Reaching an affluent market in a digital world

MEDIA & MARKETING:The younger and more affluent an individual is, the more likely they are to be surfing the web

THE PEOPLE outside the internet tent are mostly older, poorer and rural. However, the younger and more affluent an individual is, the more likely they are to be surfing the web. And that's why online advertising and other forms of digital marketing are assuming greater importance.

So how must marketing professionals adapt? With difficulty, it would seem. According to JP Donnelly, chief executive of the Ogilvy Group in Ireland: "Perhaps more than any time before, brands have to truly differentiate themselves.

"They have to stand for something and they have to walk the talk, not just in their traditional routes to market, but across all touch points with the customer. That means there is both a challenge and an opportunity."

Donnelly, who is addressing a Marketing Institute of Ireland function in Dublin next Tuesday, adds: "Brands have to be significantly more in touch in a world where the consumer is totally in charge, where what others say about your brand is significantly more important than what the marketer has to say.

"The challenge is the shift in how we communicate. It's no longer about sending messages out to audiences, but how we engage our customers and prospects. This requires a new set of rules of communication and a new tool box."

In Donnelly's view, the demographics of broadband penetration and internet usage show there is a lag between how the consumer behaves and how the marketer acts. He calls this the "marketing confidence gap".

Ogilvy is advising clients that, to sustain a brand's relevance, marketers will either have to catch up with or be left out by the brand leaders in the digital world.

"In this context, it is perhaps more crucial to link your marketing initiative to genuine business objectives and the creation of genuine service advantages," says Donnelly.

"Whatever initiatives are taken, it is critical to ensure that your investment is anything but cosmetic."

Donnelly's views about the importance of brand are disputed by Martin Bailie, strategic planning director of digital advertising agency Glue London, who is in Dublin today to share his insights at a seminar in the Digital Hub. "All products and companies are naked in the glaring light of opinion coming from connected consumers online," he says.

"So we tend to find it's more useful to think 'company' over 'brand'. By focusing on what people think of a company, you open out the debate to the products, chief executive, share price, etc. Marketing needs to help guide the reputation of companies so they sell more product more profitably, rather than get fixated on brands and image."

Bailie advises marketers to think about connected people, rather than passive, isolated consumers. "Herd mentality is alive and well and, if you don't address what people are saying to each other, you are missing the majority of the truth of the situation," he says.

"Across any digital activity, the challenges are how open and responsive you want or can be as a company. This is what marketing is becoming - listening, responding and evolving products and communications over time."

Recognising the rising demand for digital marketing expertise, advertising agency Owens DDB recently set up Digitalworks.

According to Digitalworks director Avril Fagan: "Digital advertising allows brands to engage more with their audience so it's an opportunity for brands to be more hands-on and embrace the interactivity on offer.

"Brands can be a bit more fun and personal in an online environment, especially when using tools such as virals, e-mail newsletters and competitions.

"Digital advertising provides an opportunity to really develop the personality of the brand in a more detailed way and this helps to create a deeper relationship with consumers."

Fagan concedes that the biggest challenge her firm faces is persuading advertisers to break with old habits. "Digital is just another communications channel to add to the mix and is nothing to be afraid of," she says. "However, advertisers have to decide what is the best way forward, and what proportion of their budget should be allocated to digital. This can prove daunting, so there is a requirement to break through that comfort barrier of doing what you've always done."

***

The Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland (IAPI) and the Association of Advertisers in Ireland (AAI) are calling on advertising agencies and advertisers to implement more cost-efficient and effective means of pitching for business.

The two bodies have published a new guide to selecting advertising, communications, marketing and media agencies.

Chairwoman of the IAPI taskforce on pitching Orlaith Blaney says: "Pitching for business is a very costly exercise and, in today's economic climate, we need to examine these costs even more closely."