Marketers must tap into consumers’ herd instinct
IF MARKETERS want to wield greater influence over consumer behaviour, they must learn to accept that people do not act autonomously but largely follow what other people do.
IF MARKETERS want to wield greater influence over consumer behaviour, they must learn to accept that people do not act autonomously but largely follow what other people do. Over the past 10 years or so clusters of cellophane-wrapped bunches of flowers seem to have appeared with increasing frequency on Britain's roadsides. It is a phenomenon that satirical magazine Private Eye has dubbed the 'cellotaph' syndrome - the setting up of floral shrines to the victims of traffic accidents. But how did these shrines start? And how did they spread and the practice become 'just what we do' when a few years ago it was not?
One line of explanation is that each flower is the result of an independent decision based on some cost-benefit trade-off, or is driven by a desire to express an individual's grief. This is what we assume when we conduct marketing research: we ask individual consumers what they do now, why, and what they might do in the future. We also work on the basis that individuals decide what they do independently of others and can tell us about it.
Almost everything of worth in our world - including the power we have over the future of the planet - comes from this herd nature and our ability and passion for social interaction and collaboration. The same is true of the technologies that are reshaping the media environment: SMS and the internet are built on our species' inherent desire and need to interact with others.
Recognising the herd instinct has important consequences for marketers. For a start, it explains why mass behaviour is so hard to change. Most public-policy initiatives struggle to demonstrate any long-lasting change in citizens' behaviour, while most change programmes within companies fail to produce the radical alterations in employee behaviour specified in the objectives.
In theory, marketers should be experts at changing mass-behaviour: after all, we have the experience, analytics and practical tools to understand, describe and reshape it. Putting the consumer at the heart of business is supposedly our raison d'être. And yet, despite the rightly-praised exceptions - Tesco, Dove, Innocent and iPod - most marketing activity struggles to demonstrate the kind of significant sustainable change in customer behaviour that we imagine is our right. Moreover, this has been the case for as long as most of us can remember; marketing scientist Professor Andrew Ehrenberg once suggested that keeping things the same would represent a reasonable success for most promotional campaigns.
We may have become better at managing things well at the edges in the short term. After all, much of the appeal of the revolution in one-to-one marketing over recent years seems to lie in harvesting marginal opportunities - the 'low-hanging fruit'. But in the main we are no better at creating sustainable changes in mass behaviour than our peers in other disciplines; the changes we do create are minor and fleeting.
The next step is to look at marketing as consumer-to-consumer, rather than business-to-consumer. This means recognising that the most important relationship is not between the company or brand and any given consumer, but between the latter and other individuals. What matters in real life is what matters to or between them.
The acceptance of our herd nature is changing the way some media players are evaluating media channel options. While most of the media world is getting excited about moving on from counting audiences and weighting them according to their wallets, to counting them according to how 'engaged' they are with the medium, agencies such as Naked have proposed that the real currency of the media world should be the extent to which an audience passes messages on to others beyond it; the 'propagation' value. For example, in terms of sales or readership a brand may only reach half the number of people through an ad in The Guardian than in The Daily Telegraph, but each Guardian reader might influence several times the number of people their Telegraph-reading counterpart does.
This is significant, and represents the first major shift away from thinking about media as 'channels' down which we tip messages and information; media become important only in so far as they serve and help advertisers access and harness the power of the social networks which lie behind them.
At the same time, the dubious idea of exploiting the most valuable customers must be ditched. This kind of micro-targeting has no impact on the mechanisms of mass behaviour and risks letting the market move away, suddenly and rapidly. Instead, marketers should focus on the most influential customer; that is the consumer who holds the greatest sway over the majority of his or her peers. Marketers must understand the types and sources of influence that shape customers' behaviour both positively and negatively and think about how their opinions, and more importantly, their actions, can fuel this.
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E4M Our strategy is to target younger audiences through Sports: Rajiv Dubey, Dabur
The Head of Media at Dabur India spoke exclusively to exchange4media on the World Cup, associating with Indian Idol, the company’s digital spending and much more
With quirky campaigns, memes and moment marketing, timed with the ongoing World Cup and particularly the India-Pakistan matches, Dabur India has got considerable consumer attention for its popular brands – Red Paste, Cool King Hair Oil, Chyawanprash, Dabur Vita and the recently launched Bae Fresh Gel toothpaste.
The 140-year-old company is going big on key sporting events, World Television Premiere (WTP) movies and reality shows. It is now gearing up to become the title sponsor of popular talent show ‘Indian Idol’ on Sony TV for the first time, shared Rajiv Dubey, who leads the media strategy at Dabur.
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ShareSwapan Seth's new book 'COOL' is out
The book is a reflection of the author's 'eclectic taste across categories'
Advertising professional and art collector Swapan Seth has announced the launch of his new book COOL. The book is described as "a ready reckoner to the hip and the happening, of the known and the very unknown."
The book is a reflection of the author's "eclectic taste across categories: from boltholes to exotic hideaways."
COOL has been published by Simon & Schuster India and is available on Amazon.
Seth is an ad veteran with a long and illustrious career in the industry. He became the youngest-ever Creative Director at Clarion at age 24. He was VP at 26 at Trikaya Grey. Two years later, he started his agency Equus.
He writes for publications such as The Economic Times, Hindustan Times and India Today. This is his second book and he has previously published THIS IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY.
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Disney Star signs 9 sponsors for Asia Cup PAK
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up come on board
e4m Staff Disney Star has signed nine broadcast and digital streaming sponsors for the upcoming Asia Cup.
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up have come on board for the upcoming tournament.
As reported earlier by exchange4media, Disney Star has sought Rs 26 crore for the co-presenting sponsorship on TV and Rs 30 crore for Disney+ Hotstar.
According to industry sources, the associate sponsorship on Star Sports has been priced at Rs 19.66 crore, whereas for the ‘powered by’ sponsorship on Disney+ Hotstar, the broadcaster is seeking Rs 18 crore.
As per the information available with exchange4media, Disney+ Hotstar has three sponsorship tiers-- co-presenting (Rs 30 crore), powered by (Rs 18 crore) and associate sponsorship (Rs 12 crore). The broadcaster is offering an estimated reach of 120-140 million for co-presenting sponsors, 90-100 million for powered by and 60-70 million for associate sponsorship.
A spot buy for 10 seconds has been priced at Rs 25 lakh for the India vs Pakistan matches, while for the non-India matches, the ad rate for 10 second is Rs 2.3 lakh. The India matches plus the final for ODIs has been priced at Rs 17 lakh per 10 seconds.
Asia Cup is scheduled to be held from 30 August, 2023, to September 17, 2023.
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Sorted 360 wins creative & social media mandate of Reliance Mall
The agency will manage offline and online campaigns for Reliance Mall
Sorted 360, an integrated creative and social media agency, has won the mandate to providing brand solutions for Reliance Malls across India.
“Sorted 360 is set to enhance Reliance Malls' market presence with their unparalleled creative prowess and strategic thinking,” read a press release.
“Sorted 360's commitment to pushing the boundaries of creative communication aligns perfectly with Reliance Malls' ethos. With a pan-India presence spanning across 19 cities and growing, Reliance Malls has consistently captivated customers by offering an array of Reliance brands and third-party fashion & lifestyle brands. The mall has established an unparalleled connection with its patrons through superior quality, a remarkable value proposition, and an unmatched shopping experience,” it read further.
"We are thrilled to welcome Sorted 360 as our trusted partner in advancing our brand presence across the nation," said the Head of Marketing at Relaice Malls. "Their proven expertise in retail, shopping center management, and innovative creative strategies make them the perfect fit for our vision."
"Partnering with Reliance Malls is a testament to our commitment to shaping extraordinary brand experiences," remarked Prerana Anatharam, Co-founder of Sorted 360. "We are excited to leverage our strategic and creative acumen to further elevate Reliance Malls as the epitome of convenience, choice, and excellence."
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KlugKlug onboards Hemang Mehta as Country Manager for Indias
Mehta was most recently Head of Agency Relationships at Network 18 Media & Investments
KlugKlug has appointed Hemang Mehta as its Country Manager for India.
Mehta will play a pivotal role in driving KlugKlug's growth and expansion within the Indian market and be responsible for Sales & GTM Strategy
Prior to that, he has also represented organisations like Exponential (now VDX.tv), India Today Digital and Rediff.com. His expertise spans various domains including digital media sales, mobile marketing, media planning, and buying, social media marketing, and more.
Hemang Mehta expressed his enthusiasm about joining KlugKlug, saying, "I am thrilled to be a part of KlugKlug, a forward-thinking platform that is reshaping the influencer marketing landscape. As much as I look forward to collaborating with the exuberant team at KlugKlug, I am super excited to interact with the brands to deliver powerful data-backed Influencer solutions that will guarantee business outcomes."
Commenting on the appointment, Kalyan Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of KlugKlug, stated, "We are excited to welcome Hemang Mehta to our team as the Country Manager for India. His extensive experience in digital media sales and marketing will be instrumental in driving our efforts to provide influencer marketing solutions to our clients. We believe Hemang's leadership will be key in scaling our operations and expanding our reach within the Indian market."
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