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We are in the midst of a major social change in the way consumers listen and engage with brands. Never has it been so apparent that consumers are not interested in corporate structure; they merely wish to engage with a brand on their own terms. Yet as marketing budgets are set to increase in 2010, what are brands doing to meet this desire for individualisation and seize the opportunities that it presents?
In a new report ‘Your Brand: At risk or Ready for Growth?’, launched by Alterian today, we found that consumer confidence in brands is at an all time low – only 5% of consumers surveyed trusted advertising and 8% believed ‘what the company says about itself’. This equates globally to nearly $426 billion1 spent on ineffectual advertising activity in 2009 alone.
What’s evident from this is that the majority of marketers are simply not hitting the right note with their target audience. As I’ve spoken about before, we’re now fully ensconced in an era of individualisation where traditional marketing is dead. It’s longer adequate to adopt a strategy of mass broadcast and one-way conversations. Brands should be trying to understand communities rather than focusing on siloed communication channels and speak to consumers at an individual level.
Addressing this will present the number one marketing and wider business challenge over the coming decade. The question is how quickly can brands evolve their marketing strategy? If brands are ready to increase marketing budgets let’s ensure that we focus that resource in the right places.
[1] Source: ‘This Year, Next Year’, Group M, December 2009
