At Ad Summit Pilipinas, Isobar Asia Pacific’s Sandipan Roy spoke about how the internet has made brands more accountable to mankind.
“I believe the internet is at the root of everything we do,” said Roy who discussed the concept of the ‘internet of vigilantism’, and how this has made brands move from being a symbol of aspiration to inspiration. “It’s no longer enough to stand out, you’ve got to stand up for what you believe. Most people choose brands when they support a cause,” said Roy, who heads strategy across Asia Pacific for Isobar.
He discussed how the internet has changed things, and how brands are responding. Because of technology, the four Ps of marketing no longer exist in silo of each other. “Because of constant data exchange between consumers and brands, those four Ps are converging,” he said.
With the influence of social media, purchase is no longer in isolation. Rather, it has become a participative process wherein a consumer goes to a store carrying hundreds of Facebook friends in their pocket. “Each one of them thinks they have the right to influence my purchase… so we have to be ready for commerce at any stage of the consumer buying process,” he said.
The way brands are responding, Roy said, is by creating an ecosystem of products and services to match the consumer demand. “This whole concept of participation is going to get more and more in terms of impact on marketing,” he said.
Roy stressed the importance of authenticity, saying that consumers would recommend a brand more the more they felt that it was authentic. Empowering marketers, he said, “You can achieve transparency and authenticity while being in charge of what you do out in the consumer space.”
The more authentic a brand is, the more willing people are to recommend the brand. According to Roy, it comes down to purpose at the core of the brand. “Once the brand has decided that at the core, it’s going to appeal to a higher cause or a higher ideal, then everything it does in terms of developing products, services, behaving are at the back of their core belief that they want to appeal to a higher cause,” he said.
He added that the decision to appeal to a higher cause must come from top management. “It has to come from the chairman downwards. Then we will inspire people to live a meaningful life. That’s the only way it can happen,” Roy said.
