Fads dominate marketing as they do general society. But while societal fads tend to be mere lane markers on the road of life, I think marketing fads are different in that they usually represent solid breakthroughs that are layered in a lot of hype and misdirection. In fact-- before writing this I sat back and tried to think about the marketing fads from, say the last 15 years, that turned out to be unabashed wastes of time, and I had a hard time coming up with a lot of examples.
Okay let me refine my criteria here -- I'm not talking about linguistic fads related to all things "extreme," "world wide web" or ((cough cough)) "green." I mean new methods or channels with which to connect with consumers. Things like so-called viral marketing, multicultural marketing, influential marketing a la Gladwell/Tipping Point, gamer marketing, marketing via blog, marketing via personalization or customization-- heck even the advent of the damn website was fad-like initially, shrowded in mystery and runaway euphoria. All of these things burst on the scene in varying degrees, awash with countless articles and books and PDF'd encyclicals, but when the dust settled found (or are finding) their proper places in the marketer's playbook.
I'm reminded of the old Conan O'Brien skit, "In The Year 2000," where Andy Richter, dressed up in a futuristic robe holding a flashlight to his face, set up Conan's humorously far fetched predictions for the future. Like... "In the Year 2000: Male doctors will no longer be allowed to become gynecologists when a group of them are caught high-fiving at a convention." Okay, you had to have watched the skit to get it, but trust me it was gold because it poked fun at the mystique people attach to the events and advances of the future. And this-- this is the thing that ravages the marketing industry, every time one of these movements come down the pike in such predictable fashion that cause so many of us to drop everything and chase our tails. Cue lame graph:
From frenzied birth, articles begin clogging up our inboxes, followed by ample name dropping of said trend at every meeting and cocktail party attended by marketing types. Soon the buzz trickles up to the CEO, who begins forwarding them to the CMO with dubious notations, like:
"We need to be doing this now, brief me on your plan soon. Thx!"
The CMO assembles the marketing team, who then calls in the agency, and inevitably it's the youngest kid on the account team who becomes a rockstar for bringing everyone up to speed on the subject. Reluctantly the CMO signs off on the obligatory "check the box" initiatives, naturally reallocating the necessary resources to pay for it. Meetings take place with fly-by-night specialty shops, with weird sounding names like Monkey Flatulence Posse, who've suddenly positioned themselves as the new authorities on the movement. Meanwhile the PR folks busy themselves with press releases depicting the company as enjoying wild success by way of the new trend. What a show!
All of this, of course, sets up the inevitable backlash. A couple blogs start appearing online, "Is X a fad?" Then the journalists start piling on, and a brand new wave of email flings in all directions, except these are prefaced with notations, like:
"Dude, this guy took the words right out of my mouth! I've been saying the same thing for months, where's the profit model in this idea? Waste of time, hello?!? LMFAO"
The backlash shoves the marketing trend and its disciples into the background, and for a brief time there is almost a return to the old way of doing things. The CMO breathes a deep sigh of relief. And that's roughly the moment that common sense starts driving the practical application of the former marketing fad.
We can see evidence of this today. Think about the trends beginning to face a measure of backlash. Email marketing for example, which seems sensible enough. Consumers sign up to receive email messages from some company they patronize or admire, lured by the promise of special offers and inside information. Email marketing shops dutifully spring up to fill the need. Everybody piles in. Only consumers begin to suffer from subscription overload as their inboxes clutter up. Most don't take the time to unsubscribe, but merely delete or ignore them. Often an advertiser isn't even afforded the chance to win a last second reprieve because the #%!&@ spam filter delivers their message like this:
Of course the companies paying for these messages have rightly questioned the ROI on their investments. Email marketing companies are beginning to lose clients as resources shift into other mediums. There's an idea here, but it needs sharpening. Number one, the technical hurdle of spam filters need to be overcome. But more importantly, the content of the emails, themselves, need to be more valuable to the consumer to survive the delete button. The medium is undergoing the necessary pruning as sex appeal is replaced by practical strategic and technical thinking, and what will emerge from this period is a potent arm for companies to dialogue with their most promising customers.
Is mobile marketing poised to suffer the same backlash soon? All signs point to yes. Like email, it is supposed to be an opt-in medium. And the open rates right now are high because most consumers haven't yet overloaded themselves with a lot of hasty subscriptions. But how intrusive will this get when the same thing occurs-- people sifting through promotional garbage as they try to find critical texts and emails? What kinds of messages are people really receptive to on their phones? Sales? Coupons? Insider tips? What's its worth to an advertiser compared to a message delivered by way of a print ad, or a billboard or a street team? Is it more appropriate for certain products or audiences? There's a lot of heavy lifting to be done on the subject. Should you be there right now, or is it better to merely collect mobile numbers and wait for your competitors to spend their money making the mistakes?
Or how about the mother of all fads right now, social networking? Talk about a feeding frenzy... no marketer wishing to remain relevant wants to be seen sitting on the sidelines of this trend, and thus companies have poured into the "Big 3" (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) with a vengeance-- open accounts now, ask question later! I mean, after all-- it's FREE right? A FREE chance to interact with potential consumers on their turf, why... it's just like ... well, any advertising come to think of it. Important yes, but what's your plan and how do you cut through the clutter? I mean who really cares that you have a Facebook site, so does everyone else including my grandmother and my dog, so what's cool about just being there? What now, man? Companies are starting to realize that what it takes to be relevant in social media certainly isn't FREE-- unless the countless hours your marketing staff spends developing posts and polls and tweets and videos is inconsequential to your bottom line? What else could they be doing with that time, and how much is enough, and how are 100,000 "fans" going to impact sales this year? In 2 years are you going to look like a jackass for your preoccupation with social media, particularly if it's perceived to have come at the expense of other critical fundamentals?
Alright, alright, time for a point... my point is, most marketing fads aren't really fads, they're actually solid breakthroughs masked by predictable hype-- which takes a few years to subside before its true merits and practical applications begin to surface. Therefore I think it's prudent to ask yourself-- do I so want to be the cool guy at the cocktail party by being a pioneer, or am I going to take the time understand what I'm getting into and proceed with grounded, strategic purpose? Are there trade offs associated with plunging in today (or, conversely, with waiting)? In an era of shrinking marketing staffs and resources is it really antiquated to measure a fad against other proven techniques for driving profitable revenue? Don't misunderstand me on this -- if you know what you're doing, and why you're doing it, and what you hope to accomplish, and whether it's appropriate for your brand, by all means go for it. Sometimes it's important to wing it, to improvise-- it's part of our world, and why we love what we do. But so also should a healthy dose of perspective and skepticism be part of what you do, less you spend your career chasing your tail each time a fad reaches your inbox.
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