The gap between competing brands is much smaller and the economic environment is becoming increasingly challenging . How brands maintain their competitive advantage will be the key to their survival . Price parity is reducing , and consumers are not necessarily intrigued by constant intrusion through advertising and a lot more persuasion will be required .
COMPLACENT MARKETING
Marketing In A World Of Standardization
By Diana Obath
The evolution of marketing is interesting to follow . The meaning of good and weak marketing has changed over the years . What we define as 360 marketing now has new elements that have been further fragmented into traditional and digital , and even digital 360 . In today ’ s world we say marketing is weak when the audience has poor recall or low engagement with the brand or has higher recall to the competition . Good marketing would be defined as such when the audience has high brand recall , strong emotional or rational connection with a product or service or just has a higher preference to a certain brand .
There is no definite measurable definition of what good or bad marketing is . Most other professions have a clear-cut definition of good and weak techniques coined in terminologies that support and define quality and success . We only know that marketing or advertising is good after we measure , and surprisingly sometimes , what we observe as weak marketing had the power to grow its own legs and carry itself to success , thanks to the digital generation .
As marketing evolves , good and bad marketing is also evolving with it . The relative simplicity of marketing in today ’ s world has made the act of marketing more accessible to more people than a decade ago . Traditional media has evolved , even OOH has become further fragmented into static OOH , mobile OOH and digital OOH . This transformation also means that competitive pressure is on the rise . Audiences can block out advertising and filter content . The current landscape is therefore all about hyper personalization and use of programmatic to increase reach , growth and purchase through paid services , SEO and remarketing techniques .
This transformation has brought all brands to a level playing field . New age brands are dominating digital spaces and some even taking over market share from the more traditional ones who remain fashioned to traditional tactics . The growth of moment marketing has further increased the pressure for brands to be heard and to be seen as making trends with the news of the day .
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The gap between competing brands is much smaller and the economic environment is becoming increasingly challenging . How brands maintain their competitive advantage will be the key to their survival . Price parity is reducing , and consumers are not necessarily intrigued by constant intrusion through advertising and a lot more persuasion will be required .
The leveling of the playing field is now not just happening in the execution of marketing campaigns , but also in product development . Laundry soaps are a good example of how technology has equalized product development and upset the marketing landscape . If we consider the 3p ’ s - product , place and price - it is not difficult to recognize that with increased media clutter and the ability to replicate competitive advantage in no time , real , meaningful , product or service differentiation is the only area where brands can leverage their claim to success .
All laundry detergents now are able to remove stains with ‘ one wash ’, leave clothes feeling soft , preserve color and have no allergens . This has become a standard offering . It further gets complicated for the consumer as the price points range within the same brackets for their preferences . Tech companies obviously lead the way in delivering products that perform at par . The one that most of us look forward to year after year is the evolution and launch of the new Apple and Samsung smartphones .
Apple and Samsung have recently launched two new generation mobile phones . The battle between the legions of fans and critics is ever present with these two brands . Fans and followers alike had all the information about the new series of the two phones before launch thanks to the ‘ rumors ’, ‘ leaks ’, commentary and news about the upcoming versions .
This year however , there were a lot more negative commentary about the iPhone on social platforms between Android and iPhone users . Loyal iPhone fans still made the long queues outside Apple shops to pre-order the phones , with stocks selling out both in-store and online just hours after
28 MAL56 / 23 ISSUE