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Chapter 5: Consumers have changed even more (as will be revealed shortly) and have staged a silent but violent coup de grace whereby they have seized control of all facets of the archaic four P's (product, price, promotion, and place)-in pretty much all categories. Occasionally, consumers even flex their newfound freedom to remind marketers that not only are the marketers subservient, but, indeed, they are constantly being scrutinized, judged, and evaluated based on the sum total of their actions. In one irony-laden case, customization came back to bite a global powerhouse brand in the swoosh. In this case, Nike issued a cease-and-desist against a single consumer (an army of one) who customized his particular pair of sneakers to read: SWEAT (left) SHOP (right). Nike activated its legion of legal eagles to eradicate the unfortunate blot on its squeaky clean record . . . but the damage was done. Today's consumers, however, have figured out a vital- or viral-component of new marketing: word of mouth, or, rather, word of mouse. In the preceding example, e-mail depicting the obtuse chain of correspondence from Nike corporate to the offending consumer circulated the globe several times, in 80 milliseconds as opposed to 80 days. The profound embarrassment caused by just one disgruntled consumer can have irreparable consequences. View Transcript. |
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