On the evolution of digital influence and related phenomena

Its been more than two years since this article. And I revised it as a post (in December 2014) called The-case-for-killing-marketing

For the original version, continue reading here:

Every marketer wants to influence people to think favorably about his brand (in the hope that this favorable thinking will ultimately convert into purchase). In an earlier age, this influence was through advertising on mass media. This influence now seeks to transition to digital forums. And the reason is simple – the viewers have moved on … to digital networks!

The various tools of direct digital influence at the disposal of brands are being well documented. They are a whole new vocabulary - twitter, social networking, peer-to-peer, blogs, social media eco-system etc. Many brands have been experimenting with digital influence in spurts and starts. And then there are those in the majority, who still find this new language to be both intimidating and bewildering. The net impact - marketers are still struggling to find a seat on the table full of consumers chatting with each other, forming opinions and making up their minds.

There is a deeper issue beyond just being unable to find a seat. The very idea that conversations between two people (and the choices they make) can somehow be curated, molded, controlled or influenced assumes that consumers are inviting the marketer into the conversation. And this may well be a fallacy.

Convention dictates that, from here on, this should now become yet-another-article that spouts venom on all that is wrong with the old way of marketing, argue for a new paradigm shift, sprinkle a new, new list of incomprehensible jargon and pretend to have created a new magic mantra (the book rights follow!).

In the firm belief that yesterday’s language can only result in yesterday’s solutions, this article posits an alternative. Rather than asking how ‘conventional’ marketing can digitally influence consumers, it re-frames the problem – What is the role of marketing in a digitally consumer-networked world?

A response to this question is a brave new hypothesis: Marketing is the creation of ‘contagious’ entertainment with embedded product placement.

Once created and sent out into the world, this entertainment will have a life of its own. It will be shared, mashed, re-mixed, responded, commented, digged, tweeted, uploaded, copied, mocked, criticized … by people to other people.

There, the genie is out of the bottle! One of the first likely criticisms of this definition would be that it sidesteps the core function of marketing i.e. satisfying consumer needs and wants in mutually beneficial ways.

The author’s argument to this is that there are no ‘new’ fundamental needs or wants. The source-code for marketing today is a series of product innovations that advance (value-add) pre-existing solutions on some dimension. In most cases, these innovations hasten the solution, simplify it, multi-function it or make it more elegant in design terms. These innovations, but naturally, creates new desire in the consumer to upgrade.

Said in other words, people do not need to be informed about how their needs can be fulfilled. They have the smarts to figure out what they need and the available competing choices that accomplish it. This is further compounded by aisle shopping in supermarkets and online search. However, in this choice-driven world, they gravitate towards (or upgrade to) some choices rather than others because these choices fulfill some ‘new’ desire.

New desire may be under-pinned by the innovative product but, crucially, it is magnified by the ‘crowd’. New desire is driven by what ‘other’ people think. And the crowd only transmits what it thinks is ‘entertaining’ to the rest of the crowd!

So, here is the new algorithm:
Marketing = f (Creating new desire) = Product innovation powered by Entertainment

Lest this be construed as confusing, in simpler language, marketing is the creation of entertainment with embedded products with the end goal of creating new desire. Call marketing the new movie producers, if you may. Reminds you of how P&G pioneered tele-serials in America? Well, it is back to the future, but with three big differences …

Difference #1: In today’s age, we need to ensure that the created entertainment is truly medium agnostic, i.e. ensure that the same content gets transmitted over multiple mediums like film, television, video, gaming, ringtones, events, merchandise, V-O-D etc. Being more medium-agnostic directly translates to more reach of your entertainment. Read more on this here.

Difference #2: In today’s age, we need to integrate the entertainment with the shopping experience to complete the consumption circle. Ride the new trend in convergence where offline media and online content converge with out-of-home shopping spaces. Create that shopping cart symbol in every medium. Read more on this here.

Difference #3: In today’s age, we need to encourage and catalyze consumer experimentation with created entertainment – Support consumers to be co-owners of the original entertainment itself. Use collaboration (rather than one way monologue) as a mantra to connect with the attention deficient consumer. Read more on this here.

The biggest implication of these three rules is that every brand will need an entertainment strategy that sits on top of all the component parts viz. digital strategy, offline media strategy, in-shop strategy etc.

In sum, we would be better off discussing digital creation rather than digital influence. Face it, people prefer listening to other consumers (and now they can!). An attempt to digitally ‘influence’ a conversation is fast becoming irrelevant in this rapidly empowered and networked consumer society. Marketing needs to grow from the traditional confines of product benefits. It needs to re-define itself as an entertainment creator. This makes the crowd to become a marketer and fuel the creation of new desire. Some handy navigation rules in the creation of this entertainment are to keep it medium agnostic, integrate it with the shopping experience and encourage consumer co-creation.