The Empty Whitecoat

Neuromarketing is being used on children

Jennifer at Brand Mantra is having a great blog debate with various other bloggers about the virtues, application and ethics of neuromarketing. She writes,

When people misuse low-tech options, it's quite probable that they'll misuse newer high-tech options. I'm not averse to new technology; I am averse to making it available to users who don't often understand the basic principles... Few companies bother to actually initiate conversations with customers, build relationships with them, and involve them on the front end. Rather, they come up with some ideas while sitting around a conference table and decide to 'test' those ideas with customers. Hmm.

I couldnt agree more. Neuroscience has all the features of a classic "little marketing innovation boulder".. which back in December I stated were an outcome of the consummate failure of marketing to meet and understand the needs of a "new society of individuals" shaped by self-determination and unfilled, intangible wants. Today, there is a widening chasm between new forms of individual value and values on the one side and the corporates' "neo-con consumerist" objectives, behaviour and actions on the other - actions characterised by an "incremental tinkering" of, rather than a radical and discontinuous breakthrough in the means to identify, create, design and deliver "consumer" value.

This adaptive market incrementalism failure is generating the “innovation scree" that lies deep in the rift between commercial organisations and individuals. The marketing profession in particular is engaged in a constant and desperate search for the next breakthrough in efficiency and insight and as you'd expect - when all else fails, the last resort is to turn to science. For me, Neuroscience is just one very big boulder just waiting to "plop" off the side off the chasm on its long journey to the foothills of oblivion ...

Consider the following statement from Oxford-based Neurosense (or should that be Neurononsense)... at www.neurosense.com

Human brain imaging techniques have now reached a level of sophistication that make it possible to unravel many of the brain processes that contribute to perception, emotive evaluation, decision-making and behaviour. Understanding these processes is vital if we are to comprehend and predict how consumers will react to novel products, brands and advertisements. At Neurosense, we are committed to working closely with our clients to design and implement functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments that directly address such questions. The results of these studies are then fed back to the client in the form of deliverables - novel insights in to a marketing problem that are presently unobtainable from any other measures.

Yeah right. And please, is this an image of the future marketing department ....?

Funny, but I thought marketing was originally about matching, connecting, conversations, relationships, trust, shared values and mutual profit...

But the true horror of neuromarketing science is revealed in the following section taken from the Neurosense web-site:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a safe, non-invasive technique that allows us to locate and quantify brain activity associated with thoughts, feelings and action. It can be used in children as well as adults and can be carried out rapidly (an experiment typically lasts only a few minutes and a whole session less than an hour).

Used in children? They are kidding? If true, that makes me absolutely sick with rage.. If this is being used on children then it should banned immediately - Now who agrees that Neuromarketing is a "good thing"...? Maybe we can all give this particular boulder one big shove....

Elderly "Wellness": Powerful opportunities for future customer innovation

I have been developing some business concepts for a client looking to provide new services for the very elderly and their carers. This is a fascinating and fast-growing market whose development is underpinned by some very potent social, economic and demographic forces. Together they present a potentially striking example of Support Economy style individual-centric advocacy and future customer innovation.

The demographic factors are well documented: By the year 2011 it is predicted that the number of people over a pensionable age will have increased from 10.7 million to 11.5 million in the UK. In Europe, over 50 per cent of the population will be over 65 by 2050. Combine those figures with multiple socio-economic influences such as the growing time pressures faced by family care providers, the rising costs of state care giving (and the shift to private sector provision), the decline of local support networks in physical communities, the disintegration of mega-institutions such as hospitals and large care homes, the growing distance between family members, the increased relative wealth of the elderly population, the fact that the aged population will be much less homogenous in tastes and lifestyles than today and their subsequent desire for a more active lifestyle and personalised intervention in care provision and you find yourself envisioning a future with tremendous opportunity (and need) to create highly positive forms of individual customer value.

Besides, imagine the shift in expectations as the new Generation Y move into their senior years - you can bet they will be collaborating in the development of a technologically rich environment full of opportunities for remote networking, intelligent care diagnostics, virtual family get togethers and smart homes. We might predict that such technology and the desire to create it will foster a new paradigm of elderly care, one that defines a shift from medical intervention to wellbeing. In my terminology, I call this the new Elderly Wellness “I-SPACE” that deals with the physiological and psychological changes associated with ageing and is enabled by technology..

Why is this I-SPACE different? Well historically, the medical paradigm has dominated elderly care. It focused on the physiological aspects of health and intervened in situations of crisis. Wellness interventions on the other hand use new technology to significantly enhance social support mechanisms and service delivery vehicles. They seek to address issues of social isolation arising from geographic distance, psychological state and physical disability by facilitating the development of individual-centric support networks . These networks could be set-up and operated by a nodal company and can consist of multiple connected and collaborating support providers. Such partners could deliver both traditional (e.g. DIY/Home Improvement, Mobility, Shopping services, Repair services and gardening) and technological services (e.g. response services, remote and personal health monitoring, auto medication reminders) and may be opoerated according to innovative reverse market pricing models.

To be successful, an "Elderly Wellness" network must improve on traditional personal approaches to care provision by using technology to facilitate highly personal and consistent levels of quality support and new forms of positive experience. They must also exhibit extermely high levels of transparency and accountability in their dealings with both the primary (the elderly individual) and the secondary (the carer) customer.

One great example of the potential in the Elderly Wellness I-SPACE is the Generations Online project at www.generationsonline.com. This U.S. program is aiming to educate the elderly to help them get online and to then facilitate educational conversations between them and young children in order to create an "Intergenerational process of discovery encouraging respect, friendship and care". As the web site states, "a significant feature of Generations on Line is Memories: Generation to generation, specially designed to link school children with elders, trapping their wisdom, experiences, and knowledge in an oral history and culture exchange". This is a fantastic and bold project exhibiting exactly what can be achieved by envisioning future markets centred on the necessary new values of authentic individual relationships and strong mutualism. It also provides a compelling early view of what our world will be like as the current internet generation matures along with the enabling technology.... satisfying stuff, we can hope

REVERSE MARKETING, CONSUMER VALUE NETWORKS AND THE NEW BRAND INTERMEDIARIES

This new conceptual paper written by myself and Professor Simon Knox of Cranfield School of Management presents an approach to consumer brand management that challenges current practice in the light of sustained criticism of marketing.

The paper is published in the snappily titled new Kluwer book, Evolution of Supply Chain Management: Symbiosis of Adaptive Value Networks and ICT available from Amazon here..

Simon and I propose a reverse market concept (see below) that defines markets and marketing activities from an explicitly consumer value perspective. We describe how reverse market brands are able to create new forms of mutual value by organising consumer demand and by supporting their lifestyles, need sets and complete consumption experiences. A simple framework is proposed through which brand management can review and respond to the unmet, complex and increasingly non-material drivers of consumer value. It outlines the benefits and the barriers that await brand management wishing to develop reverse marketing practices and concludes by evaluating the validity of the reverse market logic.

For a complimentary copy of the paper, (not the book!) email me here. Critical comments are welcome...

New Book - Mid-Market CRM: Customer Relationship Excellence in Mid Sized Enterprises

I have contributed to a new book, published in April: Mid-Market CRM: Customer Relationship Excellence in Mid Sized Enterprises available shortly from here.

About the Book

Over the past couple of years CRM has taken a bit of a hammering and there has been a lot of confusion surrounding it. Recently, however, it seems to have resurfaced with a vengeance as more and more software vendors seem to crowd into the space with new products specifically targeted at small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The danger of confusion still remains and the spectre of CRM failures still hangs around.

All too often Customer Relationship Management is considered a technology issue. This simplistic approach fails to recognise CRMís true strategic significance and goal: to acquire, retain and develop profitable long term relationships with customers. Genuine CRM provides you with a framework, a roadmap, towards better overall business performance.

Strategic CRM, the subject of this book, starts with a deep, intimate understanding of your customers; not only in terms of their preferences, needs and behaviours but just as importantly how they impact your bottom line. It then calls for a customer centric culture throughout your organisation supported by new processes, sometimes new organisational structures, and new technology, to deliver value.

This book maps the journey, from development to implementation of a strategic CRM initiative. It explains how to use customer profitability analysis to identify your best customers and build the necessary marketing strategy to delight them. It is not a book about technology although it provides a guide to current offerings; it is a guide to company directors to better underdstand the impact and the commitment that is required to deliver superior performance.

The authors have gathered years of practical experience and focused it on the medium sized enterprise: businesses of a size and complexity that warrants a formal CRM strategy and that are the focus of the markets current marketing push. It is a guide through the various steps of developing, implementing and monitoring a CRM initiative.

While most books on CRM cover only its tactical aspects, concentrating on things such as database marketing or communications. This book approaches CRM from a strategic perspective and therefore tackles its complexity and how it impacts on all aspects of a business.

Responding to the "Victory of Consumers over Sellers"

Many brands are struggling to adjust to the "victory of consumers" over sellers (see Dupuy, F. (1999) The Customer’s Victory: From Corporation to Co-operation, Macmillan Business, London). As individual consumers deploy their powerful new set of information and access media, they have at their disposal the means to acquire objective information to more easily compare product and service pricing, features and performance. They can also achieve new levels of convenience and direct communications with companies, designing and submitting personal specifications for products and services. In addition, as Verna Allee states, seller-centric brands are now spun into a network of 360 degree transparency, accountability and participation where thay can be quickly exposed (think Coca Cola's bottled tap water brand, Dasani, recently deflowered in the UK ......)

Buyer-centricity is one logical response to this consumer empowerment; it suggests that certain brands (new or old) can capture new opportunities to help people improve their personal productivity and profitability within specific customer solution or need markets. In doing so, they create new potential for customer dialogue, learning and critically, more sustainable and authentic knowledge-based customer relationships. The argument goes that consumers need a partner to battle the onslaught of traditional product-centric brands caught in a trap of 4Ps marketing, relentlessly seeking the next sale at whatever cost and whichever media. In effect, "Help! The New Consumer Expects....." as shown in the image above... together with the tracks being played out by modern consumers....

Sounds fine in principle. In practice however, it has to be acknowledged that although most consumers may now have access to new information content, some are more interested, motivated, and prepared to take advantage of it than others. Furthermore, there is some evidence that most (or at least some) consumers do not engage in much information search at all. Instead, they remain brand loyal yet find accessing companies annoying and or unnecessary (see for example Sirgy and Su, 2000 ‘The Ethics of Consumer Sovereignty in an Age of High Tech’, Journal of Business Ethics, 28: 1-14.). Customers are also still developing. Some operate with a product perspective, others may expect a solution of integrated products, others again may go further and demand a unique, personalised offering. You have to agree that rational man does not exist (except in some corporations....) !

So what is the ideal solution to responding to the shift in consumer capabilities and rising brand transparency? Is there one single answer? The reality is a big NO. Instead, there is a "shifting optimum solution" depending on the forever changing context of individual consumer need.. To hit this optimum, organisations must somehow design “heterogeneity” into their customer offering by facilitating multiple types of customer interaction according to the specific context or personal meaning in which that interaction takes place. For example, my needs from my bank differ according to my particular context at a specific point in time and space; at a client’s offices for example, I need a quick, discrete and efficient transaction over the phone with limited “small talk” and the reassurance that my needs will be quickly understood and the transaction rapidly completed; at home however, I am happy to engage in conversation and to discuss in more depth some financial planning requirements on a personal level with a personal consultant. Critically, the bank must design a system of interaction that responds to both of these differing contexts whilst delivering a positive experience in both situations.

So the new customer-brand relationship context is neither black nor white. It can be a transaction, a relationship or a partnership or all of these things at the same time. Essentially, the new brand-customer context is one that reconfigures the intangible aspects and content of consumer needs into new forms of social, relational and brand capital. The goal is in essence to deliver a continuous positive experience and solutions for individual needs of individual customers. Those brands that succeed in doing this, like my bank, will adjust well to the new consumer, buyer-centric or not..

Tom Lawer arrives safely!!!!

Here is the first pic taken of my beautiful new son, Tom, born on 10/2 at 2:10 am (shown here at 1 day old) and currently much the centre of all attention in the Lawer household!! As you can see, he is already wearing matching Lawer typepad colours - a blogger in waiting!! Oh, what very happy days... and nights !!!!