14: Interactive Communication Delivery Systems
The author considers the notion of "experiential marketing," a notion that first appeared in the HBR in 1998, in which it was presented as a quality that customers demand. Pine and Gilmore present the notion of a goods-based economy (a customer buys a mop) that evolved into service-based economy (a customer pays to have a clean floor) and is now evolving into an experience-based economy (a customer pays to live in a sanitary environment).
(EN: I don't know if I totally buy off on this, but it does make sense that in many instances the customer seeks to achieve a high-level goal, which must be accomplished by performing a task, which in turn requires certain physical items - it's an interesting perspective, but I don't think it's a natural continuum and that all customers or companies desire to be at the most abstract level.)
INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
The author mentions, and dismisses, the common misuse of the term "interactive" to encompass anything that is delivered via computers or technology. At heart, interactive means two-way communication - so many, if not most, communications that use a computer as a medium are not interactive in that sense.
(EN: The author comes at this somewhat obliquely, but his core concept is quite accurate: a Web site is not interactive simply because clicking a link loads a page. The pages of most web sites are entirely static, or at best use simple logic to serve otherwise static content according to simply input from the user - such as entering terms into a search engine. The message is not tailored to the user and is not changed in any significant way in response to user inputs.)
It's also noted that interaction preceded the computer age by millennia. A telephone call is interactive. A face-to-face discussion with a salesman is interactive. And in comparison to the degree to which such communication involves interaction between the parties, the present use of technology is primitive and extremely limited.
PERSON-TO-PERSON INTERACTIVE MARKETING
Person-to-person marketing is not a new concept: it describes any instance in which a salesman speaks directly (and interactive) with a customer. While this is no longer common for most goods, it's still a common practice in a wide array of instances. The author mentions three common methods used for person-to-person marketing: personal selling, event marketing, and sponsorship marketing.
Personal selling is general one-to-one communication that may occur at a specific store location, at the customer's location (door-to-door sales or sales calls), or even by proxy (telephone sales). The author excludes contact with store sales clerks as being "marketing" - reserving this notion for instances in which the marketer contacts the customer directly. However, there are instances in which a marketer will places a sales rep into a retail location to sell their brand, and it's not uncommon for such reps to engage in selling as well as training the sales clerks to sell their brand.
Personal selling is commonly used in situations where there is a significant cost per item (such as automobiles, real estate, and jewelry), but is also used in some instances for low-ticket items (Avon, Tupperware, Amway). The author also mentions the fad of "party selling," which at one time accounted for about a third of direct-sales. (EN: however, this seems more like event sales, which the author addresses separately.)
Personal selling common in B2B selling, in which there may be a low per-unit price, but the customer is buying in quantity. While reordering is often done in an automated manner, making the initial sale on a new account often involves personal selling, and some companies/industries maintain a "personal touch" to develop a customer relationship that forefends against competition. (EN: this was the beginning of relationship marketing - and while the author gives this little mention, it bears greater consideration.)
The main drawback to personal selling is that it is the most expensive of all marketing tactics on a per-customer basis. While some of this cost can be reduced by putting salesmen on "straight commission," there are the costs of training, recruiting, travel, and other expenses, which is why it tends to be done for high-margin or bulk-volume sales, where the profit covers the cost.
Event marketing is similar to personal selling, but generally involves an "event," which is a gathering at a specific place and time for the express purpose of marketing.
Trade shows are one of the most common events, typically for B2B marketing, in which sellers in a given industry maker presentations to retail buyers. These have branched out into B2C sales as well: events such as gun shows or home improvement expositions have become increasingly common in recent years.
It's also noted that event marketing is often done at events not intended to be marketing-oriented. It's fairly common for marketers to seek exposure at concerts, sporting events, or state fairs.
There are also "corporate events," which companies organize an event in order to market their products. (EN: the author's description of this is a little hazy, and doesn't' draw a clear enough line between a corporate-created event for marketing, and a corporate-sponsored event, nor do any examples readily come to mind, though I can accept this is plausible.)
There is some mention of using "ambassadors" to sell product, such as liquor companies going to bars to promote their product by buying people drinks (EN: though this seems like personal selling in a convenient environment)
Finally, the author discusses sponsorship marketing. (EN: but once again, it's hazy. An event sponsor gets media exposure, which isn't quite the same as person-to-person selling, and they often have a sales presence at the event itself, which seems analogous to event marketing.)
DIGITAL INTERACTIVE MARKETING
The notion of "digital interactive marketing" is relatively new. Marketers leapt on the Internet as soon as it was opened to commercial interest - and while their early efforts were "digital," they were not often interactive, as previously noted.
Most companies created corporate Web sites fairly early, but these were merely repositories of information or automated ordering systems, and lacked interactivity.
The author mentions "Advergames" as interactive marketing, particularly for products whose target market was children. In many instances, these are merely games that bear company logos, but there are instances in which games create brand associations (the emotion of the game is associated to the brand), or indirectly teach about the product (a game might introduce a flavor of version of a product the consumer was previously unaware of).
Another phenomenon is the micro site, a self-contained st of pages, distinct from the main Web presence, that is meant to create a brand experience for the visitors, often in a way that is not directly related to promoting the features of the product or promoting sales. The purpose is to create a positive impression, and create a sensation such that visitors will mention the microsite to others.
It is increasingly common for companies to participate in social networking. This is most convenient when the brand is represented by a person or a character, who can present themselves in social situations as if they were a "real" person (A company mascot, a popular character in commercials, etc.)
The author goes on about virtual reality, "Second Life" in particular. (EN: I'm not preserving notes on that - as it was a fad that has already waned, and as such the author seems a bit foolish in his degree of optimism about its potential. However, there's a lesson in that, which should be self-evident.)
The author mentions search engine advertising, which is the leading category in online ad-spend, estimated at $7B annually with 13% year-to-year growth. (EN: he goes into a bit too much detail about rigging site content and meta-tags and paid search - this really isn't in the same vein as interactive marketing, and is far too superficial a treatment.)
Blogs are mentioned as a medium for marketing, provided that a company can provide an ongoing stream of short newsworthy items. The blog can be a corporate blog, or it may be a topic-oriented blog sponsored by the company. (EN: again, the author's not quite on the mark and seems a bit goofy. In terms of articles, a blog isn't much different than a Web site, in that it's static information. The only interactivity is the "comments," which can be used for interactive communication with site visitors, but the author doesn't really go into that.)
In addition to the Internet, the author mentions two other venues for digital interactive marketing: mobile media and interactive television.
Mobile media is a generic term that refers to any device that's small enough to be portable and has the ability to send and receive data: cell phones, PDAs, gaming systems, music players, etc. The notion of using these devices as a marketing medium is not new, but until recently the capabilities of the devices have long been too limited to be used effectively. (EN: it's also worth noting that because users typically pay a per-minute fee, they are quick to object to any unwanted intrusion). In later 2006, less than 10% of cell phone users reported using their phone for any other purpose than sending and receiving calls. Some examples the author prefixes include using cell phones for polling (sending a text message to "vote" in a poll or enter into a promotional contents), providing "podcasts" (which requires the user to download it in advance and play it later), or having on-demand SMS messaging.
(EN: given the publication date, it's odd the author didn't mention smart phones, which have greatly expanded the capabilities of the medium and the potential for use by marketers, especially in relationship marketing. However, there are other sources more detailed and authoritative in regard to this topic.)
The author mentions "interactive television" in terms of video-on-demand and DVR, both of which gained market share rapidly, and both of which are more often perceived as a threat to traditional television marketing. Given that more consumers are using technology to avoid traditional "commercials," ad spend is shifting to product placement. The author mentions some experimentation with interactive features, that enable the user to find and access information from companies, but reports that it has a dismal adoption rate.
(EN: Again, the author provides scant detail and misses key innovations that make this medium more useful to marketers ... so again, it's important to seek better sources for information on exploiting this channel.)
THE HOLISTIC CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
Multichannel marketing (MCM) and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) are a relatively recent notions, which refute the traditional approach to marketing management that considered each channel and message in isolation. Because people use multiple media, they will receive multiple messages, and their impression is ultimately formed by amalgamation of all the information that comes to them through all the various channels.
The author mentions recent research (Tsai 2005) that frames marketing as a multi-faceted approach that "blends" the various communication channels into a single, unified campaign. Specifically, this approach begins with the notion of the message, and views the channels as methods by which the central message is communicated - both in a broadcast and interactive sense.
The author discusses the notion of "activation," which is a bit fluffy, but seems to involve the coordination of multiple channels to deliver complementary messaging to a target market segment. The author mentions some recent campaigns that have won advertising industry awards for their innovative use of multiple media, which differs from those who won such awards in previous years, whose "campaigns" primarily involved a series of messages delivered through a single medium.