed under: future of marketing | Tags: AG Lafley, Brand Building, procter & gamble, the future of marketing, the marketing society | Leave a Comment »
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This survey is being conducted as part of a project to assess the Future of the Marketing Communications Industry for mmc.co.uk
It should take no more than 5 minutes to complete. Please complete the survey by clicking here.
Many thanks for your help in this project which will be published in the summer.
All responses will be treated in the strictest confidence, results only being published at the aggregate level, and any quotations used anonymously.
Posted: July 1st, 2010 | Author: will.armstrong | Filed under: Customer Stream, future of marketing | Tags: the future of marketing, the marketing society | Leave a Comment »
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Consumers will increasingly look for brands with a social purpose. Consumers want to choose brands that are not only good for them and their families but are also good for others they care about. Global brands have the power to create a better future through the everyday buying and usage habits of people everywhere. Brands and businesses that fail to integrate consumer needs with societal well-being will struggle to grow in the future.
Posted: June 3rd, 2010 | Author: will.armstrong | Filed under: Green, Leadership Central, future of marketing | Tags: Paul Polman, sustainability, the future of marketing, the marketing society, unilever | Leave a Comment »
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In celebration of our 50th Anniversary we asked 50 CEOs from some of the world’s most successful companies, to answer a single question: ‘What role will marketing play in the future success of your business’. The interviews were collated into our book The Future of Marketing and we will be publishing extracts here weekly. Some thoughts from Ian Cheshire.
Marketing will evolve to deliver greater involvement of our customers in our business process, getting them to help us shape our decisions through forums, social networks and advocacy networks – to invite the customer into the business to shape our future. At a basic level, this used to be an online forum, but for the facebook/twitter generation this should be more rapid, frequent and accessible.
Relationships need to be built with the key influencers among the customer groups, to input their ideas and feedback directly into the business development process. Rather than traditional research and feedback processes, this means using communities of customers talking amongst themselves and then opening up the total organisation to that customer conversation.
Posted: May 13th, 2010 | Author: elen.lewis | Filed under: Leadership Central | Tags: ian cheshire, kingfisher, the future of marketing | Leave a Comment »
