Michael R. Solomon

Tear Down Marketing’s Old Walls to See the Future of Your Business

Fundamental categories that form the bedrock of marketing strategy and customer insights simply no longer exist. You need to understand the new landscape of consumer behavior, so you don’t get left in the dust.

In this program you will learn:
How you can reach today’s consumers, who plug into a “hive mind” that tells them what to buy.
Why the debate about “offline versus online” marketing strategies is useless.
How to market with rather than market to your customers.
Why your customers rely upon your brands to tell them who they are.
How to develop new killer products and services by demolishing your industry’s walls.

The Pandemic will change our world for years after the virus disappears. We’ll have to rethink and modify our purchase decisions, large and small. Some disruptions in consumer/marketer relationships that already were looming will come faster and more decisively. How do we define brand value? How should companies talk to customers? How do people function in an emerging gig economy where every encounter might be fatal? How do we redefine what it means to go to work or to socialize?

You’ll learn why you need to step on the GAS to modify your offerings in light of the new drivers of consumer behavior.

That insight is crucial for any industry that touches consumers. Customers literally choose from thousands of options – and most of them have very little to do with functionality. However, that doesn’t make these decisions unimportant by any means. The selection of a watch, a bracelet, a pair of glasses or many other items reflects deep-seated values and beliefs about appearance and the consumer’s identity. We can think of the body as a canvas, where the shopper chooses from a “palette” of accessory items, apparel, footwear, cosmetics and other products to paint a picture s/he wants the world to see at a fixed moment in time. Marketers need to dig deeper if they want to sync their offerings with what their customers seek.

In this presentation, we’ll look at some of the powerful cultural forces that influence how consumers use a range of products to make “statements” about themselves.

Everyone is buzzing about Artificial Intelligence these days, as well as they should. Machines that “think” for us already are transforming how we work, play – and shop. McKinsey tells us that some 29 million U.S. homes used some form of smart technology last year, and that number grows by over 30 percent a year.

Many organizations now deploy robots, avatars and chatbots to perform tasks we used to ask flesh-and-blood people to do. This suddenly makes the age-old question of what makes us human much less theoretical. Self-driving cars threaten to replace truck drivers. IBM’s Watson beats chess masters and veteran Jeopardy game show contestants. Movies and TV shows like Blade Runner, Westworld, and Humans that focus on the civil rights of synths, replicants and androids are center stage in popular culture. Alexa and Siri are our new guardian angels.

Where does the person stop and the machine start?

Marketers need to grapple with this question, and soon. As customers increasingly interact with machines instead of people, there are huge ramifications for the way we think about sales interactions, communications strategies, product design and marketing channels.

Will consumers more readily accept a product recommendation from an AI agent if an attractive avatar delivers the message? Will customers become loyal to an intelligent agent, much as some do with their favorite salespeople now? Will shoppers prefer to see computer-generated models in advertising rather than real people?

Very soon, the rise of the machines will become the race of the machines. Don’t be left at the starting line.

In this thought-provoking presentation we will ask:

How does the physical appearance of a robot or avatar sales advisor affect the likelihood that customers will trust and follow its’ recommendations about what to buy?

How will chatbots and affective computing (where software detects a consumer’s emotional state) impact sales interactions?

As advertisers use machine learning to generate artificial images for their messages, how will AI influence ideals of beauty and the fashion industry?

What will be the impact of dating apps, sexbots, and other smart devices on interpersonal relationships?

How will facial recognition and wearable computer technologies meld with AI to create “markets of one?”

For years, marketers put customers into tidy little boxes, such as age, income or gender groups. Consumers don’t like boxes! Fundamental categories that form the bedrock of marketing strategy and customer insights simply no longer exist. You need to understand the new landscape of consumer behavior before the earth shifts on its axis again.

The top earthshaking trends that will dramatically change how you think about your customers:

• How consumers plug into a “hive mind” that tells them what to buy
• Why “offline” versus “online” marketing strategies are useless
• How our bodies are product delivery platforms
• Why yesterday’s customer is today’s subcontractor
• How we play at work and work at play
• Why your customers want to rent what you sell rather than own it

U.S. Millennials spend $600 billion per year, but their choices change faster than Lady Gaga changes her outfits. How can you adapt to connect with these “always on” but always changing shoppers? We’ll dive in to key ways that Millennials think about products and stores, and we’ll identify emerging tech solutions that sync with young consumers' lifestyles. Discover best practices to develop brand loyalty with a notoriously fickle group. After this session you will understand:

• How Millennials think
• Why brands matter to them – and don’t
• What you can learn from “World of Warcraft” and other online videogames
• Why “haul videos” and other consumer-generated content will transform the way you think about customer insights
• How cutting edge technologies like virtual reality will revolutionize the shopping experience

When we try to figure out consumers, there’s only one thing we can count on: We can’t count on anything. Consumer behavior is a moving target, but understanding how “deep meanings” influence customers worldwide will improve your aim. In this session you will learn how to connect with the most diverse consumer base ever – Millennials, Third Genders, Omniculturals, Creatives, Mass Class and others worldwide. You will understand that:

• Advertising is a mirror that reflects a culture’s hidden tensions and desires
• Marketers succeed only when they seize the moment and sync their brands with the path of popular culture
• A “global consumer culture” sways your customers no matter where in the world you sell
• The forces of fashion rule all products (not just haute couture)
• Colors, shapes and symbols send very different signals around the globe
• “Fortress brands” succeed because they help us to perform primal rituals
• Brands play a starring role in a culture’s myths that surface in movie and TV plots, holidays and even fairy tales.

Evolving trends in technology and lifestyles are fundamentally changing the ways relationships between consumers and companies are formed, maintained -- and dissolved. Many people now feel empowered to choose how, when, or if they will interact with corporations as they construct their own consumer-space. In turn, companies need to develop and leverage brand equity in order to attract the loyalty of these consumer "nomads."

Styles come and go, and being “in fashion” is a hot button for consumers. What determines what’s hot and what’s not? We usually equate fashion with clothing, but in reality fashion process influence the fortunes of many products such as cars, home furnishings, music, and even high-tech items. Explore how a style is created, how it spreads through a market and why it dies.

Gamification strategies adapt gaming elements to non-game contexts. They can dramatically boost user engagement in sales promotions, motivational programs for employees, new product development, and customer insights efforts.

Learn how to design exciting, interactive environments that sync with the Millennial mindset. Elements of these strategies are effective and easy to implement—and surprisingly affordable, even for small to medium-size businesses.

Did you know?

➢ In 2012, U.S. consumers spent almost $2 billion on virtual goods that exist only in games and other online platforms. That’s right, $2 billion to buy goods that don’t exist.

➢ More than 1.5 billion people worldwide regularly visit at least one virtual world.

➢ American teenagers spend more than seven and a half hours per day interacting with a screen (smartphone, tablet, TV).

Today, games are serious business.

Learning Objectives

• What is gamification? How can an organization prosper by turning business into a game?
• What is a virtual world platform? How do these applications fit or even extend my organization’s social media strategy?
• How do virtual game platforms affordably complement a small or large organization’s current marketing initiatives?
• What are the next-gen technologies that my organization can integrate into virtual platforms?
• What technological and social trends are changing the way that people shop, and how can I turn customers into avid players?

The Sharing Economy touches a broad range of industries, and many organizations regard this disruption as a threat to their business models. Verticals such as hotels, rental cars, apparel, etc. need to embrace rather than resist these changes. How do you sell to customers who no longer want to own what you sell?

Millennials represent nearly 1/3 of the U.S. population, and they spend $170 billion per year. However, they differ from their older brothers and sisters in fundamental ways that pose challenges for marketers who want to cement relationships with them. These young consumers are “Digital Natives” who constantly move back and forth between physical and online environments. Manufacturers and retailers that target this segment need to understand how this generation thinks and behaves.

Is there gold in green marketing? We are witnessing a global revolution as the ethic of sustainability seeps into more and more industry sectors. Environmental and economic changes dictate that we must develop and successfully market sustainable products. Ironically, business leaders often are several steps ahead of their customers.Many consumers are slower to embrace the value of sustainability – particularly if they think they need to pay more for it. The worldwide recession also muted the growing drumbeat for a green economy.
The target audience for this seminar is executives with responsibility for marketing, new product development, and/or communicatons. The presentation explores the concept of sustainability – primarily as today’s consumers understand (or misunderstand) it. We will review some of the fundamental drivers of consumer behavior and understand how these processes either faciliate or impede market acceptance of green products.

In a stormy economic climate it’s tempting to slash prices and hope for the best. But, not everyone can be (or should be) a Dollar General brand. When the going gets tough, the tough get more loyal to the core brands that hold deep meanings to them. These meanings are more important than ever when we have to ration our purchases and pick only those brands that will maximize personal ROI. Consumers won’t necessarily opt for the cheapest brand, but they do need a solid reason why they shouldn’t.
Anxious buyers cling tenaciously to safety nets as they try to weather the economic storm – and their favorite brands need to be within reach. Building and preserving hard-fought brand equity matters more than ever, but today new thinking is needed to nurture these bonds. A new emphasis on frugal chic means consumers want their brands to work harder for them. In tough times, don’t push away the ones you love!
This presentation will review emerging techniques to ramp up consumers’ reliance on the brands that matter to them – even as they jettison the ones that don’t. These approaches involve changing the way marketers think about their customers – elevating them from pawns to partners. Some specific ways to do this include social networking, mass customization, open-source marketing, engaging shoppers in immersive 3D computer platforms and integrating lead users into the product design cycle. Attendees will benefit as they take away new ways to think about enhancing the value they deliver and in the process calm the nerves of anxious customers.

Evolving trends in technology and lifestyles are fundamentally changing the ways relationships between consumers and companies are formed, maintained -- and dissolved. Many people now feel empowered to choose how, when, or if they will interact with corporations as they construct their own consumerspace. In turn, companies need to develop and leverage brand equity in order to attract the loyalty of these consumer "nomads."
● What are some significant changes in consumers' values and lifestyles that influence how they search for product information and evaluate alternative brands?
● How can we better understand consumer/product relationships -- from the consumer's vantage point? We need to appreciate how products and services are used in the enactment of daily rituals, the animistic qualities of products, and the role these goods play in defining consumption communities.
● How are firms innovating to optimize their presence in consumerspace? Reality engineering strategies such as social networking, product placement, advergaming, virtual Internet communities, and guerrilla marketing are some alternatives for penetrating consumer awareness.
● How can firms perpetuate consumer satisfaction by transforming passive buyers into active partners? Mass customization, personalization of shopping environments and Web sites, open-source marketing of lead users into the product design cycle have the potential to let producers and consumers work together to map the brave new world of consumerspace.

From Second Life to World of Warcraft, Habbo Hotel to MTV’s Virtual Pimp My Ride, today millions of consumers live a parallel, digital life in virtual worlds that make up The Metaverse. A virtual world is an online representation of real world people, products and brands in a computer-mediated environment (CME). To many mainstream consumers and advertisers, this is largely an unknown or underground phenomenon – but it has real marketing consequences. It’s estimated that by 2012, 53 percent of kids and 80 percent of active internet users will be members of at least one virtual world. Indeed, the Harvard Business Review predicts that within the next five years virtual worlds are likely to emerge as the dominant internet interface.

Clearly virtual environments will fuel new marketing trends over the next decade. These platforms have exciting branding and promotional implications for consumer-facing companies. They also hold great value to B2B firms who can harness them for virtual trade shows and sales training programs. These engaging interfaces provide highly cost-efficient and environmentally friendly options because expensive travel is minimized and participants’ engagement is much higher compared to more traditional, “static” platforms like chatrooms or videoconferencing.

However, due to the newness of the medium companies still struggle to figure out the best way to take advantage of these environments – or to decide if they should enter them at all. This presentation examines best practices to engage with virtual worlds and distills learnings from successful and not-so-successful applications to provide a map that will help companies navigate these brave new worlds.

Understand fundamental marketing strategy from the perspective of the consumer. Explore how shoppers infer product quality from such signals as price, place of purchase, product design and packaging and marketing communications. Learn how firms around the globe have successfully used these elements of the marketing mix.

Facebook is not a social media strategy. It is only one tactical solution to a more fundamental strategic issue: How do marketers relate to customers who want to play a much more proactive role in determining the value, and indeed the very meaning, of their brands?