Why Is This A Surprise?

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This is conniption-worthy. How can the CEO of the second-largest marketing company claim that there are major changes taking place in media due to emerging media like the Internet, "and we don't understand the speed and scale at which they're taking place."?

It's not like all of this happened overnight. Sir Martin, you've had a dozen years' worth of warning shots. How can you claim to not have a clue what to expect?

You've certainly known for years that new media was eroding television, print and radio consumption. (Incidentally, television didn't need the Internet to continue its yearly ritual of charging more for less. The Internet just accelerated that trend.)

You might have sighed with relief when the Internet bubble burst, but we all knew (and warned the world) that the medium wasn't going away. And it didn't. And you've had a few years since the bubble to reflect on this.

So quit pretending this snuck up on you overnight.

Test for Echo

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Yes, it IS possible to live in an echo chamber when you depend on blogs for your information. Diversity of sources is key. Case in point, many of the conservative blogs are reporting that $150K of Oil For Food money has been found in George Galloway's wife's bank account. What do we find on liberal blogs? A refutation? A contrary opinion?

How about not a damned thing? That's right. Such a thing is completely absent from the liberal blogs I read. Which is why it's important to realize the bias inherent in one's sources and try to balance it out with some contrary opinions and biases. From the marketplace of ideas will rise the truth, but only if the marketplace is a true marketplace.

Could Loyalty Make a Comeback?

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There's a whole other angle to this week's Spin. Check out the responses on the Spin Board. (Registration required) If you're a marketer like me, think about all the complaints you've heard from clients about customer loyalty, price sensitivity and churn. Heck, I know of several businesses where churn is the marketing guy's number one concern. And many businesses would have a much better business if they were able to hang on to customers for any significant length of time.

Take the automotive category, for instance. Lots of older folks I know are loyal to a particular brand of automobile, and are often loyal to a specific dealership, to the point where they'll tell their friends something to the effect of, "Go to George at Riverhead Dodge and he'll hook you up" when a friend is looking to buy a new car.

But for many, especially younger folks, that loyalty doesn't exist. All research for a new car purchase is done online, and the dealer that can offer the lowest price gets the business. This price sensitivity is putting pressure on many categories of consumer goods, particularly considered purchases like travel, consumer electronics, computers, and much, much more.

But would price be the determining factor in a purchase if companies actually listened?

Personally, I'm willing to pay a few hundred dollars extra on a car purchase if I know the dealership isn't going to jerk me around with regard to service or follow-up. If dialogue helps me get more familiar with a particular personality at a dealership, or if it puts me more at ease, I'm more likely to pay a premium for dealing with someone I know and trust.

So can meaningful participation in dialogue be the differentiator that helps markets from becoming commodities? Can customer loyalty make a comeback? What say you?