• New metrics for sustainable marketing

    Posted on March 31st, 2008 by and currently 7 commenting.

    Been thinking more lately about the concept of sustainability in marketing. The questions that keep popping into my head are: What do the dynamics of a sustainable marketing movement or program look like? And, more importantly, how would we go about measuring that?

    No surprises to anyone reading this probably, but marketing ” corporate America, in general ” is in dire need of new metrics. Our current market is driven by short-term forces: get next quarter’s numbers up, what it will cost me now, # of mass impressions, etc. As a result, we create campaigns, not movements; a new soda flavor rolls out just about every month or so; and we have a consumer mindset that thinks in terms of price per unit rather than cost to the earth’s resources.

    Any change in mindset and/or behavior cannot really take root without new metrics. You can only improve on what you measure. Take a simple example ” cholesterol and blood pressure. Before we could measure these, my guess is there were a significantly smaller number of people who changed their diet and exercise habits in an effort to stay healthy.

    Moreover, people get rewarded on what you can measure. As long as we continue to value people on ‘efficiency’ and companies on stock price alone, it’s going to be hard to get capitalism to think long term, let alone save our environment.

    In 1995 my advisor in grad school wrote a paper entitled ‘New laws to be expected in the organism’. His point was simple ” science has done a great job reducing things to their smallest parts…and a not so great job explaining how those parts coordinate with each other.

    I think the same true for marketing.

    We need laws of coordination. How does a consumer become a community? How does information travel in this community? What parameters can catalyze that connection? What defines the strength of interaction in a community ” or said another way, how can we determine how fragile a brand community is?

    I for one look forward to solving these problems with all you kindred spirits. In the mean time, I apologize in advance for a title that sounded like I was going to provide answers, when I have none to offer.

    Toward that end, I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes…

    Always the beautiful answer. Who asks a more beautiful question?
    ee cummings

  • http://www.fiemster.name dave

    I want to commend Brains on Fire for consistently taking the time to put things into perspective in the marketing industry that crosses the t’s and dots the i’s of common sense.

    “Any change in mindset and/or behavior cannot really take root without new metrics. ”

    I agree 110%; experience has told me this and it’s just flat out the most truthful statement one can make about any kind of market.

    Great post Justine.

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  • http://www.whatsthediff.com Christy

    The hard part will be resisting the urge to quantify conversations and emotions. It seems we’re plagued with the ability to turn anything into a “conversion event.”

    If we can get over the fear of riding the trapeze without the net, only then will we find viable answers. And the answer may be much more subjective than metrics demands.

  • Matt

    Your post points out the perpetual struggle between the brand (the system) and the organisms (the customers). Focusing too much on the customers ignores the implications of the brand, especially for the long term.

    But do we need new metrics, or just consistent ones? If a client just wants us to – within the brand – move product off the shelf, we can do that. What we can’t do is focus on moving product on the shelf in Q1, build an entire WOM campaign in Q2, get 3 million media impression in Q3, develop an events strategy for Q4, and make it all “turnkey” so that they can do the same thing next year.

    I think we should all hold our clients to an Objective Contract – make them sign their name to what their objective is for the long term. Anytime they say, “Well what about impressions?” or “Maybe we should run a giveaway promo,” we pull the contract out and make them read it outloud.

  • http://www.brainsonfire.com Justine

    Christy you raise a great point – that some of the most valuable progress a brand can make is on an emotional level – and how do you “metricize” this. Especially when that kind of bond can, and often does, grow subconsciously.

    The desire to metricize emotion is really the driving force behind this whole emerging field of neuromarketing. I can’t count the # of companies who called me and asked whether I could use brain imaging to measure emotional connection. (As an aside – I don’t think we’re there yet).

    I do think that we can devise creative and valuable ways though to measure conversations…. for example how the sphere of conversation grows, how involved people are in that conversation over time, etc.

    Matt – great point. I think a lot of companies let their brands be driven by customer research. Which is a great thing – unless that research is asking the wrong questions. Taste tests reinforce the idea that I like Coke because of the taste. Hence another flavor. But are they asking people whether we really want 72 flavors of cola? I went shopping on Sunday and my head was spinning on the frozen waffle section. I kept looking for the “original” Eggos. Ridiculous.

    Alright, I digress. I love your idea of an “Objective contract”. If Coke’s long-term objective really is to create 2000 new flavors of soda, then so be it.

  • http://www.whatsthediff.com Christy

    More model, less “metric”?

    A graphical representation of what’s happening out there… I see spheres and bubbles and… wait. I’m being influenced by Coca Cola!

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