The truth of who controls marketing messages

20 November 2008 | By Michael Nutley

It’s become a staple of conferences to hear that marketers are still in control of communications with their customers; that they still control what products are released, when and at what price. This may be true as far as it goes, but it’s not really the point.

The argument is a response to the admittedly overcooked suggestion that control of marketing communications is passing from brands and marketers to consumers because interactive media gives those consumers an unprecedented ability to ignore advertising. The rise of PVRs, spam filters and pop-up blockers has proved people don’t care much about traditional interruptive advertising. But they do care about the quality of the products and services they buy, and in many cases they care about the brands behind them. Just as importantly, they care about other people and their own standing in their community. It’s this combination of factors that’s changing who’s in control of marketing.

This was thrown into sharp focus at a seminar recently held by Bazaarvoice, a company that helps etailers manage ratings and reviews on their sites. Several of its clients spoke, and all of them talked about how powerful reviews and ratings are in driving sales, reducing returns and uncovering problems with products. But they all agreed that in order to reap these benefits, brands have to recognise they can’t control what their customers are saying about the products. This doesn’t mean it’s a free-for-all. The sites still moderate the user-generated content for offensive language and content, mentions of competitors and price comparisons. But as Gina Deeble, head of interactive content at QVC UK, put it: “If all our reviews are favourable, people won’t believe in them.”

It’s not just social media where truthfulness is paramount. With many in the industry predicting a massive increase in ad-funded content, the same need for authenticity applies. For example, Tony Christie, the singer now most famous for the Comic Relief hit ‘Amarillo’, has recorded an album called Made In Sheffield. The recording sessions were filmed for a rockumentary partly funded by the city’s development company Creativesheffield. Its director of strategic marketing, Brendan Moffett, describes this as a post-advertising approach to promoting the city, using the film as a vehicle rather than putting posters on London Underground saying how great Sheffield is for businesses.

The issue of control comes from the fact that the film was directed by Grammy Award winner Don Letts, giving it credibility and cachet. But as Moffett points out, you can’t tell someone like Letts what to do because it would endanger that very credibility. So for branded content as well, the demands of authenticity mean the relinquishing of control.

The only slight consolation to marketers bemoaning this state of affairs is that, actually, they never did control what people thought of their brands; they only thought they did.