Odd that it may sound, this is the new face and principle of marketing and business. This is what marketing and business must be seen as in the new millennium.
Marketing was in the 80s and 90s seen as a war -- a battle for consumers' minds or marketing warfare as institutionalised by Al Reis and Jack Trout in their books with similar names. It's been seen as a way to defeat competition, outmanoeuvring competitors with products, prices and promotion to gain victory.
Strategies like offensive, defensive, guerrilla, etc are emerging using that analogy. Subconsciously this theory believed that the market and competition were the stage of operation.
As we get more consumer-centric, there is a need to re-orient our view of marketing and business. It's no longer about waging wars but actually about forging relationships. This gains in ascendancy as you observe few other environmental changes taking place.
First, the world is moving from the West to the East -- to countries like India and China which are fundamentally more affiliative and relationship-oriented vis-a-vis the West, which was more individualistic and personal goal-oriented.
Further, culturally the West is more invasive and conquering in mindset while the east is more collective and collaborative.
Secondly, we are moving from a world of pure competition to a world where collaboration and co-opetition have to co-exist. We are seeing this around us -- no longer can marketers operate in silos, independently. Airlines need to forge alliances with hotels and ground transport to deliver greater value on travel to end consumers.
Fast-moving consumer goods marketers can no longer depend only on the power of their brands to generate consumer pull. They need to collaborate with retail chains to get the right visibility and position in the last mile to ensure brand preference is converted into final purchase at the outlet.
Thirdly, consumer behaviour is undergoing change. We are gradually moving from brands competing within categories to a stage where categories are competing with each other. We have seen in the last decade that as mobiles have emerged, they have become the new personal statements replacing items like watches, readywear, credit cards and maybe even liquor. Suddenly everything is competing with everything else.
As markets evolve, consumers are likely to trade up in categories of importance to them, and trade down to basic products in others of less importance. Thus the challenge, at least in the upper and middle income consumer segments, would be as much to keep the category salient and valuable as it is to keep the brand preferred.
Collaboration within category may gain in importance. Finally, with the growth of technology and increasing product parity the battle is going to be more of driving consumer loyalty on softer values rather than acquisition and building preference on rational product attributes. It would also mean stronger back end relationships with suppliers, distributors and employees that can help the brand consistently deliver superior quality and experience to the end consumer.
Clearly, as the focus moves from markets and competition to consumers, the challenge will be how to forge and keep going relationships with all stakeholders - consumers, suppliers, distributors and brand creators - the employees. This requires a different mindset and different language and terminology.
Unlike war, relationships are not about defeating, they are about winning. It's not a matter of overcoming one-time, but sustaining over a period of time, accepting there are periods of ups and downs. It's not about forcing but about persuading, charming and becoming endearing. It's about accepting unpredictability and fragility.
What are the ground implications of such thinking? It means refocusing business and marketing. For a mass retailer, waging war means to fight on price - the lower the price, the greater the competitive advantage. It means squeezing suppliers and partners to get the best deals so that the end consumer gets the best price.
It's about aggression all the way. Relationship thinking turns it on its head. It's about continuously thinking of ways to keep the consumer engaged, delighting her and working towards winning her loyalty. It's about working along with suppliers for mutual benefit so that they remain committed to the chain as a preferred supplier.
It's about giving large volumes to one supplier, not for best price, but as a mark of trust and respect for quality. It's about collaboration all the way. Simply put, it's about approaching business and marketing with an affiliative, friendlier mindset rather than one of oneup-manship. It's not about stomping competition out but winning the consumer to your side.
This could also mean as consumers start to make trade-offs across categories within their purchase basket, competitors in a category would need to come together to push the salience of their category vis-a-vis others and make it more exciting.
An industry does not only have to come together for market development, but needs to get together to keep the category buoyant! It could mean that brands look at the holistic need they are satisfying and work collaboratively with complementary products and categories to deliver better value to the consumer.
A paint company should work alongside a furnishing brand and a sanitaryware brand to provide a complete renovation solution through a home solution store, thus solving the larger consumer problem rather than just be a painting solution.
There are already strains of these emerging -- in the automobile and housing sectors, where manufacturers and builders work with finance companies to make their products more conveniently accessible!
In short, it's no longer war out there in the market, it's love waiting to happen. The smart businessman or marketer is one who recognises that and develops the right broom to sweep the woman off her feet.
Something worth thinking about.
The author is Country Head, Discovery and Planning, Ogilvy and Mather, India. Views expressed are personal.