AdAsia: The changing rules of consumer engagement

Joseph Tripodi, executive vice-president and chief marketing and commercial officer, The Coca-Cola Company, believes that the new age marketing evolution is as an effect of the consumer's demand to get value for their time and attention.

The rules of consumer engagement are changing rapidly. Ease of use, right utility, correct accessibility and enhanced advancement are nothing less than mandatory in this new age of marketing evolution.

Joseph Tripodi, executive vice-president and chief marketing and commercial officer, The Coca-Cola Company, believes that this evolution is as an effect of the consumer's demand to get value for their time and attention.

"To usher in this evolution, our focus is to build content that has scale, and stories that can spread and link," Tripodi said while addressing audiences on the second day of AdAsia 2011, being held at the Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi. Titled, Marketing 3.0 - New Rules Of Engagement, it was the first session of the day, and was anchored by Prasoon Joshi, chairman and chief executive officer, McCann Worldwide India, executive creative director, McCann Erickson, APAC Region, and chairperson, McCann Global Creative Council.

Coca-Cola, which was once seen as the creator of culture, is now making an attempt to ride the pop culture, or carry forward a culture that already exists. Therefore, when asked by Joshi as to why the company decided to 'ride' instead of 'create', Tripodi said, "Large companies tend to be more conservative in nature as the need or desire to take risks is not as high. We operate on the 70:20:10 philosophy, wherein 70 per cent is about not taking any risk, and 10 per cent is about talking every risk possible within range to innovate."

Joshi noted that sometimes Coca-Cola exhibits desperation in the ownership of its property. And, therefore, the idea that consumers own the brand and experiment with it becomes a notion of discomfort.

"How does the company deal with this notion?" Joshi asked.

Tripodi said that while seven-eight years back, the idea of consumers owning the brand did create a feel of discomfort, today, the concept does not worry them anymore. "We now understand that if we don't include the consumers in brand ownership, things are not going to work for us. The era has changed after all," he said.

Earlier, marketing was a much simpler game - a combination of a global strategy and a local one. Today, with the boundaries diminishing, coupled with an explosion in media platforms and social media interaction, a third culture is on the rise - the hybrid culture.

This gave rise to the most important question of the session: "What would be the new strategy to engage going forward?"

Quizzed by Joshi, Tripodi said that while there is always a global strategy attached to each, all strategies share common universal values and sentiments. "Take for example the sentiment of happiness. The fundamental values of such sentiments do not change despite different cultures. Therefore, we need to work towards creating engagement possibilities to feed the needs of this cross-culture hybrid," he said.

Finally, brands are also trying to engage with the consumer through various CSR activities and yet, the trust is still not strong. Consumers often do not believe in such activities. "So how do brands fight this cynicism?" asked Joshi.

Tripodi answered, "You cannot get the height and get ahead of reality. You have to be honest and transparent in what you do. Today, the value of a brand's CSR activity is changing. It's more active, more participating. And, along with heavy innovation and relevance, the trust is sure to build."