China to Control the U.S. Internet Economy?
This morning’s keynote followed the idea that, with changing control of the consumer and economic trends, marketing’s role has to change. Speaking to illustrate and reinforce this notion were Rick KarlGaard of Forbes.com and Mary Bermel of HP.
Probably the most startling perspective of the keynote was Rich’s viewpoint that with an ever-expanding economy, increased competitives and a broader consumer accessibility, countries like China and India were poised to really to take a large chunk out of our economy - massively declining prices and a commodity based pricing model would not be far off for our economy in North Amercia if we didn’t react. Why would we buy a suit on 5th Ave. (and they are expensive there - I checked it out myself) if we can buy the same suit online from Hong Kong for 20 percent of the price and very little quality difference?
Marketers have to keep up - this is where Mary Bermel of HP, their Interactive Global Brand Advertising Manager, spoke up with strong recommendations.
We need to be more accessible. We need to predict and to anticipate more where are customers are going and what they are thinking and where they’ll be when they want our products. We need to consider and potentially cover all of our marketing channels and touchpoints and follow the successes of personalized portal technologies like My Yahoo and the innovation that blogs (gotta luv em) have created. Basically Mary emphasized that we need to scream smarter rather than louder at our clients and potential clients.
The question remains though - is this the solution to the threat? Do we really need to spend more time covering our bases and risk haunting consumers at every corner they turn or do we need to really dig deep into the demand chain and understand truly what consumers want in terms of value and features? Think about it - they’ll always buy that suit on 5th avenue if it really meets our needs and provides great value. Or will they?
