The Dumb Question

I’ve previously written about how important it is to adapt and evolve. To be honest, I thought most advertisers had adapted to the new and improved (not-as-dumb-as-I-may-look) consumer. I believed the era of “my brand’s consumer won’t be able to understand this” was over. Back in the day when someone said that you would even have a few nodding heads and it would be business as usual. However, a growing number of marketers learned to respect the consumer. In fact, the consumer was never dumb. But marketers and advertisers both seemed to think otherwise. And I seem to keep bumping into people who still think otherwise.

Truth is, today’s consumer has actually gotten smarter than most of its predecessors, especially as human lie-detectors. We have empirical proof that today’s consumer sees through hidden messages in the advertising communication much more easily. This growing realization is actually responsible for the failure for many brands as well as the quality improvement in many others.

Increasingly empowered consumers, more self-reliant advertisers and ever-evolving technologies are redefining how advertising is sold, created, consumed and tracked. So, as the advertising value chain reconfigures, marketers, advertising agencies, media distributors and broadcasters have little choice but to adapt and innovate. There is no question that the future of advertising in Pakistan will look radically different from its past. The push for control of attention, creativity, measurements and specialization will reshape the advertising value chain and shift the balance of power. For both marketers and advertising agencies, it is imperative to plan for multiple consumer futures, craft agile strategies and build new capabilities.