Marketing's role is to re-humanise business - Yellowwood Future Architects

David Blyth, group MD of Yellowwood

This was the key finding of a recent survey conducted by global consultancy, the Fournaise Marketing Group. The survey interviewed over 600 decision-makers in large corporations and small-to-medium sized businesses across Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United States. The same sentiment is echoed by marketers in reports done by McKinsey and IBM, which asked chief marketing officers (CMO's) about the role of marketing today and how it needs to change.

Is this a little depressing? Perhaps - but we've applied our minds to understanding the reality of our times and have found inspiration from brands at the forefront of change. We've also uncovered some critical insights that we believe will help marketers to be relevant tomorrow.

We started with the consumer and looked at how our needs as human beings have changed over time. What we found is a fundamental truth that people are social beings. They desire connection and the ability to interact with others in a meaningful way. This is not new. However, what has changed dramatically is the scale and nature of social connectedness. This has shaped and fuelled our sense of self-determination, expectations of choice and sense of control over our own lives.

There is no greater evidence of this shift than in the changing dynamics of romantic relationships. In the early 1900's, courtship was formal and prescriptive. Choices of life partners were very limited. Think of Jane Austen's 'Sense and Sensibility.' Then a time of 'Romeo & Juliet' thinking emerged, where the idea of romanticism, love and compatibility was introduced - although still governed by family protocols. In the 1920's, dating became a trend - where boys would ask girls out to the theatre and dance halls. The idea was not necessarily courtship, but to have fun. Then with the sexual revolution of the 1960's and 1970's came a radical change in social norms. The contraceptive pill became available, which gave women control over their biology and a sense of control over their lives. In 2012, romantic relationships are defined by casual sex and living together, i.e. trying it out before committing, and the sense that if things don't feel right, don't commit - unless you really want to be there.

It is this same sense of self-determination that is reflected in consumer behaviour today. It is not that consumers simply have more choice. It is that they demand more choice, more interaction and more power over their buying decision. They also know that they have the option to change at any given time. Brand loyalty can no longer be taken for granted any more than a marriage-for-life.

Yet marketers are surprised when they don't achieve the same level of interest and loyalty from consumers today, even though they 'court' consumers using practices that are many years old. Think about it: direct mailers are sent out like the calling cards of decades ago, politely asking for dates. There is the expectation that one way communication and once-off interactions should turn into committed buying relationships.

Many marketers still think of consumer relationships as linear, rational and conscious. In fact, they are multi-faceted, integrated, emotional and unconscious. Businesses continue to behave like they are in absolute control of a relationship and have not fully accepted that the consumer is empowered, in control and actively shaping and sharing any interaction with us. Therefore, there is the reality of defaulting to generating communication that 'loudly and proudly' focuses on what brands want to say rather than identifying how the consumer wants to interact with the brand.

We have found that brands that are getting it right today are focused on what they do and how they do it - rather than on what they say. These are brands that understand the challenges of the current social context and what it takes to form and sustain relationships. They embrace technology as a powerful enabler. The behaviours underlying their success include:

Finding ways to get the attention of consumers amidst an enormous amount of noise:
We are all aware that there is a huge amount of media content out there - with brands competing fiercely for the attention of consumers. The brands that are winning, find innovative ways to catch the consumer's attention and engage with them in a positive manner for longer periods of time.
For example, McDonald's placed a digital billboard in Sweden that allowed people with smartphones to play a virtual game of ping pong. Players who lasted longer than 30 seconds won McDonald's coupons. Adidas placed branded punching bags in Chinese subway stations so commuters could express their feelings of stress and anger in a healthy way. According to Adidas it was the "first advertisement in history that you can kick, punch and trample at will". The bags challenged commuters with the message: "Every year you have to wait on the platform for about 1,824 minutes. Don't waste your time, come and have some punch!"
IKEA went as far as constructing an apartment in the Auber metro station in Paris that was the home of five Parisians for six days. The fully furnished space was developed to highlight how IKEA furniture is compatible with small spaces. The project was called "The IKEA Apartment - bringing 54 square-meter ideas to life."
Frequently interacting with consumers in a meaningful way:
Brands that are winning today search for insight into what consumers are passionate about and demonstrate that they share those passions. They are constantly finding ways to interact with consumers to create stronger, more meaningful connections. These brands supply high interest, newsworthy, relevant content and facilitate meaningful conversations. The best example of this must be Burberry contributing part of its 21 percent sales growth in January 2012 to an investment in digital technology that helped drive consumer engagement.
Burberry ended the year 2011 with close to five million Facebook fans, almost 200,000 followers on Twitter and over four million channel views on YouTube. Their own social media site, www.artofthetrench.com, inspires people around the world to share their experiences of the iconic trench coat. The site has received more than 11 million page views since its launch in 2009. The www.burberry.com website known as Burberry World, through the use of dynamic audiovisual content, is a place to engage, entertain and interact, in real time and in 14 languages. The use of live-stream technology enabled Burberry to share the Spring/Summer 2011 women's wear show to over one million people across more than 180 countries around the world. Teaming up with Twitter ahead of their show at the London Fashion Week, Burberry enabled people online to see the collection before the models hit the runway and allowed consumers for the first time - through the use of instant digital purchase capability - to buy directly from the runway.
Burberry has become a media content provider as much as a design company.
Investing in social circle familiarity:
Brands that find ways to facilitate closer connection between friends or other interest groups become part of those social circles and form bonds with consumers that are hard to break or replicate.
Tapping into a growing tendency to watch TV whilst also chatting with mates via social media or mobile phones, Heineken launched StarPlayer, an iPhone app that enables fans to interact in real time with the nail-biting action of the UEFA Champion's League. The app allows players to predict what will happen at key moments in UEFA Champions League matches to score points. StarPlayer works in real-time with players invited to forecast the outcome of corners, free kicks and penalties and to have the chance to guess when goals will take place. Different point scores are awarded depending on the likelihood of the outcome.
Likewise, Lynx launched a stream mobile app that captures and records groups of friends on a night out. The app collects every video, picture, text, tweet, check-in and status update to produce an automatic streamed, electronic scrapbook of the night.
Equally interesting is Orange's official Glastonbury Festival app, which has been downloaded by over 100,000 people and used to create their individual festival line-ups, share experiences with friends, and contribute to a real-time mood map by indicating how they were feeling.
Valuing intimacy or closeness:
We know that consumers are more likely to consider and be loyal to brands that they feel connected and close to. Leading brands are finding innovative ways to get physically and emotionally closer to consumers.
For example IKEA came across a Facebook group with over 100,000 fans called 'I wanna have a sleepover in IKEA'. The company turned their dream into a reality through a competition that picked 100 lucky winners and hosted a sleepover at their store.
Volkswagen repositioned its website as a state-of-the-art virtual showroom for potential customers. Someone thinking of purchasing a Golf Cabriolet is able to experience the vehicle virtually and interact with all the options available without having to set foot in the dealership. The luxury appliance manufacturer Jenn-Air launched a new augmented reality app that allows consumers to see how different products and models would fit into their homes. Using the app, consumers can choose new appliances and position them over old ones.
Zoo Records, an alternative music store wanted to break the monopoly of mainstream music in Hong Kong. With very limited space and no live venues for alternative music festivals, they launched the world's first 'mobile' music festival using people's cellphones. More than 10,000 people packed into the festival virtually over four nights and countless more got involved as concert clips were shared online. Zoo Records sold out 80% of the albums for the eight performing bands and alternative music came alive all over Hong Kong.
Discovery Insurance launched a 'claims app' that enables the brand to be close to the consumer when it matters most. This Blackberry app gives clients valuable guidance and emergency assistance at the scene of an accident and allows them to submit their claim immediately.
Disclosing more of themselves:
Leading brands have an open conversation with consumers. They are proud of their intentions and successes, but 'big' enough to ask for help and input from consumers along the way and to be transparent about their shortcomings and faults.
BMW ActiveE, Unilever VIP and My Starbucks Idea invited consumers to be part of their innovation process, while the fast food chain, Domino's, used a huge billboard space in Times Square and live-streamed customer feedback (good and bad) via Twitter.
Illustrating powerful consumer knowledge:
Leading brands win the game by being relevant. This ranges from offerings that show deep insight into consumer's lives to completely personalised offerings.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars proudly presented the Year of the Dragon Collection, a commemorative offering in preparation for this festive Chinese celebration. The limited edition models were built and sold-out within two months. Levi's received raving reviews last year for a 'Commuter Series' of jeans that was designed and optimised specifically for the needs of the urban commuter cyclist; showcasing an array of features that address cyclists' needs for performance, convenience and safety - while keeping to the classic styling that people expect from the Levi's brand.
American Express launched a first-of-its-kind application on Facebook called 'Link, Like, Love' that delivers deals and experiences based on the likes, interests and social connections of card members and their Facebook friends.
Delta Air Lines customers are now receiving destination-specific 'Living Social' deals related to their trips. Foursquare Daily Deals provides consumers with personalised offers on the go. One of TomTom's navigation devices provides drivers with reviews about hotels and restaurants along their routes through a partnership with TripAdvisor.
The mobile app, Budweiser Ice Cold Index, discounted Budweiser beer according to the local temperature; "the hotter the day, the less you pay, all summer long." The free app showed consumers their local temperature, how much they could save that day and even directed them to the closest participating pub.

Powerful brand traits like these can only be born of marketing departments that are themselves socially connected and engaged with consumers, other business functions and partners. Marketing departments that are empowered with knowledge and confident as a result of their social context. Marketers who have:

shifted away from one-way communication with consumers to conversation and dialogue;
invested in the ability to create content-rich campaigns, feeding the consumer's ever-increasing need for timely, relevant and compelling content across a variety of media;
moved beyond inevitable organisational silos to connect formally and informally with other functions in the business as well as partners;
become smarter by listening constantly to consumers across all touch points, analysing and deducing patterns from their behaviour and learning empirically and in real time;
shared learnings and insights with others in the organisation to solve consumer problems and ignite new ideas to be shared and refined together with consumers;
effected a singular business strategy for engaging consumers across functions.

It is critical in today's era of information, choice and consumer empowerment that marketers connect the business with its consumers. Businesses that become truly engaged with consumers will value marketing for directing brand relationships that result in business growth and are sustained over time.