“Winter is here and consumers don't want ads any more,” Recomazing CEO Marc Cowper said at a Vivid Ideas event.
Cowper, who founded the customer experience tool and launched some of Australia’s first social communities on MySpace and Facebook, says adblocking has cost the advertising industry $22 billion and 55% of people aged 25-34 are blocking ads.
“The world hates ads,” Cowper said. He believes this is because brands such as Nurofen, who was recently fined $1.7 million for misleading product marketing, don't deliver on their claims.
“Only 10% of people trust brands,but 84% trust word-of-mouth. Marketers know trust is the number one priority and that word-of-mouth drive sales. But only one in 10 marketers have word-of-mouth strategies,” Cowper said.
He says smart brands are listening to the push back from consumers and creating ways to offer better customer experience and create authentic brand “advocates”.
Cowper referenced Virgin Mobile's campaign that launched in March last year, giving customers the opportunity to roll-over their unused data.
“If you do something better and different to other brands you will create better customer advocacy,” Cowper says.
“Advocacy can be more powerful than advertising. An advocate is five times more valuable than the average customer."
Cowper also commented on the rise of influencer marketing, saying social media influencers are “skin coloured billboards” and their connection with consumers isn't completely authentic.
"Influencers are a media channel. It's basic vanity metrics and it doesn't always connect customers,” he says.
Recomazing launched last year and has so far secured clients including Virgin Mobile, Bauer Media and Open Colleges.
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