If this sounds like chicken and egg to you then think again. Yes, marketers are generally pretty good at splitting hair, but here the story is different. Indeed, the first part of this Marketing Century was dedicated to showering consumers with Brands, bombarding them with messages. But does this approach still work?

A cruel dilemma ! Chicken or Egg?

Perhaps to an extent, but there is a marked increase in the resistance to the disruption of life by advertising.

So what then is the right model ?

Well, we learned from Chris Anderson that business now has a tail…. A long tail. Basically, with the internet revolution, being niche is more attractive than ever before. Consumers can now find you, regardless of how small or distant your business is. What is important is that they should want to find you. This is the era of extreme customization, the era of Google. Customers search, they browse, compare, review, write about brands and recommend or criticize. They gather in communities and sometimes decide to send brands warnings (Cadbury, Dominos Pizza, to name a few).

I would like to argue that this is the era were Marketers should focus on Bringing Consumers to Brands . A novel approach to marketing is required as the brand consumer matchmaking game is not as unilateral as before.

Sure, the Marketers of yester-year too cared about understanding their target market. They too could not please everyone and endeavoured to find the perfect compromise. As Malcom Gladwell put it, they looked for the “perfect tomato sauce”. But then there is no perfect tomato sauce, is there? Instead, there are perfect tomato sauces… for a myriad of customers with different needs. And now more than ever there is a need to recognise more perfect tomato sauces!

Welcome to the long tail. Here listening to and understanding customers is taking on a whole new significance. Brands that can do that and make it into the inner circle of a particular tribe are ensured success. More than ever the “humanity” of a brand or brand personality becomes critical. It is not easy to be accepted by a particular tribe. There are codes, behaviours, beliefs you must subscribe to. Is your brand green? Do you erase your carbon footprint? Is your food organic? What is your brand doing for the community? They want transparency, traceability, accountability. Who manufactures your shoes? If it happens to be China, don’t lie… we all know what assembled in EU means. Made in China is now perfectly acceptable. Eyewash is not.

The old principle of giving to receive gains currency. You must give loads before you start to receive. And you have to do the right thing before people accept you as friends. There is no direct path to consumers’ heart… you have to earn their trust, you have to prove genuine to your words. THIS is the new world order when it comes to brands.

Sure, you can still shower the wider number with messages, but this has lost its efficiency, and more likely than not you will go unheard. Instead, you need to concentrate on permeating a community, getting into a tribe’s good books. Engaging consumers at a whole new level. Becoming an integral part of their lives. That is what will win you their heart in the long run. There is no short-cut.

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