Andrew Chamberlain

There has been a lot said in condemnation of the murdering tyrant Mugabe, so I won’t add much more; suffice it to say that, when these things happen there is a temptation to assume that this is the norm, the usual. Some might be tempted to think, variously ‘This is what happens in Africa’ or ‘This is what happens in Government’ or ‘none of our business’.

Well morality is everyone’s business, complicated and awkward though it is. When we moralize about others the standards we set have a nasty habit of coming back to judge us. Some of the African leaders meeting in Egypt this week will find it a struggle to lecture Mugabe on democracy, and none of us are immune from the need for integrity when we start to point the finger.

But we must not be afraid to speak out on these issues; to guard the concept that something is objectively wrong, and deserving of condemnation. Mugabe’s actions are not simply regrettable, or disappointing, they are a moral outrage, and should be regarded as such, in any state, in any government.

Tags: Politics and culture by andrew chamberlain
No Comments »

I’ve been to the Online Marketing and Media confernce to hear Michael Nutley, editor in chief of New Media Age (NMA) speaking frankly about the state of play in the industry. Nutley had a few words to say about why the great British public find marketing irritating and are now able to ‘tune out’ a lot of marketing messages.

Well of cource people avoid marketing messages, consumers are not engaging with content (on the web, TV, print, or whereever) to see the ads, most people consider exposure to marketing commmunication as a necessary evil and as a consequence do indeed try to screen it out.

Nutley touched on what I think is the main reason why most people have a stressful relationship with marketing. He was talking about Nike, the sportswear manufacturer who came up with the idea of ‘Nike +’ an online community for runners. This has been a successful venture for Nike, but these on line initiatives are like getting a pet, you can’t just get bored with it and walk away. To borrow from the popular phrase, online community involvement is for life not just for Christmas (or the lifetime of a traditional campaign). So whilst Nike may well have benefitted in terms of sales, they have also built an expectation that they need to fulfil. Herein is the problem for this sort of marketing, at the end of the day commercial marketing is there to sell stuff; even if a particular marketing campaign is all about brand, the fundamental goal of marketing activity is to make money.

Conversely, the fundamental goal of an online community is to create an environment for quality interaction, and the development of relationship. Sure that might involve buying the odd pair of running shoes, but if a company is spending money on creating the environment and there’s no tangible benefit in sales, someone in the board room will soon be asking hard questions.

It’s because, as consumers, we know that this conflict of interest exists that we get suspicious or even cynical about marketing activity, even the covert brand stuff. We may enjoy the few campaigns that are genuinely witty, funny, or insightful. But we know what the real agenda is.

The challenge for mareters is to account for our suspicions and still delight us, and motivate us to engage and buy. Only the best marketing can achieve this.

Don’t believe the hype

On a more straightforward note, we are told to shop around for the best credit card. That’s fair enough, and in such a business brands can be discarded for the irrelevance that they are, but behind these cards are one of the  payment processing companies (Visa, Mastercard, AmEx etc.). For most consumers the significance of these brands are nil. And yet Mastercard are spending big money on sponsorship and advertising during Euro 2008, with amusing little bits of fluff like this. Maybe they are really trying to reach the retailers, I don’t know. Meanwhile, for us consumers getting the card that has the right benefits will laways be much more important than who is processing the payments.

Tags: Nearly All Marketing is Rubbish (NAMIR) by andrew chamberlain
No Comments »

By which I mean Nearly All Marketing Is Rubbish (NAMIR) which brings a broader scope to my series.

I want to highlight anything in marketing that I think is especially bad (not just the slightly bad, of which there is legion) but the particularly bad, and maybe also what is good.

It was interesting to see the ‘Drench’ ad which I thought was a rare good ad, making it in to the ‘most recognised ads’ chart last week at 3rd place, so there’s one highlight amongst an awful lot of nonsense.

I was intrigued to see what the chief exec of an integrated marketing agency said in ‘Marketing’ magazine this week

“We are a nation of self-obsessed cynics and all we really care about is what price we are paying and the level of service we are receiving.” Adam Leigh, The Communications Agency

Ouch. Well he’s half right; we do care about price and service, and there’s nothing wrong with caring about these things, after all when you cut through all the marketing bull these are the things we care about as consumers, and quite right too. It’s about the price we pay and the experience we have, that encompasses the quality of the product or service, it’s reliability, after sales service, and so on… the experience of the product or service we are buying. It’s not about the ads or the marketing or the brand development.

I can hear the marketer in me howling - ’sometimes the brand is the experience!!!’

Yes, rarely it is, that’s true. There are a few brands that really have some integrity behind the promise they give, just a few. You can maybe think of some, here are three I just thought of:

• Marmite
• Apple
• Google

These are really strong brands, if you don’t come from the world of marketing believe me people get really excited about this sort of thing. You might disagree with these, you might be able to think of some yourself, but for every one of these there are a hundred brands that are shallow and fake and need to be treated with indifference.

In a world where the smart consumer is king, some marketing still works well, but not much. If I see any that’s really good I’ll let you know, and if I see anything I think is exceptionally bad I’ll call that out as well.

In the meantime as the phrase goes, don’t believe the hype!

Tags: Nearly All Marketing is Rubbish (NAMIR) by andrew chamberlain
No Comments »

I have really enjoyed watching ‘the apprentice’ on BBC. Based on the series from the US with Donald Trump in the chair this one has Alan Sugar - near billionaire and no nonsense East End lad made good. Alan is flanked by two steely looking professional heavies - one of whom, Margaret, is normally the model of competence and respectability - I think she’s a corporate lawyer. But then one of the rounds involves hiring out some very fast and mean cars and Margaret can’t help but have a go. Check it out here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/videos/vid/338.html

Nice one Margaret!

Tags: Uncategorized by andrew chamberlain
No Comments »