Promising a simple product benefit is no longer enough. The large number of products makes colorful images and slogans easy to drown. Günter Lewald discusses what this means for marketers with other experts in the W&V.

The factual performance of many brands has become almost indistinguishable. Brands that rely on being sustainably successful based only on name recognition will disappear.

– Dr. Günter Lewald, Geschäftsführender Gesellschafter

Drastically put, but what’s the solution? Customers want to participate, to be there – Customer Centricity is the supposed new magic word. This succeeds especially with experiences; and specifically the kind of experiences that put the consumer in the center, interest him and carry him away. This not only generates attention, but also achieves emotional activation. It is important that all touchpoints at which the consumer comes into contact with the brand are taken into account, i.e. that they provide experiences. Especially in the digital world, the channels must be appropriately occupied and cleverly networked. The path almost always leads to the social web: The goal must be “the perfect parallelism of physical and emotional, as well as digital, involvement.”

What’s holding marketers back now?

According to Lewald, this is primarily because media genres are in competition with each other. Every marketer, from TV to print to social media, touts its own channels and formats as the best way to reach target audiences by means of supposedly objectified numbers. Social networks more often focus on performance figures and the possibility of data-driven individual communication. Marketers must therefore not only develop new ideas and approaches, but also rethink the planning process from the ground up.