Gap Widens Between Consumers and Marketers
Dave Evans over at ClickZ has put out one heck of a good article. I would suggest this for anyone even slightly connected to marketing within your organization.
I can readily see the trend of my target audience in the social network pool, in fact I find myself spending more and more time with social networks and applications in response to how the market is moving and how I have to react as a marketer. I really believe that any organization has to understand what drives it’s customers, and articles like this one help you to do that, by seeing what other marketing professionals are trending and how customers react to the current landscape.
I hope you enjoy the excerpt below and click through to read the entire article, it’s worth your time!
Gap Widens Between Consumers and Marketers
After all, wasn’t that the point of the ads? To encourage people to buy things? As Americans we are about consumption, and advertising is a good part of what drives that consumption. I’ve yet to see a successful agency pitch that started out, "Our research showed that consumers are maxed out on credit, so we’ve designed a campaign for you suggesting that consumers hold off until next year on that new car." (Speaking of, Saturn’s new campaign adds to what Hyundai started: it’s a campaign that is most definitely intended to move a consumer to action, and, will most definitely be measured. Kudos to both.)
Whether it was over-consumption, the ad-driven belief that banks were more like rocks than, say, water vapor, or a steady diet of television programming like, "Flip This House," the fact is that advertisers worked hand-in-hand with clients to create demand that drives purchases. To now say, "Hey, we’re not at fault, we’re just the messenger" is to further damage the credibility and trustworthiness of the ad business itself. I cannot think of a worse time to be doing that.
Gap Widens Between Consumers and Marketers
