The conquest of indifference

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INDIFFERENCE

THE CONQUESTOF

WIEDEN+KENNEDY AMSTERDAM

OR:

WHY HUMILITYMIGHT BE CREATIVITY’SBEST STARTING POINT

THISIS THE

LANGUAGEOF

MARKETING...

‘FANS’

‘RELATIONSHIPS’

‘ENGAGEMENT’

‘LOYALTY’

‘COMMITMENT’

‘LOVE’

IT’S THE LANGUAGE OF

ENTHUSIASM

ALL RHETORIC

NO EVIDENCE

JUST BECAUSE EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT IT

DOESN’T MEAN IT’S RIGHT

WE ARE PRISONERS OF

METAPHOR

AND VICTIMS OF

VANITY

WHAT FOLLOWS IS NOT AS BLEAK

AS IT WILL INITIALLY FEEL

BECAUSE IN THE ENDIT’S THE CASE FOR WHY

GREAT CREATIVITYIS ABSOLUTELY

ESSENTIAL

THEY’RE NOT

INTERESTED

0.5%OF FANS TALKING ABOUT A BRAND ON FACEBOOK

SOURCE: KAREN NELSON-FIELD & JENNIFER TAYLOR, ‘FACEBOOK FANS: A FAN FOR LIFE?’, ADMAP, MAY 2012

SOURCE: JENNI ROMANUIK, BYRON SHARP: ‘WHERE KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR BRAND RESIDES: THE PARETO SHARE OF BRAND KNOWLEDGE’, REPORT 44 FOR CORPORATE SPONSORS, 2008, EHRENBERG-BASS INSTITUTE FOR MARKETING SCIENCE

50%OF ALL KNOWLEDGE

ABOUT A BRAND IS HELD BY JUST 20% OF ITS BUYERS

LEARNING ABOUT BRANDS

IS NOT THAT IMPORTANT

THEY AREN’T

YOURS

72%OF PEPSI DRINKERS ALSO DRINK

SOURCE: TNS IMPULSE PANEL (UK)

‘DUPLICATION OF PURCHASE’IS

UNAVOIDABLE

AND IT’S

PREDICTABLE

% BUYING ONCE OR MORE IN 12 MONTHS

SOURCE: JOHN DAWES, ‘PREDICTABLE PATTERNS IN BUYER BEHAVIOUR AND BRAND METRICS: IMPLICATIONS FOR BRAND MANAGERS’, IN M.D. UNCLES ED., PERSPECTIVES ON BRAND MANAGEMENT

Colgate buyers(49%)

Aquafresh buyers(26%)

Macleans buyers(20%)

Sensodyne buyers(12%)

18%

35%

46%

11%

29%61%

11%

35% 54%

22%

25%53%

Colgate Aquafresh Macleans Sensodyne

THE FANTASY...

YOURCONSUMER

YOUR BRAND

THE REALITY...

‘YOUR’CONSUMER

‘YOUR’CONSUMER

NOT YOUR

BRAND

‘YOUR CONSUMERS’ ARE JUST

SOMEBODY ELSE’SCONSUMERS WHO OCCASIONALLY BUY YOU

THEY AREN’T

DEVOTED

0

3075

6150

9225

12300

1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 x 8 x 9 x

000’s of HHs buying

THIS IS

FRUCTIS

ANNUAL PURCHASE FREQUENCYSOURCE: NIELSEN

0

3075

6150

9225

12300

1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 x 8 x 9 x

000’s of HHs buying

THIS IS WHAT IT NEEDS TO DOTO LOOK

LIKE PANTENE

ANNUAL PURCHASE FREQUENCYSOURCE: NIELSEN

0

3075

6150

9225

12300

1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 x 8 x 9 x

000’s of HHs buying

ANNUAL PURCHASE FREQUENCY

FANS

SOURCE: NIELSEN

THESE CONSUMERSGENERATE

PUBLICITYNOT REVENUE

DISTINGUISH BETWEEN

ACTORSAND THE

THE AUDIENCE

SOURCE: INSTITUTE OF PRACTITIONERS IN ADVERTISING, ‘MARKETING IN THE ERA OF ACCOUNTABILITY’

SALES

MARKET SHARE

PROFIT

35

15

18

62

35

31

loyaltycampaigns

penetrationcampaigns

% reporting verylarge effects on:

YOUR BRAND’S HEALTHDEPENDS ON

LOTS OF PEOPLEWHO

DON’T KNOW YOU WELLDON’T THINK OF YOU MUCH

AND

DON’T BUY YOU OFTENIF AT ALL

SIZE MATTERS

THEY DON’T WANT TO

WORK AT IT

“THE ONLY WAY A RELATIONSHIP WILL LAST IS IF YOU SEE YOUR RELATIONSHIP AS A PLACE THAT YOU GO TO GIVE,AND NOT A PLACE THAT YOU GOTO TAKE”

ANTHONY ROBBINS“

HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS DEMAND

MASSIVEPROCESSING

POWER

HUMAN RELATIONSHIPSINVOLVE

BUILDING

COMPLEXMENTAL MODELS

I think...

I think...

...that you think...

I think...

...that you think...

...that I’m worried....

I think...

...that you think...

...that I’m worried....

...that you know

I think...

...that you think...

...that I’m worried....

...that you know

... that I have no idea what I’m talking about

MOST OF US GO THROUGH LIFE FINDING IT HARD ENOUGH TO HAVE GOOD RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE REAL PEOPLE IN OUR LIFE LET ALONE ALL THE BRANDS WE BUY.”

BRUCE MCCOLL, GLOBAL CMO, MARS“

ALMOST EVERY APP BUILT FOR A BRAND ON FACEBOOK HAS PRACTICALLY NO USAGE... HEAVY, ‘IMMERSIVE’

EXPERIENCES ARE NOT HOW PEOPLE ENGAGE AND INTERACT WITH BRANDS... HEAVYWEIGHT EXPERIENCES WILL FAIL

BECAUSE THEY DON’T MAP TO REAL LIFE.”

PAUL ADAMS, GLOBAL HEAD OF BRAND DESIGN AT FACEBOOK “

23 SECONDS

SOURCE: SHOPPER GAUGE

THAT AFTER ALL IS THE

WHOLE POINTOF BRANDING

THEY CAN LIVE

WITHOUT YOU

22% OF PEOPLESAY THEY INTERACT WITH BRANDS ON SOCIAL SITES TO

BE PART OF A COMMUNITY

SOURCE: IBM IN ‘TO KEEP YOUR CUSTOMERS, KEEP IT SIMPLE’, HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, MAY 2012

61% OF BUSINESS LEADERSSAY PEOPLE INTERACT WITH BRANDS ON SOCIAL SITES

TO BE PART OF A COMMUNITY

33% OF PEOPLESAY THEY INTERACT WITH BRANDS ON SOCIAL SITES TO

FEEL CONNECTED

SOURCE: IBM IN ‘TO KEEP YOUR CUSTOMERS, KEEP IT SIMPLE’, HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, MAY 2012

64% OF BUSINESS LEADERSSAY PEOPLE INTERACT WITH BRANDS ON SOCIAL SITES

TO FEEL CONNECTED

RELATIONSHIPS ARE A MATTER OF

LIFE AND DEATH

PEOPLE WITH STRONG SOCIAL NETWORKS

LIVE LONGERSOURCE: GILES, GLONEK, LUSZCZ, ANDREWS, ‘EFFECT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON 10 YEAR SURVIVAL IN VERY OLD AUSTRALIANS: THE AUSTRALIAN LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF AGING’, J EPIDEMIOL COMMUNITY HEALTH 2005;59:574-579

WHO DIES WHEN THIS

DISAPPEARS?

RELATIONSHIPSARE

FREETRANSACTIONS ARE NOT

77% OF PEOPLESAY THEY DON’T HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH A BRAND

SOURCE: HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW STUDY, HTTP://BLOGS.HBR.ORG/CS/2012/05/THREE_MYTHS_ABOUT_CUSTOMER_ENG.HTML

SO...

‘BRAND RELATIONSHIPS’ ARE NOTHING LIKE

HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS

IT’S JUST

METAPHOR

(A FIGURE OF SPEECH THAT DESCRIBES A SUBJECT BY ASSERTING THAT IT IS, ON SOME POINT OF COMPARISON, THE SAME AS ANOTHER OTHERWISE UNRELATED OBJECT)

“THE PRICE OF METAPHOR

IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE”

ARTURO ROSENBLUETH AND NORBERT WIENER, ‘THE ROLE OF MODELS IN SCIENCE’

MUCH OF WHAT WE MAKE ISN’T VITAL

BUT INCIDENTAL

INCIDENTALTO THIS:

ORDINARYAWFUL

AWESOMEEVERYDAY

LIFE

“ART BEGINSWITH RESISTANCE”

ANDRE GIDE

THE RESISTANCE

OF MATERIALS

THE RESISTANCE

OF GENRE

THE RESISTANCE

OF TRADITION

OUR CHALLENGE ISN’T THAT PEOPLE ARE

NOT PAYING ATTENTION

OUR CHALLENGE IS THAT PEOPLE

DON’T CARE THAT MUCH

OUR TASK IS NOT NURTURING ENTHUSIASMBUT OVERCOMING

INDIFFERENCE

INDIFFERENCE IS THE STRONGEST FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE. IT MAKES EVERYTHING MEANINGLESS. LOVE AND HATE DON’T STAND A CHANCE AGAINST IT.

JOAN VINGE “

BE PART OF WHAT

INTERESTSPEOPLE

GIVEMORE THAN YOU TAKE

TAKE A

POSITIONDON’T JUST HAVE ‘A POSITIONING’

THANK YOUwkamst.com

martin.weigel@wk.com

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WIEDEN+KENNEDY AMSTERDAM