I recently came across a wonderful blog (err… Googled “marketing blogs” so that I could get this requirement over with 😀)
Logic+Emotion is a marketing blog written by David Armano, SVP at Edelman Digital
(http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2010/12/
This blog post is an insightful one about the Post-Consumer Era and how marketing has adapted to it. Pictures are worth a thousand words. I wish they were worth around 300 words… and my Thursday nights will just consist of uploading a picture…!
This era seems to have really taken place after the economic crisis of 2008. Banks and lending money is no longer like a neighbour lending sugar. People are definitely considering the question “Do I really need this?”, when they buy another product or service. “Saving” is now in the vocabulary of consumerists who previously bought the biggest, newest and fastest, even if it meant they were in debt.
As cautious consumerism takes over, the economy will definitely not be able to maintain itself. Consumerism and the matching marketing strategies have grown the economy at an explosive rate, and unprecedented growth follows with unprecedented collapse. As shown in the image, consumers now are seeking more from the little amount of money they can gather, and they are socially reluctant to consume, dispose, consume and dispose.
So, if it’s now so hard to convince mass consumption, will marketing disappear? Absolutely not, because people are nowhere near living a self-sustainable life. Consumption of produced goods and services will continue, except now companies will have an even tougher time convincing consumers, and must focus on less media, more word of mouth/social networking to gain trust. And, they will no longer be able to depend on exponential growth; they must develop a strong, life-long bond with their supporters.
