Always wise columnist Don E. Schultz, writing in Marketing News's July 30, 2010 issue, p. 11 (getting this biweekly mag free is another reason to join AMA Toronto!), notes that traditional advertising is about persuasion – getting consumers "to accept the value of our products and to agree with our arguments."
He contrasts this with the Chinese view of marketing communications – "as a tool for negotiation: to create situations to be considered, thought about, bargained for and haggled over... One might call it reciprocity, which, at the end, provides equal value to the buyer and the seller."
He notes that we in North America "increasingly live in a negotiated marketplace, one in which negotiated media forms such as social media, blogs, the Internet and interactivity are increasingly important... The persuasion approach doesn't fit [here] and it's unlikely it ever will... Negotiated media brings people together, not just for purposes of selling something to someone, but to create sharing, conversations and relationships."
To me, the article neatly explains why advertising is struggling today, and how the shifting balance of power between marketer and consumer will create a fairer exchange of value for all. Ideally, this trend will enable marketers to feel prouder of our profession and of our key contribution to society!
No comments:
Post a Comment