[IMCC 2011] Is content still king in today's new marketing world?

Pike deplored the 'old mentality' of certain brands, which consists of thinking with the broadcast mindsets, even though the world has dramatically changed, ushering in a new marketing world.

"We have come from a broadcast world - a world dominated by broadcast media and marketing, which is younger than I am, is not God-given but a man-made idea in which we build brands and talk to customers," he said.

Marketing has changed completely

According to Pike, marketing as the world knew it - segment, message (who, what, what), tell them and sell, sell, sell - has changed completely, so brands need to recalculate the route they took to do things.

"Social media didn't create the Egyptian revolution, but gave people the space to talk about things, share and coordinate things - that is the essence of this world we are living in," Pike, an acknowledged marketing and digital thought leader, explained.

He told delegates that media had stopped being the source of information, and had become the site of coordination, a platform to grow and coordinate movements and a network where people play with different things and create linkages.

"That is the power of the Internet," he said, adding that, where current consumers are connecting to potential consumers, brands are no longer in control.

"I am sorry: you will never be able to keep people quiet again. We will have to think water in different ways, not try to control it but try to understand it in order to be able to move the brand forward. We will have to think like artists because it is now an organic process.

"This is how we will do it"

"And this is how we will do it:

• Have enough sensors and understand community dynamics - know what is happening in your community; don't assume that everybody is the same.

• Develop a very quick reaction - people cannot wait for you to respond.

• Create the framework for your brands - in the past we defined what the brand wanted to be, but now you will have to let the market develop the brand.

• We also need to develop sharing tools - learn how to get things to be shared."

Pike believes that, since content is no longer king in today's new marketing world, social objects are now the reason people are talking to each other.

"If I'm talking about soccer - that is a social object. People get together to organise and share things. So, this is the process we should share if we want to build brands."

The conference, hosted to present critical global media trends and latest multimedia marketing innovation to the country's media industry leaders, ends today.

For more, go to www.imcc.co.za and follow hashtags #IMCC and #IMCCQ on Twitter.

See also:

• Bizcommunity Search: IMCC