EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED!

The Rules and the Tools of the Consumer Engagement Era

Kenny badmus

Once upon a time, it was a seller market.

Mummy was on her way to the mall. She saw a poster of a hand-wash that promises not to peel hands. Mum buys and

tells her friends about this new product.Christie, the daughter, may not go to the mall by herself. She would send someone; telling him or her what exactly

she wants to buy.

200 hand-wash solutions that will not peel your hands,

1 consumer.

NOT TRANSFERRABLE. ORANGE ACADEMY SLIDES ON CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT.

200912/11/09

Christie is a BUYER. She has the power to choose. She only “buys” her own BRAND of

hand –wash solution.Your brand is one of the 200 hand-washes on

the counter. How will Christie notice you?

let’s enumerate major media Christie consumes a day

Radio

Christie wakes up each and every day on a pre-selected alarm and schedules,

hence your radio may pass her by

Morning drive

Christie travels the city all tensed up by traffics and drummed in by road urchins [ if she is in Africa]. Hence, your morning show

may occasionally miss her

Internet and Newspapers

Christie juggles between two jobs while at work: she runs the street super mart managed by her cousin and the paid job she in the office

to do. Hence, she may skip your emails and print ads if they are not too important

Tv

Christie gets home late, somewhere in West Africa, at night praying that the power generating set will work so she could do a few chores. As a matter of fact, we

heard she is running an MBA at Distant Learning Centre. Hence, your TVC may skip her remote

How About SMS?

Christie wont read unsolicited text. Apart from the fact that it is annoying to see those Telecom SMS early in the

morning, talking promos

How About NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES? Think again.

Christie reads what she wants to read while at work or on her way back from work; if she has a driver on her pay-roll.

Aunty Christie has become a passive target of advertising. She even corrects the Copy for the

fun of it.

TO UNDERSTAND THE PASSIVE ADVERTISING

AUDIENCE AND THE ACTIVE AUDIENCE, we

need to plunge into history

The most defining moments of advertising eras are the 70’s and the

90’s.

The 70’s belong to the school of thoughts that advertising is what you do to the mind; as a

matter of fact, it is more rewarding to brand by clearly

positioning your product in the mind of the target.

Building on the 70’s, the 90’s proposes that a sound brand communication must share the consciousness of the its

audience by breaking thro the 4th wall of advertising.

A passive advertising audience is therefore the one

you talk to. Hence any medium, including the

Internet, that seeks to talk to the audience, is PASSIVE

An active advertising audience is, on the other

hand, the one you talk with; consciously or unconsciously.

“When you actively use my mind, you have me”

Meanwhile, talking with someone like Christie is hard.

Breaking thro Christie’s 4th wall of advertising is even

harder in this time and age.

Christie needs to be involved but she hardly has time for us

The 21st century challenge is therefore, to look for

meaningful stimuli instead of expensive media.

Stimuli bypass the physical and get into the subconscious

STIMULI.

This is the heart of CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT.

STIMULI.

When used right can evoke a much more deeper meaning

in an audience

STIMULI or INDUCEMENT.

Urge. Encourage. Incite. Prompt. Stimulate. Provoke.

Spur on. Drive.

Why do we need stimuli to respond?

Because there’s a meltdown of communication. A

communication crisis. We are bombarded. No more value. Hence, we are not ready to

buy your so-called advertising.

There was a time, family looked forward to seeing the TV together at night. Today, most of the information has

come through other channels. And when they are

home, there is cable dual channel!

There was a time, radio was an important backdrop of workplace. Now, it’s been

replaced by I-pods and cell-phones.

Therefore, instead of looking for media of communications, communicators should switch to stimuli of communications. Because we have become the

passive generation.

Stimuli of communication are much more subtle while

media are more aggressive.

Stimuli of communication are much more enticing while media are more repulsive.

Here is how stimuli work

An absence of something where you expected

A reduction of something we are used to seeing full

NOT TRANSFERRABLE. ORANGE ACADEMY SLIDES ON CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT.

200912/11/09

A suggestion of something left to us to infer

So, what then is CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT?

For us at Orange Academy, it’s the removal of the

medium from the way of the brand message or a removal

of the ad message from a much more meaningful

medium

Traditional Model 1

Consumer Engagement Model 2

Consumer Engagement Model 3

Consumer Engagement Model 4

the golden law of stimuli states that humans are more

susceptible to seduction than confrontation. i.e

involvement that teases

To be continued

Taught to Integrated Brand Experience [ IBX ] students of

Orange Academy