While what customer engagement technology allows brands to do by mining data, and using it to target and create personalised marketing can be fascinating, the truth is that software companies struggle to prove that they aren't dull as dishwater. Thunderhead is doing it's damnedest to do that.
The customer engagement firm's latest ad, created by AMV BBDO, set in a car sales showroom, starts off like a nondescript ad but takes a bizarre left turn and drives straight on into freaky town. A grown man suckling on the nipple of a giant gladiator while the crowd roads “Thunderhead! Thunderhead! Thunderhead!” is not standard fare for software.
Speaking at the CMO disrupt conference in Sydney this week, Jeremy Swartz vice president of Thunderhead Middle East Africa and ANZ, said that marketers and companies are thinking about customer engagement in the wrong way - instead of thinking about it as a selling tool – it should be a problem solving tool.
“People think about customer engagement as simply an opportunity to up sell or a cross-sell – we know who they are what they like, we can sell them some more stuff. And of course people are savvy to that so every time if a brand is touching a consumer, there's a hook – they aren’t going to build trust,” he said.
“Thinking like that is like those people in your life that are always after something for themselves. They don't stay your friends very long. True customer engagement is about genuinely understanding when someone has a problem, and know what the next best conversation is. It s not always about trying to sell them something.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop me a line at rosiebaker@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day. Need a job? Visit adnewsjobs.com.au.