Are mass markets dead or merely sleeping?

Contemporary Issues in Marketing Communications

MA Marketing Communications

Sayaka Brand W14146916

Module Leader: Jon Pike

Word Count:

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Introduction: Evolution of Markets

“The governing ideal was not merely to keep up with the Joneses, but to be the

Joneses” (Bianco et al, 2004). In the mid- 20th century, it was Western society’s aim

to fit in seamlessly, to own the same cars and home appliances as the next-door

neighbors, “the Joneses”.

The historical progress humankind has witnessed since the beginning of time has

gradually been accompanied by marketing activities. The epoch of simple trade has

governed for thousands of years before being broken through by the industrialization.

Exploiting the newly found technological procedures allowed for goods to be mass-

produced and consumed (White 2010). The aim of mass production was to

effectively lower production cost as well as make use of economies of scale. Its

pioneer, Henry Ford, perfected mass production to the extent to which the famous

Model T was leaving the line every 10 seconds- enabling Ford to cut costs and

prices, double the minimum daily wage at the same time yet still be profitable (Ford,

2014). However, the example outlined refers to an era where society was

significantly more homogenous and uniform; not only in terms of ethnicities but also

regarding aspirations (Bianco et al 2004).

However, as incomes grew and affluence levels elevated, societies’ encounter with

capitalism and postmodernism provoked a major shift in consumer demand and

culture (Dirlik and Zhang, 2000; Bianco et al, 2004)

A little like the infamous chicken or egg question, it cannot be pinpointed which led to

the other- if the demands in society urged producers to keep up with the changes, or

if demands were “artificially” created to increase consumption. Nonetheless, it can be

said that the shift from mass to micro marketing has been equally driven by necessity

as well as opportunity (Bianco et al, 2004).

Media Proliferation and Audience Fragmentation

Being a millennial makes me a part of a particularly unique generation as we

experienced life pre-Internet, and since its implementation, organically grew

alongside. Web 2.0 has fundamentally transformed life, providing a platform of infinite

opportunities that allow exploration on a level previously unheard of. The present

fast-paced, hyper-connected environment develops a thirst for constant innovation

and a consequent death of a long attention span. This had us going from packed

Facebook photo albums and YouTube videos to 3-second Snapchat pictures and 6-

second Vine videos. Moreover, the proliferation of media has not only created an

abundance of innovative new non-traditional tools such as the latter, but also

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fragmented the traditional media sector profoundly. The accelerating media

fragmentation is shrinking media audiences, the increasing numbers of channels and

media are making it more challenging for marketers to reach their target audience

through traditional media (Kirby and Marsden 2006). What used to be network

television with a few channels that reached out to a fairly uniform audience has

evolved to cable television and satellite radio, providing new advertising options.

What sounds promising, however, has actually led to increasing media clutter and

fragmentation; hence making advertising and targeting less effective (O'Guinn, Allen

and Semenik, 2012). Consequently, advertising giants, such as McDonalds, have

reduced their budget allocation for TV adverts from what used to be 75% to a third

(Doorley and Garcia, 2007).

Advertising today, even when promoting mass-products, is highly targeted. One

might think that trivial products such as detergent are mundane, one-size-fits-all

products. According to P&G, this could not be further away from the truth.

Companies have shifted emphasis from selling to the immense anonymous mass to

selling to millions of particular customers (Bianco et al 2004).

On the one hand, audience and media fragmentation aids the targeted marketing by

providing various channels that reach a specific consumer. On the other, it reduces

its effectiveness if the chosen channel fails to capture the desired consumer.

This is precisely why the integrated marketing approach has emerged as a concept;

instead of suffocating under media fragmentation, it uses the dispersion to its

advantage. To enhance the primary advertising message and to reach out to their

desired specific consumers, marketers use tools such as promotions, sponsorships

and public relations in addition (O'Guinn, Allen and Semenik, 2012).

Therefore, integrated marketing communications (IMC) campaigns cater to the needs

of today’s fragmented audience and media, and do not attempt to re-create mass

markets. It is critiqued that IMC uses mass marketing channels and sends a unified

message across all traditional and non-traditional media. Further, it is said to face

strong barriers, such as restriction in creativity and unaccommodating organizational

structures, which encumber success (De Pelsmacker, Geuens and Bergh, 2010).

However, the combination of the efforts of each medium has a greater impact all

together than a message wandering through a single channel. Moreover, IMC is

essentially used to allow one medium's weakness to be counterbalanced by

another’s strength, synergized components to support each other and create grander

effect (Kitchen et all 2004). Contrary to common belief, a successful IMC strategy

does not signify that an organization should only with a single message and one

unifying brand. More realistically, an integrated method encourages marketers to

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implement a strategy with multiple targets and allows them to attain integration of

different communication messages, functions and brand within one organization.

Consequently, IMC has the potential to profoundly transform the meaning of

marketing communications and might even be the succeeding step in the evolution of

marketing. (Dewhirst and Davis, 2005, Kilatchko, 2005, Grove, Carlson and Dorsch,

2002, Lee, 2002, Phelps and Johnson 1996) A perfect example for this would be

Snicker’s integrated campaign “ You are not you when you’re hungry”. The

campaign played on the consumer’s emotion of irritability and moodiness in times of

hunger. With such a common phenomenon that everyone could relate to, it was possible

to create a multidimensional campaign. Snickers got celebrities to send tweets that were

completely out of character, such as Katie Price tweeting about the outlook on the

Chinese economy (Benady 2012). When the underlying campaign was revealed, it

received great feedback not only due to its humour but clever guerilla tactics. This

campaign therefore exemplifies how it was able to integrate all marketing tools into one

campaign, leveraging each one for its strength and viral capacities. The core message

stays the same in each medium (“you are not you when you’re hungry”), however, TV

and YouTube ads showed a proper TV spot, whereas Twitter was used for celebrities

drawing attention and interest, and Facebook to post campaign-related “posters” with

humorous examples of how people are not themselves when they are hungry. By

approaching the consumers through the channel that speaks to them the most allows

firms to appeal to their individual needs, which a mass-market approach could not.

This campaign proves that integration is not about saying the same thing in different

channels. It illustrates that it is about attaching powerful and engaging consumer

insight to a unique feature of the brand and make it come alive through its

appropriate channels, whether its TV ads, Social Media or a piece of merchandise

(Benady 2012).

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Consumer Empowerment

The opinion of rejecting the recreation of mass markets through IMC can be further

underlined with the factor of consumer empowerment. Kliatchko (2008) argues that

IMC must be audience driven to be effective. “Companies must recognize that they

increasingly have to engage gods and are not dealing with helpless consumers

anymore”, says Rishad Tobaccowala, an executive vice president of Media Vest

Group, in an interview with Bianco et all (2004). Through the proliferation of non-

traditional media and revolution in patterns how media is consumed means that

consumers can determine the channel and content they want to be exposed to and

the duration thereof.

Kevin Roberts, the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, in an interview with the Economist

(2005): “For the first time the consumer is boss, which is fascinatingly scary and

terrifying, because everything we used to do, everything we used to know, will no

longer work.” Kirby and Marsden (2006) explain that the result of the abundance of

information, non-traditional media and the Internet as a whole is the marketing-savvy

and skeptical consumer, which portrays the main challenge in today’s marketing.

Therefore, it is no secret that social media has profoundly revolutionized the

principles of marketing in a traditional context. With 3.4 billion interactions on

Facebook and half a billion tweets being sent out daily, marketers are always on the

outlook for new ways to use those profitably (Mullin 2013). As previously mentioned,

we can witness a simultaneous shift in consumer behavior to being distrustful

towards corporate advertising, making the oldest advertising tool, word of mouth, the

strongest influencer of our time (Figure 1, Mashable 2013).

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Figure 1: Courtesy of Mashable.com (2013)

Mullin (2013) therefore postulates that social media has become the modern form of

word-of-mouth marketing. It is in our nature to reduce risk pre-purchase by obtaining

information and opinions to facilitate decision-making when evaluating alternatives

(Solomon 2010). Whilst traditional word of mouth reached consumers individually

through their inner circles, Web 2.0 and the social platforms it provides allows one

person to directly reach out an unlimited number people at once. This has

tremendously magnified this type of consumer-to-consumer communication.

The efficacy of non-traditional media lies in the insertion of the “listening”-element;

what used to be corporations preaching to the public can now be responded to

through these platforms, creating two-way communications.

Companies are faced with the intimidating circumstances of giving up partial control

of the corporate message. IN exchange however, companies can gain valuable

market insight and respond efficiently (Safko, 2012). Hence, the shift of who is sitting

in the throne can and should not be changed. Today, with all ad-blocking and

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skipping technology, online reviews and platform where we can exchange our ratings

and experiences for products with complete strangers, have left companies with no

choice but to work on their transparency and focus on “earning earned media”.

A campaign that has provided consumers with valuable and truly engaging content

was Coca Cola in the summer of 2013. “Our summer campaign invited you to share a

moment of happiness with friends, family and loved ones. We swapped the iconic logo on

our bottles with 250 of the most popular names in Great Britain, so you could Share a

Coke with the people who matter to you the most (Coca-Cola GB, 2014)” With more

than 1.8billion servings in over 200 countries, Coca Cola is a prime example of a

mass product. However, through their integrated campaign strategy, they were able

to appeal individually to each of their consumer by personalizing the bottle to a level

of relevancy. Not only did Coca Cola print names on bottles, but also embedded it

into a whole experiential marketing event, by letting the names appear on the digital

billboards at Piccadilly Circus. Moreover, this campaign received massive

engagement levels on social media through all the people sharing their experience

and pictures of bottles. Ultimately, Coca Cola jumpstarted its campaign by giving out

the personalized merchandise, but the real success was driven by the consumers,

who shared their genuine appreciation for the campaign by creating earned media

and propelled it to the level of tremendous success and increased likability. The

Coca-Cola example demonstrates that, even if the merchandise itself is a not a

unique niche product but in fact mass-produced, a mass marketing strategy would

fail to impress the consumer with a standardized mass media advertising.

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Other similar examples are the recent campaigns of ABSOLUT Vodka, Absolut

Unique and Absolut Originality. In both campaigns, the company completely

rearranged their production process to create 4 million uniquely designed bottles.

Absolut Originality infused the transparent bottle with a single drop of blue colour to

grant each bottle with a completely unique design. The bottles were advertised on

billboards but consumers were able to engage by the “add your own drop” on their

website and social media to personally customize their bottle (Absolut Vodka 2014).

Conclusion

Companies cannot stay competitive in the market if they do not adopt an integrated

marketing approach that caters to individual segments. Mass marketing can in very

few cases still be an effective tool, that is, when the target market is homogenous,

such as in the commodity industry. However, any company that needs to expand and

capture new segments has no choice but to abandon a mass marketing strategy or to

cost-intensively invent a new product for every new segment (Ferrell, O.C.; Hartline, M.;

2012). I do believe that personalized, targeted advertising is here to stay, due to all

the reasons mentioned, as it is simply more effective, measurable, allows for

interaction with the consumer and strengthens relationship marketing. Hence, there

will be no relapse to mass advertising in the foreseeable future. However, that IMC is

not aiming to recreate mass-markets does not mean that mass markets are dead.

Mass marketing is. The thirst for new trends is always partly fuelled by society, and

not only marketing. The chronology that is associated with the postmodern era

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emphasizes the mistrust towards the future and enjoys nostalgic consumption. This

is particularly visible in the fashion industry, where we can often see a comeback of

the past, where elements of the e.g. 60’, 70’, 20’ are embedded in the new

collections. Since we have gone from conformity to individuality throughout

postmodernism, it is unclear what post-postmodernism holds for society. Will society

be saturated with individuality? An example of a subtle indication of the latter is the

latest fashion trend “Normcore”. This describes bland, unfashionable notion of

dressing in an utterly conventional, nondescript way, where sameness accentuates

the desire to fit in (Farell 2014; Doonan 2014; Cochrane 2014). Therefore, there is a

certain likelihood of society wanting to remove all the clutter and go back to a more

functional rather than hyper-reality driven environment. Given this probability, it can

be concluded that mass-markets are likely to be merely sleeping and could be

revived one day- either through necessity or opportunity.

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References

Absolut Vodka, 2014. Originality. [online] Available at: <http://www.absolut.com/uk/news/art/Originality/> [Accessed 21 Apr. 2014].

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Benady, D., 2012. Nike, Snickers and Fosters have created powerful integrated campaigns – so what's their secret?. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <http://www.theguardian.com/best-awards/powerful-integrated-campaigns-secret> [Accessed 21 Apr. 2014].

Coca-Cola GB, 2014. Share a Coke: Swapping Our Name With Yours. [online] Available at: <http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/share-a-coke/share-a-coke.html> [Accessed 21 Apr. 2014].

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