The future of Marketing Communication: Towards an “Ecosystem
of connected experiences” in a multi-channel, connected world
Prof. dr. Pieter Vijn
Nyenrode Business Universiteit
Lecture Microsoft Europe, 2006
In this lecture we will address the Turbulence in the Business and Media Landscape, its
implications for Integrated Marketing Communication. Supporting Research will be
presented. Specifically, the transformative role of Digital Media towards the way
consumers looks to Brands and the way Ubiquitous Broadband is changing our approach
to daily live.
We will argue to redefine IMC into Synchronized Marketing Communication. We also
will explore the importance of the concept’ Synchronicity” in the context of a connected
web of Branded Experiences: a Brand ecosystem. Finally some implications for the
future of Agencies will be discussed
A Tsunami of Change
Changes are all around us. Adage refers to a Chaos scenario in Communication: “what
happens if traditional marketing collapses
before a better alternative is established,… and the new digital technologies still lack the
infrastructure and scale to support
the minimum of mainstream marketing requirements”. Sealey from Coca Cola expects
advertising to become digital, personal and
addressable. He states: “These trends are like a Tsunami and will sweep away our
historical model”. Mainstream advertisers are now switching substantial amounts of
budgets to the “Digital Space”. McKinsey list in their Global survey of Business
executives (2005),
top focus to: Extreme Competition, Great Turbulences, Oversupply and
Commoditization, Blurring of Business Boundaries, Fragmentation of Mass Marketing
and Explosion of Digital Media. A striking example of “Blurring” was in Business week
(oct. 2005) in an article with the heading: Samsung The Network: Blurring the line
between ads and media like never before. Samsung is creating a (Virtual AD) Network
by buying Space on-say -400 sites. Then they can leverage Partnerships with other
Marketers, e.g. to promote their products as a Natural fit with entertainment and
musicians need to promote themselves independent of the Music Labels
Crowned at Last. Armed with the Internet, the customer has finally got on top
(Economist, 2005)
The article states that because of the Internet, Consumer Power has profound implications
for companies: “it is changing the way the world shops”. Recent research from Henley
Centre and AOL describes the Impact of the Internet on Purchasing behavior and the
impact on Brands.. Some highlights are:
-Easily accessible (and TRUSTED), comparative online information is the primary driver
of change
-Online influences are making your customer less Brand loyal, more open to try new
brands, more willing to experiment
The Broadband Life: Profound Effect on how we approach daily life (Research
Media Edge:CIA, Forrester and Yahoo (2005)
The research shows:
-Broadband does not make people want less of traditional media.” Rather it creates a
synthesis to richer experiences with all media”
-Consumers mesh media. “They combine and multi layer to follow their passions, to be
more involved and to make an experience more personal”
-Media silos are dissolving. “Because of the ease with which people go back and forth
between broadband and traditional media”.
Redefining Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) towards an ’Ecosystem of
Connected Experiences”
IMC gained considerable attention around 1995. Terms as Holistic, 360 degrees, the
whole Egg were in the mission statements of the large communication networks. Large
emphasis was placed on the ‘The Integration Dimension”, leading to full service- and
rigid- organizational models. However in the world of “Fragmentation and Connectivity”
the insight is emerging that we will need a balance between the right amount of
Integration and Variety. In this context speaks Kapferer about the need for Consistency
and Variety; “brands with multiple entry points (variety) will ensure their long-term
survival”
IMC in the “New World” of connectivity, meshing media, multi-tasking, and consumer
generated content (as in Blogs and Podcasting) has to balance the need for Consistency
“connecting core values to deep emotional needs” and facilitating to inspire consumers
into multiple connections and experiences across media, time and formats (Variety)
.
Strong and dynamic Communication Concepts will then have “Viral Power”: Creating
reasons to discuss/enrich/change/add Branded Content within (digital) media, and
enabling content/stories for consumers to create their own re-interpretations (co-
creation)”.
The cover of Admap from Oct. 2005 summarizes the challenge for Brands as: How to
create Buzz about your Brand? Bill Gates in Reuters of Oct. 27 expresses the need for
variety as follows: “The future lies in all sort of content-from movies to TV shows to
news-being distributed in a customized form online, sponsored in part by advertising that
will zero in on specific demographic and interest groups”
IMC could be seen as an Ecosystem of Connected Branded experiences.
The Economist (Oct. 2005) describes an Ecosystem as a community of third party co-
creators and developers (consumers, trade partners, development partners etc) that
“contribute and enhance the value of the underlying product/service/brand”.
Large scale Web platforms like MSN, Google and Yahoo will offer a large diverse set of
Services for consumers to Search/Aggregate/Recommend, Match, Enhance, Build,
Change etc. These Platforms will act as Branded and Trusted Ecosystems.
Useful reference for Business Ecosystems is the “Keystone Advantage” (Iansiti, Levien,
HBS, 2005): “…connecting a very large and distributed network of companies to their
customers and provide “platforms” that other firms/partners can leverage to increase
productivity, enhance stability and spur innovation”.
The notion of a system approach to Branding can be found in “Branding: a system
theoretic perspective” (Van der Vorst, 2005)
The Jazz Metaphor for IMC: Synchronization and Improvisation
In Jazz (jam sessions) structure (themes, agreements, vision and mission) and excellence/
improvisation on Specialist Instruments (media etc) create ‘Synergy” by connecting the
sounds to holistic experiences in each individual’s mind. These experiences will be
different every time and on every occasion.
IMC seen from the perspective of an Ecosystem leads to redefining IMC: From a top-
down and rigid perspective of “Integration” to a Concept where top-down and bottom-up
merge in an organic- loosely coupled- way, combining Synchronization and
Improvisation. Our proposal is to redefine IMC to
SMC: Synchronized Marketing Communication
In his brilliant book by the mathematics MIT professor Steven Strogatz (Sync, rhythms of
nature, rhythms of ourselves, 2004), Strogatz explores deep connections between
Synchronicity, Chaos Theory/Tipping points, The nature of Synergy and the structure of
Connectivity (specifically: the Small world Hypothesis where any one in the world is
connected to anyone else in 6 handshakes). The Small world Hypothesis lies at the roots
of the potential exploding character of Viral Marketing.
An illustrative quote: “The impressive kind of sync (technically coupled oscillations) is
persistent. When two things keep happening simultaneously for an extended period of
time, the synchronicity is probably not an accident. Such persistent sync comes easily to
us a human beings, and, for some reason, it often gives pleasure. We like to dance
together, play in a band. The feeling of artistry is heightened when the audience has no
idea where the music is going next. We interpret persistent sync as a sign of intelligence,
planning and choreography”.
The very moment we as human beings experience ‘A Holistic sense of Connected
Experiences”, the brain creates a “Gestalt switch” within the Neural Network: The
neurons switch from chaotic patterns into parallel Synchronized Streams. These Sync
patterns have no internal resistances and lead to feeling of ‘Synergy/Team spirit,
Charisma/Emergence/The whole is bigger than the sum of its defining parts, and so on: In
essence the emergence of “order” out of chaos is defined by deep laws of “self
organizing” principles in the underlying “ecosystems”.
Branding itself may be seen as an Emergence process, resulting from lower level
interactions within the defining network. Synergy and Emergence are fundamentally
intertwined and are “properties” of any interacting network (Mental, Physical and
Virtual).
Synergy in SMC
The overall goal for SMC is then to deliver “Synergy” within a connected web of
Branded Experiences. In the Netherlands Unilever and MSN are quite active in
researching the ‘Synergy’ challenge. They found that by increasing the Online part in
integrated campaign for Dove, AXA, Conimex and Hertog, Synergy emerged in
Branding metrics (awareness, image and purchase intention). A Dove study from 2004
showed a synergy effect of 24 % in budgets: Same budget with + 24 % effect increase.
The Agency of the Future: Towards a Business Ecosystem, Unification of
Independent Specialists
What are the implications of an ‘Eco” perspective for the future of Agencies?
In a recent article from Al Ries in Ad Age the heading was: “Darwin: Understanding the
Brand Building Power of Divergence”. He asks why Companies as General Motors and
Ford are in trouble. One answer is: Over time, every category breaks up into multiple
categories, creating chaos for companies that try to keep their brands in the mainstream
of the market” (Ries, Ad Age and The Origin of Brands).The Eco/Darwin/Jazz
perspectives will transform the “full service “Agencies of the “past” into an Business
Ecosystem of an Unification of-loosely coupled- Independent specialists.
Stan Rapp (Advertising Research, 2005): “The challenge is to create an unified network
that retains each specialists fervent belief in the power and practice of its own evolving
expertise”
Winning Communication Concepts will combine ‘Integrational Core values and beliefs
(Fractal Concepts, where the WHOLE is in every part/channel/media) “and “Variety
Concepts (Emergence Concepts, where the Experiences emerge out of bottom-up
interactions)”