‘Clutter and chaos beckon the brave, new marketer'

It is a flat, interconnected and increasingly cluttered marketspace that brands need to learn to navigate, said Mr Xavier Prabhu, Director and Chief Visioneer, PRHUB. He was speaking at a BL Club lecture organised at the ITM Business School and presented by Tata Photon+.

According to him, disturbances in West Asia mean higher onion prices for the housewife in Chennai as it drives up fuel prices, which then leads to higher transportation costs, a key ingredient in vegetable pricing.

Or production of less coffee by Brazil impacts the morning cup of cheer of the retired Government servant in Mylapore as it leads to Indian and other coffee makers exporting more, which, in turn, leads to domestic prices going up significantly.

Second, the average urban consumer is inundated with messages of various hues (subtle, not-so-subtle and in-your-face) from the time she wakes up to the time she calls it a day.

According to him, the messages are not just growing but are relentless and there is practically no area left untouched by marketers in their effort to reach consumers.

In parallel, the consumer is also seeking and receiving more information — from which restaurant is better to dine out in, to which place or hotel is good for a quick weekend getaway. The advent of social media has made it even more complex, with each consumer now becoming his or her own broadcaster, resulting in billions of vehicles for a marketer to monitor, navigate and reach out to.

The third aspect, according to him, is the continuous blurring of boundaries between verticals and market categories. This makes the job of defining competition more grey and nuanced and the role of the CEO at the top even more complex. Alarm clocks have become archaic simply because today's cell-phones and handheld devices do that function as one among the multiple they perform.

The other aspect is as fascinatingly pointed out by Prof Murthy of IIM-Bangalore, hidden competition or unseen competition. “Who would have thought music downloads would make Airtel the largest music company in India or Nokia the largest camera brand in India simply because a lot of us tend to use the in-built camera for routine pictures? The threat of becoming obsolete is not one that can be taken lightly. Just look at the plight of newspapers in the US for a cue,” he said.

All the above aspects are here to stay and would radically influence and impact brands and how they get built and customers communicated to. He concluded by saying that it is a truly exciting time for a brand enthusiast. Welcome the brave new marketspace. Hail chaos, clutter and collaboration.

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