Jeff Rosenblum, founding partner of Questus, believes we need to shift our focus from an advertising mindset to a marketing mindset in order to drive the industry forward.
Writing on AdAge’s Small Agency Diary, he outlines some actionable recommendations. I like this one:
To counteract the diminishing role of advertising, we should think more like “marketers” than “advertisers” and look at all touch points to provide true consumer value. We need to “thin slice” the experience to elevate the granular moments that are critical to consumers. One inspiring example is Virgin America. Every touch point in the flight experience is slightly more convenient than what is offered by the competition. The check-in kiosks are bigger and easier. The boarding passes are on thick card stock with full color. Most important, it provides on-demand food ordering to remove the annoyance of food carts. These granular touches work together to create a superior experience, one that its customers are more likely to recommend.
I saw a variation of this theme at work yesterday, as well. Michael Kogon of Definition 6 wrote, “Our clients, friends in the business, the CEOs that we spend our days with don’t want ad campaigns or advertising ideas. They want business driven marketing support.”
I replied on Twitter that for so-called “under the line” shops, delivering business-building marketing support has always been job one. Kogon agreed and suggested that being a “bottom line” shops is where it’s at.