Trust is today’s gold standard for brands looking to survive.
This is the word from recently appointed DQ&A commercial director, Roan Mackintosh, who was speaking during the 6 episode of the IAB Insight Series.
DQ&A is part of the IncuBeta digital marketing, creative and technology group.
According to Mackintosh, the marketing industry has become so obsessed with getting ads out there that they’ve created an environment with so much interference that consumers now have advertising blindness and, in particular, banner blindness. And the result? Consumers no longer trust advertising.
For Mackintosh, it’s up to the industry to find creative ways of undoing what they’ve already done and technology holds the key. With the right solutions, innovative marketers can develop more authentic moments and regain consumer trust, he said.
Spotify is a great example. Their playlist service - called Discover Weekly - makes use of advanced machine learning to build weekly playlists for users. The more enthusiastically a user engages with the service, the easier it is for the technology to learn what music they like and what they don’t like. In this example, customers don’t feel like sharing their musical likes and dislikes with Spotify is an invasion of their privacy because the end result is something of real value. Think of it as a quid pro quo in the truest digital sense, Mackintosh explains.
Jack Welsh’s smart use of technology was another example Macintosh brings up. Former CEO of General Electric once famously said: “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.” Welsh is also remembered for saying: “There are only two sources of competitive advantage: The ability to learn more about our customers faster than the competition, and the ability to turn that learning into action faster than the competition.”
According to Mackintosh, South African companies still have a reputation of being slow tech adopters. But there are some forward thinking companies that are starting to understand the value of digital marketing and are pulling their marketing teams into the centre of their operations.
“As a result, we’re seeing a decrease in wastage when it comes to media spend. More and more local businesses are using targeted marketing, which increases their conversion rates because people engage more with the content they’re putting out. This creates real benefits for both the consumer and the brand.”
While we do still have a long road ahead of us, concludes Mackintosh, by embracing the competitive advantage offered by technology, the path to making things right with our customers is clear.
Share