4 - Internationalist

Six leading marketing decision makers tell
inter national ist about the future of marketing, by sharing their
various experiences of working directly with consumers.
We are a women-only fashion house, and our
consumers are getting younger every year.
We have 2,100 stores worldwide, making us
one of the world’s biggest retail chains. For us,
that is an important antenna of what’s
happening in the marketplace. It is an incredible
“…we’re about
Steve Garton
Global Head of Media
Synovate (U.K.)
Companies are increasingly responding to
consumers’ changing behavior towards brands. The
smarter marketers are building their brands into
an experience so that user interaction is able to go
beyond just being the latest cool brand.
Giorgio Guidotti
President Worldwide PR &
Communication
Max Mara Fashion House (Italy)
way of communicating and a vital way of showing
‘viewers’ (of the window displays) what our brand is
about.
With 2,100 stores in primary locations, which
amount to thousands of windows, our stores are
like billboards. Our stores also communicate with
us. If something doesn’t work, our customers let us
know. This is then handled by our VM Factory,
which is our Visual Merchandising department,
and a very important part of our marketing
strategy. We have all kinds of talent working there,
including architects.
We’re launching our first Web site in spring
2008, and that will mean more information for the
customers to let them know what is available when
and in which store. It will feature more news about
evolutions,
not revolutions
”
The U.S.-based Viking Store (in Tennessee)
sells high-end culinary products, but it also
offers cordon blue cooking courses, provides
online information on how to use stoves, and
shares recipes with its customers.
The latest (£6.2m) ad campaign for
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate features a
gorilla playing drums (to classic hit “In The Air
Tonight” by British rock star Phil Collins). It is
different; it is funny; it has a broad appeal and
is relevant to Cadbury’s consumers. The
company wanted to create a buzz, to make
people want to forward the link to their friends,
and that created a viral marketing aspect.
In the past, word-of-mouth has always
been important, now marketers can accelerate
the messages digitally via “word of mouse.”
Marketers have to be absolutely honest in
there communications. If they are supporting
a particular blog without declaring their
interest in that blog, consumers will find out.
The consumer is now in control, you have to
create time and that is a fundamental shift.
the company, for example, the opening of a
retrospective in Tokyo, plus blogs.
Initially, we shall experiment with the Web site
and develop it one step at a time.
We have considered using mobile
(phones/handsets) to communicate with our
customers, but our core business is still fashion and
you want a platform that is ideal for displaying our
brand.
Of course, the virtual world Second Life is worth
considering. It could be a good way of raising global
awareness of a brand for younger consumers, but
we’re not rushing into things yet.
We’ve seen the gold rush to new gimmicks. We
don’t want to be the first ones to discover the new
Second Life. We would rather see how it works first
instead of being the first just for the sake of it. One of
the company’s mottos is that we’re about evolutions,
not revolutions. We create advertising campaigns that
are daring, not scary.
You can reach Giorgio Guidottiat:
guidotti.g@mmfg.it
Creating time means giving value back,
and (thanking) consumers for being involved
in the marketers’ messages. There are creative
(consumers) online who are able to make
decisions to take a brand forward.
Some marketers have begun to let go and
let the consumers drive the brand in a
particular direction. The consumer wants to
feel that the brand belongs to them and that
the marketers are listening to them.
Within these experiences, marketers
should now look for collaborations with other
marketers to reinforce something that can
synergize with their brands, such as airlines,
hotel packages and car-hire firms. In the
future, brands will become more of an
experience (than a product), and then it will
only be a question of connecting the
experiences seamlessly.
You can reach Steve Garton:
Steve.Garton@synovate.com