Consumer research critical in times of economic uncertainty- Adebayo
By Abimbola Mohammed
Yinka Adebayo, Group Executive Director at Omnicom Media Group WECA has emphasized that brands and businesses must regularly assess their operations and prioritize researching consumer preferences to effectively meet their needs.
This is particularly crucial in today’s economic climate, where disposable income is shrinking.
The group director added that brands and brand managers must continue to re-invent themselves if they must continue to enjoy enduring patronage from today’s consumers. Such re-invention has to be tailored towards meeting the desired expectations of the consumers.
The media expert made the statement in a keynote presentation at the second edition of MediaConsortium Conference and Awards (MCCA) with the theme: “Meeting the Brands/Consumers Expectation in a Challenging Economy”.
This marks the second edition of MediaConsortium Conference and Awards (MCCA) organized to honor brands and practitioners who have been exceptional in their practice and service delivery.
According to Adebayo, customers are looking to brands to come up with new things and trendy items, if it is not trendy one stands the risk of losing them which will eventually impact the brand negatively. For him, companies must constantly review their activities and give more attention to researching their consumers to be able to meet their needs.
In his words: “In a time when disposable income is shrinking, consumers expect brands to offer more than just products; they seek value, authenticity, and trust. Brands that understand the pulse of their consumers and deliver accordingly will be the ones to thrive.”
Citing an example of how consumers relate with brands that offer more than just products, he made reference to the telecom industry saying: “iphone will continue to be a phone of value to consumers because of the need it is meeting. Hence, you wonder why no matter how expensive the phone brand may be, the makers still make a series of the models which may appear insane that despite buying an iphone 13 one may still want to buy an iphone 14 or 15.”
Differentiating between the marketing and selling concept, Adebayo described marketing as an action taken to bring attention to a business’ offerings; they can be physical goods for sale or services offered, adding that not all businesses need to market their goods and services the same way.
For the selling concept, he noted that this assumes that consumers are looking for aggressive sales and promotions from consumers. He pointed out that many times, marketing tactics driven by the selling concept are based on the company’s need to sell rather than consumers’ need to purchase. Some of the tactics used include clearance sales.
“It may not be a needed purchase, but a consumer can be persuaded with strong marketing or advertising techniques. There is the need to constantly do research- so that you can produce brands that meet the desire of the people. You will have to constantly innovate in such a way that it will meet customers’ expectations.
“Often time they say the customer is king and he is king for a reason. When people say the customer is always right, it is not often they are right- there are cases where the customer is wrong but, how dare you challenge them? Because they hold the money which you are looking for- you value them in such a way that it makes sense” he summed.
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