A Marketing Reality from Mobile Marketer, SmartReply
Irvine, CA - July 2nd, 2007 - CRM or Customer Relationship Management is a term that has been knocking about for years. Loyalty marketing too. Call them whatever you like, however the interaction between brands, consumers and their loyalty is changing right before marketers eyes. So long CRM, hello Managed Customer Communications. And welcome to the next marketing reality - The Choice Generation™.
At the CRMC Conference in Chicago on June 15th, 2007, SmartReply, the country's leading provider of mobile, voice and messaging solutions to the retailing industry, spelt it out. The Choice Generation™ is here. Having conceptualized and introduced it to the marketplace, the mobile solutions company is helping major retailers and brands throughout the US and Canada to reach this choosy new generation of consumers.
In 2007, consumers have taken control over a large percentage of the messages they hear, see and read. They are in the driving seat and it's all about their choice. Strangely enough however, there has been little hype in the industry about consumer success at avoiding these marketing messages. How quickly are marketers responding to this inevitable shift? Eric Holmen, SmartReply's president, shared his insight about "The New Next: The Choice Generation™" at the recent gathering of the country's leading retailing marketers and brand leaders.
Back in 2005, marketers got their first admonition at the CRMC conference of things to come. Consumer research firm Yankelovich warned that 69% of consumers wanted products that would help them skip advertising messages, or simply opt-out of being exposed to marketing altogether. In other words, they wanted a choice, and control.
Fast forward to 2007 and it's clear that it's already happening. It's no longer simply a trend - it's a reality. Today, 60% of consumers try to avoid exposure to advertising; 54% avoid products that overwhelm them with marketing and 46% have taken steps to reduce the marketing they are exposed to. In just a few short years, advertisers have lost almost a fifth of their TV audience. Nielsen Ratings report that 17% of homes now have DVRs and almost 50% of their prime time viewing is through DVR's with the SKIP button held down. The Choice Generation™ is taking control of what they see, how and when they see it.
So then it shouldn't come as any surprise to hear that traditional advertising spending is down. Industry analyst, Robert J. Coen of Universal McCann just announced that his forecast for ad spending would be reduced to $290.3 billion for 2007, as a result of marketers deciding to spend money in new media rather than traditional media - media that the Choice Generation™ has switched off from.
For those still wondering just who The Choice Generation™ is, SmartReply's Holmen explains. "The Choice Generation™ isn't a demographic defined by age or income. The Choice Generation™ are the consumers who have high marketing value and little exposure and responsiveness to traditional advertising. They feel they have a sovereign right to choice and control of the marketing messages they receive - and how, what and when you communicate with them. Call them control-freaks; they are the opposite of the passive consumers receptive to one-directional marketing messages of yesteryear."
About SmartReplySmartReply's voice and mobile messaging solutions have created breakthrough-marketing results for leading retailers throughout the United States and Canada. As the only voice and mobile messaging company dedicated to meeting the unique marketing challenges and objectives of retail executives, SmartReply's clients now have the proven ability to increase store traffic, lower marketing cost and strengthen brand affinity. Because of this, SmartReply is the provider of choice for more than 80 major regional and national retailers. Headquartered in Irvine, California, more information for partners and clients can be found at
www.SmartReply.com or by calling (800)-785-6769.