Thoughts by Joel Rubinson, Chief Research Officer of The ARF
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The decision before the decision might be the more important one for marketers. Marketers need to learn about the opportunities inherent in influencing what are called second-order decision strategies.

Feel the stories of people who grew up in cultures without choice where daily existence was defined by deprivation rather than hope. Freedom is spelled C-H-O-I-C-E, and that is the importance of marketing and brands.

Brand building in a two way world will separate marketers into two groups; those who feel a sense of gain from conversation with consumers and those who feel a sense of loss because they are no longer in control. The first group is the future of marketing.

Marketers, take note: the curiosity impulse can lead people to discover and engage with your brand. Curiosity short-circuits the linear funnel from awareness to interest to desire, blah blah. Curiosity leads to purchases that are serendipitous and often spontaneous.

In a long-tail world of choices that are sometimes not very functionally different, perhaps “interesting” is the new “better”.

Brands represent a huge amount of asset creation from advertising and other brand building investments and marketers need to find a way to make the connection or they will continue to make the wrong marketing investments.

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