The Hindu Business Line : Consumers more clued in than professionals

THE most complex and the least understood is "marketing without marketing," says Alex Wipperfürth in Brand Hijack, from Penguin (www.penguinbooksindia.com) . But before you let the book hijack you, he cautions that it is not for everyone. "It proposes untraditional, even counter-intuitive, practices: Let the marketplace take over." So, "stop clamouring for control and learn to be spontaneous."

Enter, therefore, 21st century marketing, where "consumers are more clued in than the professionals." The `new template' is about `letting go' and the manifesto includes tenets that are not immutable, such as resisting `the paranoid urge for consistency', respecting the community, being patient, and co-creating the brand `by collaborating with your consumers'.

Hijacked brands needn't be great products, clarifies the author. "It's all about the killer experience," he says. That's why teens hijacked SMS; it wasn't hyped, it called for creativity, it facilitated an existing habit and it worked. Thus, the `ugly cousin' SMS `hit the mainstream'. Text messaging was like DOS compared to WAP's Windows, chronicles the book. "But by 2000, it was clear that the more advanced technology had flopped."

Companies that aren't afraid of their customers and their creativity can go a long way, assures Wipperfürth. Mattel is a lesson on how not to be, he says, because it abused SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) instead of embracing a new market of `devoted brand enthusiasts' such as Paul Hanson "who exhibited his own sub-genre versions of Barbie."

The bull in the beverage market, Red Bull, has a `spiritual aura', writes Wipperfürth. "Everyone who works for the company - even every vendor - is totally on board. It's an internal culture driven by a sense of being the overachieving underdog with an amazing survival instinct." Unless you have the dedicated buy-in from your employees and other associated people, "the vibe will never cross over to your consumers," reminds the author. "You need to move your own people before you can touch a removed audience."

A chapter on the `dangerous attitude' has Wipperfürth talking about `cool'. It is an elusive target, he cautions. Cool brands are unique, but they are by no means perfect, he explains. "Their limitations and eccentric flaws are part of what makes them cool." Another one-liner is that cool brands have nothing to prove. Cool brands are "calm and confident that if they are true to their vision, consumers will come to them."

Consumers are in charge, and they have proof of their power, alerts the book in a chapter on `the dawn of the next marketing era'. Wipperfürth cites from The Cluetrain Manifesto, a book you can read `online for free' on www.cluetrain.com. "A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter — and getting smarter faster than most companies," says the site. Therefore, "The next consumer will be an active participant in shaping brand meaning and marketing the brand to others," writes Wipperfürth.

Tribes are the primary social units though consumers are individualistic; and `tribes are forming around brands'. But they are ephemeral, "constantly forming, dissipating, and re-forming." What do they do? "Embrace, adopt, and alter brands in the marketplace," bound as a community through `a version of gossip'. What's that? "The folklore, the beliefs, and practices passed on through peer-to-peer storytelling, legend, myth, ritual, and symbolic gestures." The challenge of the marketer is to find them even as they maintain `a degree of intentional anonymity and distance' as a key trait of the tribe.

If you wonder if you can retain customers following Wipperfürth's ways, he snaps back that retention tactics are Machiavellian. It is `pseudo loyalty', and mostly short-term. It can be `dangerously misleading' and lull you into `a false sense of security'. What you need instead is `true loyalty', which is about authenticity, says Wipperfürth. For, "it is about passion."

A book that can capture your attention even if you don't let go of what you're now doing!

BookMark@TheHindu.co.in