Marketing 2011 - Observations and Predictions

Jocelyn Renaud, VP Managing Director for Grey Canada presented to the Communitech Strategy Marketing Peer2Peer group yesterday, giving us Grey's Observations and Predictions for Marketing Strategies we can expect to see implemented in the B2C world.

Jocelyn is a wonderful presenter with extensive Agency experience including 8 years with Ogilvy and Mather NYNY and stints at various Canadian agencies in Vancouver and Toronto. She has worked on a broad range of clients including IBM WorldWide, American Express, Bell Canada, Government of Ontario, Bank of Montreal, ScotiaBank International, RIM, The Vancouver Sun and Province, Alcan, Future Shop and Shoppers Drug Mart. And she is a wonderful person who is willing to share her knowledge and passion for communicating.

This is an overview of the presentation. If you would like the complete presentation, video and all, let me now and I can FTP it to you.

Today’s consumers can be divided into 2 groups – Those in Gen X and above and Gen Y and below.  There are 2 different implications to this divide. As the Gen X group takes on more of a critical mass, yet is increasingly aging, products focusing on aesthetics/beauty and health will gain more prominence.  The number of products and communications regarding anti aging creams, erectile dysfunction, osteoporosis, incontinence, and hair loss and coloring will rise dramatically. On a different note, Consumers that fall into Gen Y and below have become very different consumers.  Everything they do is technologically oriented – so your messages need to be short and impactful.

In this environment of constant change, many companies will submit to the urge to rebrand in order to claim customer attention.

Design is becoming an increasingly important differentiator in the marketplace. Expect to see lots of Honeysuckle this year - according to the Pantone Color Institute, Pantone  18-2120 Honeysuckle is the color of the year for 2011.  It is encouraging and uplifting, inspiring confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of our everyday lives – unlike last year’s color – Turquoise.

 

And good news for my friends at Christie Digital Systems, marketers who are desperate to be noticed and wanting to present their brands in unique and powerful ways are looking for any surface to promote their product. Outdoor projection marketing is seeing a huge upswing and Christie, manufacturing here in Kitchener, Ontario are the technology leader for this opportunity. Their line of high resolution, high brightness projectors have a superior reputation with Rental/Stagers for their reliability and quality performance.

Rather than relying on the “if you build it, they will come” mentality, marketers are now taking their products to where the consumers are. Expect to see retail in places you haven't seen them before.

Starting with Enron and Bernie Madoff, but more recently with BP and Toyota – companies need to be prepared for Crisis. With the free flowing of information (think Wiki Leaks), the ability to communicate to the masses instantly and rising Consumer expectations, a crisis can pop up at any time.

• Companies in all industries need to constantly monitor conversations about their brand.
• They should be prepared to respond instantly to any negative comments, discussions or press.
• Always avoid any show of force or heavy handedness
• Empower your front lines – acknowledging that your sales force needs to know the corporate position and be committed to supporting that direction.
• Be prepared to admit mistakes and put plans in place for corrections and improvements

Well established in other parts of the world, 2011 is projected to be the year we see an explosion of mobile marketing programs and applications in North America. We haven't seen anything yet.

As more and more products and brands reach parity and become commoditized – emotion can be a differentiator.  Advertising is really just another form of content – competing as much with each other as it is with all other content out there, whether it be the Hufffington Post, “Lost” or Wikipedia.  Engaging, emotional advertising will continue to get noticed.

We’ve certainly seen the rise of on-line communities – be it facebook friends, on-line chat rooms, on-line communal advice and more.  This will continue to grow on-line, but could also spill over to the real world.

More and more companies are evolving into affinity marketing.  Whether it be developing commercials with a zero carbon footprint, donating a portion of sales to charity or supporting charitable organizations, this is becoming an increasing consumer expectation.