This section wants to provide background for the rest of the story.We need to change marketing thinking as a result of the fact that the consumer has gained more power versus the marketer.
Power has shifted, so ...While we all know that the consumer is ultimately in the driver’s seat, the context has dramatically changed, giving significant more power to consumers than before. This is a wake-up call for marketing. Instead of trying to control everything, marketers need to embrace consumer power and lead consumers, provide them context and opportunities to be involved in building brands and creating new products and services.Why has power shifted? New mass media are available to every consumer (your number of followers on Twitter, your post on heavily visited consumer blogs, ...) Turning word-of-mouth into world-of-mouth: the effects of word-of-mouth are way more far-reaching than ever before (via social media) Consumers trust each other most: most studies support the fact that people are especially influenced by other people and less by media, advertising, PR, ... Making it their brand, not yours: marketers need to let go and understand that they do not control their brand, it is in the hands and minds of consumers So involve them in what you are doing: +50% of consumers want to co-create with marketers, they also expect it from brands And learn how to let go: leverage on the power that consumers have today and use them as part-time marketers, supporting your activation efforts as a marketer
One dimension of being connected is the connection between marketers and consumers.The Meet the Joneses results reveal that while most marketers think they are pretty connected to consumers, they perform relatively bad on the test. All results of the Meet the Joneses test can be downloaded here: include link to Slideshare presentation on Meet the Joneses.This slide deals with everything we do within the business unit “Exploration and insight generation”, with a strong focus on observational research (ethnography, social media netnography, ...).Next to that, we have a very good understanding of how generation Y thinks and acts via all knowledge we have available on them and included in Joeri’s book. Also the TalktoChange research community allows us to be connected to consumers in more than 35 countries across the globe.
Over the last years we have built quiet some experience in running communities and how to manage them for the best insights, in cooperation with the university of Maastricht. Having experienced everything we have come to decide to run either short 3 wk communities or LT 3 mo communities. Compare it to a fair: it is there for 3 weeks, has to be fun and after 3 weeks it is gone.Running a theme parc is different however. For a parc one needs to have recurring programme, but also has it’s seasonality (unless your Disney) – is sometimes closed, so you need stops. Go from strategic to tactic depending on your marketing needs. Longer is also not economical for end clients as they also need to digest the information (unless you have a research agenda that is so continuous it is not worth stopping and going).There is also a lot of debate about sample sizes. Through experimentation we have come up with calculation that sample size of 50 – 150 are sufficient. Based on - Community length Participation rate (mensen doen dit on waves) drop outAnother key learning tied to this is that 30 responses per thread is sufficient and best for the small eco system which communites are. And actually want to share the research we have done in this regard.
Consumers identifying with your brand are the ones talking positively about it, ultimately having an impact on brand equity.Results from our brand leverage study conducted in 15 countries in cooperation with Houston University can be accessed here: include results.
A peer Trust Inspirational Collaborative Behind the scenes Connecting
Doel: positioneren als Limburgs bier, maar wel nog appealing voor de rest van NL, zonder ongeloofwaardig te worden voor de Limburgers zelf!Fiets >> buitenlanderSamenhorigheid & trotsBekende Limburg >> André Rieu + Organisator van PinkpopLandschap >> vandaar optochtOptocht >> carnaval traditieDialectMillard Brown, 2nd best Heineken spot ooit, walk-in fridge
Doel: positioneren als Limburgs bier, maar wel nog appealing voor de rest van NL, zonder ongeloofwaardig te worden voor de Limburgers zelf!Fiets >> buitenlanderSamenhorigheid & trotsBekende Limburg >> André Rieu + Organisator van PinkpopLandschap >> vandaar optochtOptocht >> carnaval traditieDialectMillard Brown, 2nd best Heineken spot ooit, walk-in fridge
