“Culture casting” with Samsung

So what is “culture casting”?
Ralph Santana, CMO of Samsung, spells it out. The choice between the two binary options of digital and traditional is flawed. Instead, marketers should embrace a “seamless media landscape.”
There has been mention of the brand’s “DNA” before on this blog and it rears its head again here. Samsung’s strategy is to mesh the brand’s DNA with cultural trends and values, and, by using a mix of media platforms, can begin targeting specific audiences.

Santana identifies three criteria that mass brands need to find market success:
1. broad reach
2. meaningful engagement
3. financial impact

Santana suggests, "it's becoming increasingly difficult to justify levels of spend we make for traditional media based on [the] systems of measurement we have."
Turning to digital media, Santana argues broad reach is hard to achieve because of the diversity and sheer number of platforms available to consumers. According to Santana, “Digital needs to work harder.” Gauging financial impact is also proving hard to obtain online.

Santana says digital needs to work harder but it is not a case of digital or traditional but more of a spread betting approach across many platforms. 

CP+B and Kotler: 2 sides of the same coin

 “Today’s companies are shifting their emphasis from finding customers to learning how to keep and grow them.” Kotler believes customer care is more important than customer acquisition in today’s market place.
Instead of focusing on the 4 P’s (product, price, promotion and place) we should turn our attention to the 4 C’s (Customer value, cost to customer, convenience and communication.) There should be a collaboration with consumers.

Kotler believes customer retention trumps customer acquisition. Adrian Payne from Cranfield bears out Kotler’s assertion. Payne’s research indicates 80% of all companies spend too much on customer acquisition and not enough on customer retention. As little as 5% increase in retention gives a 35-130% increase in profitability, according to Payne.

CP+B, regarded as one of the most progressive agencies of recent years, seems to have imbibed Kotler’s ideas. Bogusky speaks of a “baked in” strategy to marketing a product, finding the hidden truth of a product and giving it an overdue hug. Bogusky, “What is the DNA of the product and how do we capture it.” Taking examples from Best Buy and Domino’s Pizza we see CP+B using Kotler’s ideas. Best Buy now offers a twitter customer service, which aims to answer customer queries as soon as they arise. Customers ordering Domino’s pizza can track their order from beginning to delivery. The comments Domino’s allowed consumers to vent about their pizza, including describing it as “cardboard,” shows Domino’s new image of reaching out to consumers and helping improve their product with direct collaboration with the consumer.

Marketing and advertising strategy will increasingly rely on Kotler’s ideas of connecting with the consumer in the 21st Century. With all the media platforms available and increased interaction, it would be to the detriment of many businesses if they continue to ignore this fact.

Kotler: marketing in the current financial climate

One of marketing's great names weighs in on strategies for the present crisis. Kotler puts his points across with interesting examples from Easyjet and Ryanair's differing marketing strategies. Marketing should supply the opportunities for business.

Well worth a watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hbRZ3ZCyI8