It’s an answer that must be read by all marketers and planners. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 27 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…
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Q. As per a recent survey by Kantar, a majority of marketers believe digital channels are a more effective tool for building brands. Digital got 86.7% votes, while offline got 80.1%. Your view?
A. As the popular adage goes, if you want to prove something, do research. It is so heuristic-based that any conclusive theorisation is hazardous. In today’s world of multi-channel, multi-window consumer habits and omnichannel communication trends by marketers, any unidimensional thought about brand-building can be a sure recipe for failure. If one’s branding decisions hinge on the said research, the safety moat for brands invincibility would get compromised.
In today’s marketing context, it is difficult to know from where adversarial onslaught can come. While intra-category onslaught can be anticipated because of linearity of sectoral challenges, it is the inter-category invasions (more black swan type) that can come in unanticipated format due to intersections of technology-led disruptions.
Steve Jobs once famously said that the art of innovation lies in decoding what even the customer didn’t know what they want. The digital revolution has created a condition that companies can be in constant touch with their present and potential stakeholders in a collaborative manner for future innovations. Imagine a situation that in a platform-agnostic world, any discordant note about brands is heard whether through paid and owned media (controllable format) and earned media from the consumer side. In view of this, any skewed approach about the core essence of a brand must be uniform and homogenous across media and not used in a silo manner.