How to reach the consumer of the future

Marketing analyst, Chris Moerdyk, urged marketers to do more research into what the consumer wants to hear as opposed to what businesses want to say: "The consumer of the future is so inundated with information that our greatest challenge is putting into his mind a message so powerful he will remember it.

"By leaving the concrete highway today and driving here (Sandton Convention Centre), you were exposed to over 3000 billboards. So how many do you recall?"

The silence spoke volumes.

"So how do we get noticed? Firstly by finding out what it is he (the consumer) wants to hear. That makes marketing research absolutely fundamental, yet we do so little of it - and badly," Moerdyk asserted.

"The SA public is realizing its okay to complain and that's good research. We should welcome all complaints. It's better for consumers to complain to us than to stop buying our products or complain to others about us."

Moerdyk believes that consumers no longer trust business and politicians and that they are becoming more conservative. He says the consumer of the future is bolder, more opinionated and becomes incensed about offensive messages.

"This is a great opportunity for marketers because consumers are desperately looking for something to trust. They don't want hype and shock tactics no longer work. They do want escapism and voyeurism, but not from us - from us they want truth and value."

And before you think you can pull the wool over your market's collective eyes, Moerdyk says one of marketers' biggest mistakes is believing that the SA consumer is stupid, especially in the lower LSMs: "Banks thought it would take decades to replace bank books with ATM cards, yet it didn't. Business predicted we would have less than five million cell phones in SA by now; in reality we have 16 million."

He believes business should be more transparent, with the power of apology gaining ground and consumers not being taken in by excuses.

Moerdyk says 20% of ads just don't work: "Every LSM and different cultural group wants to hear a different message. Our research needs to include bigger samples and better methodology.

"Selling insurance to LSM 10 and funeral policies to LSM 3 cannot be done in the same way - this is causing huge resistance in the market, yet much market research is still very naïve and designed to lead people to say what the company wants to hear."

Clients are still listening to auditors about marketing and not the marketers, according to Moerdyk, who says that R50 billion a year is wasted on ill-conceived marketing, instead of good research to lay the foundation for successful marketing campaigns.

"We've entered the attention age - offer action, stop saying you care (consumers know you care about your bottom line) and deliver value."