In several sectors of the economy, hope is on the march. In real estate development, sales are ticking along, with resale volume for July 2009 hugely improved over 2008. The same holds for other industries. Two weeks ago, the Bank of Canada pronounced the big slide over, and said we’re on the road to recovery.
True or not, as a marketer, I am afraid. Some of the old-school brands out there – big banks, car companies, and many real estate developers – put their head in the sand in an attempt to survive the recent troubles. If they were big enough, and well funded enough, they made it through the storm without having to adjust their thinking. And that’s exactly what worries me.
Some dinosaurs seem to have survived the Ice Age. And this is no good.
The economic wobble we’ve all just lived through was a wake-up call to businesses around the world. There is a new consumer on the scene, one that won’t stand for the old-fashioned yell-and-sell approach to branding and marketing. These new consumers want a relationship. They want trust. They want to be heard. They want to know how and where you do business. They want to know everything about you. But the dinosaurs don’t get that. They want it the way it used to be: they told us what to think, we whipped out our wallets.
Active consumers will make our economy stronger. They will make sure that we are honest, straightforward, and real. And, even though she presents new responsibilities, the active consumer will make us merchants better. Nowhere is this more true than in marketing and branding – the interface between company and the consumers.
Some old-school companies managed to survive the recession, and, yeah, I’m pissed about it. But their day of reckoning is nigh. Let them go back to their old ways, feeling self-righteous and smart; there’s a meteorite on the horizon.
My advice to them: use this market correction as an opportunity to clean the cobwebs from their marketing. Think new thoughts. Look around and you’ll see that this wasn’t simply a bump in the road. It’s a brand new road. Get on it.
