Talk to the consumer like you mean it.

I enjoy the end of the year for many reasons. One of those reasons is that it gives me a chance to reflect back on the past year and think about what I can improve. I guess this is a rather common thing to do since almost every industry blog or newsletter I read during this time of the year has the same theme. Everyone is looking at the past 12 months and trying to compare it to their forecasted predictions. For me the biggest revelation came from a rather unexpected source. I volunteer for the Junior Achievement program. As part of my class project I talk to 8th graders about brand development. The recent session involved reviewing a couple of commercials and having the kids write brand positioning statements. The kids are such savvy consumers that I was taken aback by their ability to decipher a brand’s essence from the execution idea of the commercial. These students not only had the keen ability to identify a brand’s essence but they were also enjoying the driver’s seat in the discussion of how to develop a brand.

There is a lot of talk about consumer generated advertising and not everyone is on the same page about its effectiveness. I admit, I also have my reservations mainly because I would be worried about the possibility of eroding brand equity. However, there is something to be said about the merits of the consumer directly interacting with the brand architects. I am not talking about focus groups. I also have my reservations about overreliance on focus groups. I am talking about forming an ongoing dialog with the consumers not only to test ads but also to build brands. Consumers are eager to talk to the brands that they like. Given the forum they enjoy being a part of that brands’ world. After all, the brand only has a reason to exist to the extent that it can remain relevant to its consumer.

It might be stating the obvious but I am going to focus more and more on how to facilitate meaningful consumer dialogs. I do believe that the consumers have an important contribution to make and just as it is true in every relationship, they are willing to open up if you are genuinely interested in what they say…and perhaps have more fun in the process.