The people era

Once upon a time the product was the hero; everything was focused on the product and its features. The impetus of innovation and thought leadership lay with product research and development. So the story was built around the ‘radial’ tyre or ‘clove’ oil. Soon every other company arrived at the same formulae. Differentiation then did not lie with product development alone but came to be championed by marketing. We moved into what may be called the brand era. The approach was to surround people with brand’s promise or positioning. This was followed by the idea era, where ideas came to enhance or boost brand identity.

Today we operate in the people era. The era flushed with consumerism, turning the earlier seller’s market into a buyer’s monopoly. It’s an era that necessitates that we put people at the centre of our mindset. And the key to differentiation lies in values that our consumers hold dear. Communication therefore needs to embody these values, which helps create an intangible human bond with consumers. It’s the era of co-creation, where our approach to those who use our products and services has changed from the cold understanding of the ‘consumer’ to the warmth of relationship building with, who we may call, friends of our brands. In fact in the people era, as the Zoozoo frenzy clearly showed, brands have the opportunity to even create ‘fansumers’, i.e. people who buy into the brand for what it represents about themselves rather than the product or service itself and thereby drive brand loyalty and trust to new heights – if done responsibly.

It’s this change of tide that explains the success of campaigns such as Tata Tea’s Jaago Re, Times of India’s Teach India campaign and Idea’s recent campaigns. The campaigns resonated strongly with what people valued and sought in society, at a time when citizen activism was at its peak. They chose to speak a language that did not preach to people but got them to stand alongside the brand on a common platform. Thus clearly demonstrating, in striking the right value chords, brands have the opportunity to create truly iconic movements.

(The author, better known as Pops, is National Creative Director, Leo Burnett)