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The
swiftness or slowness by which the world around us
changes affects our perceptions of time itself. The more
swiftly things change, the faster we appear to be
hurtling into the future, and the further behind us the
events of only yesterday seem to be.
We work
in an age when a sweeping revolution brought about by
the convergence of telephone and computer technologies
is irrevocably changing the commercial landscape. Today,
companies in every category are ready to strike out in
the new direction.
At the
time I was writing advertising in the late ’90s, I could
barely see the outlines where the future would take us.
Now that a decade has passed, those outlines have become
much clearer. There is a need for a new look at what
leads to business success from an industrial-age economy
to an information-age economy—from the time when most
businesses were production-based and dealt with the
customer at arm’s length, to a time when what you do to
interact with your customers can be critical to your
company’s future.
The
necessity for a new outlook was underscored by Jay
Conrad Levinson during a one-on-one interview with this
columnist. Levinson has been creating advertising for
large and small companies throughout the world since
1958. As senior vice president and creative director of
J. Walter Thompson, he garnered prestigious prizes in
graphics, television, video and radio. He is the author
of Guerrilla Marketing, Guerrilla Marketing Attack and
Guerrilla Marketing Excellence, and the coauthor of
Guerrilla Financing and Guerrilla Selling. He lives in
northern
California.
Guerrilla Marketers.
Henry Yap,
Nicole Guerzon, Joyette Perez, Jay Conrad Levinson and
Ardy Roberto.
--PHOTOS BY KARLO DE LEON
Levinson
speaks with passion about advertising. The state of
creativity in the Philippines is a big improvement,
according to him, adding that “though you are still
lagging behind Internet usage, I think the Internet
grows faster in the Philippines than in any other place
in Asia.”
“It’s
quite good because you’ve learned from all the marketing
that has happened in the past. I was watching the
television, reading the newspapers, browsing through the
magazines, and I thought there were no old-fashioned
ideas here. There are lots of new, advanced ideas. I was
very impressed. I know how rapidly the Internet is
growing in the Philippines, not that explosive yet [but
it’s growing very rapidly now],” he stresses.
But, I
have to ask, in how many instances is there actually a
real commitment to the new marketing concepts, rather
than only rudimentary experimentation and mere mimicry
of what is rapidly becoming “the thing to do”? Why are a
relatively few innovative marketers zooming ahead so
dramatically while so many others lag behind?
“Ad
agencies used to think that the solution to all problems
is advertising. They learned that there are other
solutions that have nothing to do with advertising. They
still try to sell advertising because they are in the
advertising business. But it’s not just about
advertising. It’s about advertising and marketing. Now
this includes the Internet. Marketing includes a lot of
things that advertising doesn’t. Ad agencies usually get
smart people working for them, but are realizing they’ve
better change or they’ll become like a dinosaur. If we
don’t change and we don’t communicate with people online
and learn about e-mail and all those stuff, we’re going
to fall behind. Ad agencies, to survive, must change,”
he says.
Indeed,
we see many of these winning marketers carrying out
various steps of the marketing continuum and taking
advantage of the turnaround trends. We see them adding
the “Double D” of dialogue and database to the classic
“four Ps”—product, price, place and promotion—of the
marketing mix. But they are also doing something more.
They are pushing beyond the marketing of the future.
They are exhibiting qualities of hearts and guts and
vision that can’t be taught by rules alone, that go
beyond the tactical steps of the marketing process.
The
troubled marketplace, according to Levinson, is the
fallout in living in a time of discontinuous change from
living behind the mass-production orientation of the
past, while not yet feeling completely comfortable with
the computer-driven, individualized orientation
replacing it. The new complexities of production, the
integration of many diverse (and constantly changing)
technologies and the demassification of markets continue
to increase, by vast leaps, the amount and quality of
information needed to make the system produce wealth. It
explains why the battle for control of knowledge and the
means of communications is heating up all over the
world.
“If
someone says he knew all there was to know about
marketing but didn’t know about the Internet, he’s
falling behind [unless he learns about it]. And the
thing that makes it hopeful for the Philippines is that
people are willing to learn. ‘Informationalized’ economy
continues to grow throughout the world. Computers are
not just about technology, they’re also about people,”
Levinson points out.
With the
advent of sophisticated communication gadgets, we are
faced with a critical question: Is the print medium in
Asia responsive to new creative technologies as it was so many
years ago?
Levinson
says that print today is more vibrant than it has ever
been. Rather than running away from technology, the
print industry has embraced technology and allows the
marketer almost unlimited options with which to convey
his message. The print media provides information for
web sites on the Internet. “They are the content
providers, providing many new audiences with what
appears in the printed version and targeted market
opportunities for advertisers. Without the print, there
would be a lot less bits and bytes flowing to your
computer.
“It’s
important to have newspapers, magazines, televisions and
radios because they are in my book—200 different
guerrilla marketing [tools]—and the Internet is just one
of them. The Internet helps the job, but it doesn’t do
the job. For example, we say that advertising doesn’t
work alone or direct mail, and having a web site doesn’t
do either. But if you combine advertising, or direct
mail, and you have a web site, all three will help each
other and work better. So the key is to realize that the
Internet can help you with everything else, but it can’t
do the whole job [for you]. One thing it does, the
Internet makes it easier for advertising to visit their
web site. That makes it easier for advertising,” he
explains.
The keys
to business success cover a wide spectrum of marketing
scenarios. Taken together, they demonstrate a new
standard of excellence needed to survive and prosper in
the Age of the Individual. The Internet is only one
facet of the way that technology is transforming
marketing communications in this decade.
The
guerrilla advertising strategy
A logo
is like a man’s name. Just like Jay Conrad Levinson,
when I mention his name, you know him damn well, and
everything about him jumps into your mind. It conjures
up what that man is. A logo does the same thing for a
product. The consumer sees that name and he feels he
knows everything about that product.
Successful international campaigns express clear brand
personalities. Levinson cited Marlboro cigarette, using
the cowboy as symbol of heroism and individuality. “At
first the campaign didn’t work but they committed to
stay with it. By staying with it, they baffled the No. 1
selling cigarette on the planet. Yet, it’s the same
marketing strategy they used for years.” Since the
outcome was a huge success, it was used internationally
as well.
Brand
personalities based on global and universal concepts are
very simple. Simplicity in advertising does not mean the
expression is just simple, but rather it can generate
the maximum effect with minimum effort. Nike commercials
stress action, “Just do it,” starring big-name
professional athletes, and Reebok utilizes different
superstar athletes, also conveying a strong sense of
identity. According to Levinson, creativity is beyond
time, language and culture. Expressing universal
qualities in an original and understandable way is
creativity.
“Most
people in marketing are in a hurry. That’s the worst
thing to do. But if you’re not in a hurry and you commit
to what you’re doing and you stay with that, then some
of the best ideas are ones that you will commit to.
Don’t make a lot of changes. Stay with the same visuals.
The best idea, whether it’s for an automobile or a dress
store, understands commitment.”
The
single most important key to successful advertising and
marketing is commitment. Your advertising campaign theme
will improve with age as consumers gain confidence in
you and those frequently run ads. They are impressed, on
an unconscious level, with your consistency, and they
begin to bite your offer when they become aware of the
belief you are demonstrating in it by means of your
consistent advertising campaign.
Levinson
is quick to point out, however, that consistent doesn’t
mean unchanging. Devotion doesn’t mean devotion to an
unmoving static idea. Unless you build flexibility into
your advertising, you’ll be devoting yourself to
failure. He refers to this as an organic ad campaign, an
ad plan that lives and changes with the times, that
bends but never breaks, that remains forever fresh.
Computer
technology is changing so rapidly that it’s easier than
ever to create a campaign with flexibility. More and
more companies are rising to the occasion, but some
allow the technology to get in the way of the sales
message. “When I talk about flexibility, I’m talking
longevity with a format that breeds familiarity.
Flexibility never relies upon fads and trends, but may
tap into them sometime during the life of the ad
campaign,” he furthers.
Is it
easy to create a campaign with flexibility?
“It’s
almost as tough as breaking the law of gravity, but it
can be done, has been done, should be done, and is done
by guerrillas, large and small. Flexibility helps you
attain your goals because it keeps down the cost of
creating new advertising, and it gives strength and
vitality to your original advertising.”
Five
keys to business success
Not all
companies are following all of the pathways to success.
Some of them do not have a need for a particular
approach. The spectacular success of any company is
never the result of a single factor. There is far too
much happening at any given moment in today’s complex
environment—productivity gains, employee morale,
refinancing of debt, new product developments,
management reorganization—to assign full credit to any
one business activity.
Levinson
identifies five identified actions and attitudes being
widely used. “First is confidence in the business. And
what makes them confident? Your commitment to the brand,
your being consistent with your brand. Your being
patient to stay with it. Those are the things that make
people customers of yours, and because you follow-up
with each customer, that’s what keeps them customers for
life. Second most important thing is quality. Quality is
not what you put into your product; it’s what people get
from your product. The third is service. It’s anything
the customer wants it to be. The fourth is selection,
and the fifth is a good price.”
The
information-age marketing key to success is not
necessarily appropriate for solving every marketing
problem. But when it comes to providing information
consumers do want, most marketers remain guilty of
putting ”selling” ahead of “telling.” They fail to
understand the public’s hunger for reliable assistance
in an age of skepticism and the availability of an
overwhelming number of choices.
Advanced
information and communications technology has driven
down the cost of telling the consumer everything he or
she may want to know about almost anything you may want
to know to sell. Low-key “telling,” marketers say, is
going to increasingly replace high-pressure “selling” as
the most effective way to get through to jaded
consumers, as we move further along in the shift from
mass marketing to individualized marketing.
No one
knows how to use weapons of the trade better than
guerilla marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson. As the
conversation ended, he says, “Joyette, you do know what
you’re talking about.” In a manner of speaking, AdMix is
a mere heartbeat away from the marketing scene despite
its oddities and uncertainties. |
