It’s what all brand gurus advocate - or most of them anyway.
It’s an idea, the usefulness of which, when taken beyond a limit though – I must admit I question. The reason – a lot of brands have found themselves in trouble because they were listening when they should have been envisioning instead.
Coke was one such brand. They listened to what people said about Old Coke and their strategy was …well…to take it off the shelf. A “classic” blunder endlessly documented.
Ogilvy makes a good point on listenership – the context being research. “It’s a lamppost” he says, “use it for illumination – the way an intelligent man does – not for support – the way a drunk might.”
We all use research to base decisions. Nothing wrong with that. But sometimes what we as brand marketers think is more important than what consumers’ do.
Henry Ford summed it up best when he said “If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse!”
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4 comments:
I would agree with you on the whole. Though it must be difficult to define till what point the brand must listen. How/When does one arrive to that decision?
And also I believe Coke and Ford were well established brands at the point of mention here, what about rising brands? What guides them? vision alone?
here's a nice recent example of what I think Pat is saying/warning about, enjoy! http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/kraft-cans-isnack-20-20090930-gc9u.html
But bad decisions are not the same thing as doing research.
Whether they do research or not, corporates will continue to make bad choices.
Simple solution- corporates (and hence the brands) shud simply listen to their agencies ;)
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