FMCG brands must follow their customers online however hard it is

8 October 2009

In my experience, most FMCGs already know they need to develop capability in digital. While TV is still an important channel, its impact is lessening. It was traditionally chosen because of its large reach, but as more people spend more time online the same has become true of digital.

The problem is, digital requires a new set of rules and poses huge cultural and structural questions for companies built to operate around a very different model. The days of carefully crafting your message and gently manoeuvring your audience from A to B are over. Today it’s what you do that counts, not just what you say.

The ecosystem in which we now find ourselves isn’t linear and efficiency can’t be gained by keeping it simple - at least, not simple in the way we’ve traditionally understood it. Consumers are not only aware of this change, they’re driving it. Their desire to create, share and discuss means perceptions of your brand are open to influence. And yes, they’re even talking about FMCG brands.

Until recently I was head of the interactive team at Cadbury, where I saw first-hand how involved consumers can become with FMCG brands. The recent return of the Wispa bar was the result of huge consumer-driven momentum. In other categories, Dove’s campaign for real beauty touched many people’s lives and Pampers made my life as a first-time mother easier by pre-empting my concerns through the early stages of my child’s development. These brands may not be the centre of our lives but they can certainly achieve greater relevance.

The key is to balance familiarity and favourability. Display has its part to play in driving familiarity but consumers now want to have their say before spending their hard-earned cash. FMCG companies have always placed emphasis on understanding their consumers; this is now more important than ever. Listening to their ideas and comments and continuously having open dialogue to develop long-term relationships isn’t something these businesses are used to doing on a large scale. They’re now finding it to be a stark reality.

And it’s not easy. Maintaining this level of dialogue is hard and it’s slow going. Company structures, processes, budgets and agency relationships in FMCGs are all structured to operate in a certain way. Like an oil tanker, changing course is not only time consuming, it’s also very complex. The issue for FMCG companies, therefore, is not whether they get digital but how they’re getting ready for digital.

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