Chameleon Marketers

By Jeffrey Peel – Often I’m asked how it is that as a company that started in research we ended up doing so much more. 

The conclusion  I have come to is that research and analysis firms have more interesting things to say because our thoughts, and perspectives, are based on market knowledge and understanding.  While much of the work is client-confidential we, at the same time, build tacit knowledge that gives us some right to take a stand on issues.  Admittedly we have to operate within a frame of reference – and in our case that ‘frame’ would be heavily influenced by information technology.

But, think about it for a minute, the fact is that just about every business these days is becoming a technology business.  Even David Cameron in his latest election broadcast – just last week – made overt reference to the Internet as one of the most fundamental reasons for social change in the UK.  After all, entire swathes of our population no longer watch television.  Internet advertising is set to overtake TV advertising in the next two years.  And where the web used to be the domain and stomping ground for big business, suddenly – with Web 2.0 technologies – it has become democratised.  Even my own 11 year old daughter can now design her own Bebo ’skin’. 

The Internet is a super-medium.  In the past all advertising was a tell-sell.  Now it’s an interactive sell and it has become much more complex, interconnected and, obviously, viral.  If brands offend they will be pilloried online in seconds. 

The impact on marketing services is massive.  Frankly, unless one is immersed in the world of interactive web technologies one will quickly lose touch.  Indeed I recently went on an Internet-free, one week, beach holiday and felt I had lost touch a bit when I returned. 

But, let’s face it, marketing services firms can’t have the luxury of being type-cast these days as one thing or the other.  The Internet will inevitably make us all chameleons – admittedly with our own specialisms.  Therefore as a researcher I will present my research – socialise it – using new communications media.  I will also collect it in new ways making use of social networking communities and online data collection techniques.  And my clients must be prepared to act on research by reaching out to these new global communities, search engines and news portals via more and more flexible and target-able media.