Making the consumer talk

Pattaya - Consumer are reinventing their relationships with brands because they are in control, said James Lou, EVP and MD of strategy at DDB Chicago, turning the topic ‘Reinventing the relationship brands have with consumers' on its side.

Lou kicked off the presentation in a conversational and lighthearted tone and listed six macro consumer trends uncovered by DDB - Personal authenticity, self-invention, participation, age nullification, technology and choice chaos.

He said consumers today have both choice and control and they don't see age as a barrier to anything. What matters is staying true to themselves and sometimes to make decisions in the chaos of information they may rely on the media to suggest what is worth paying attention to.

Lou also brought up the book the Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki, which talks about how large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, and illustrates the point with examples such as Wikipedia, Google and MySpace.

His hypothesis was that today's consumers resemble dynamic swarms and not passive herds, and these swarms are made up of Advocates, Antagonists and the Apathetic.

Brands have to seek out advocates to help spread their messages as recommendations by friends or family is today the most sought after marketing tool around. However, instead of trying to engineer an advocate or force someone to become one, brands should take a position and have a conviction, which is what will make it stand out and attract Advocates naturally.

"Stop chasing your audience. Generate it. Make your brand more worthy of talk," Lou said.