Today’s consumers are fully empowered to consume media on their own terms. That includes bypassing traditional mediums and skipping past or tuning out advertising. Reaching today’s incredulous consumers will require more than new media. It will require a consumer-focused approach and an extra dose of respect.

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In 2004, O’Reilly Media helped coin the term ‘Web 2.0’ to refer to a second generation of web-based communities, applications, and services designed to put the consumer in the driver’s seat. O’Reilly C.E.O. Tim O’Reilly cited the central principle of success in Web 2.0 as “applications in harnessing the collective intelligence of users.” Over the last four years, user generated content such as blogs, wikis, and social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have empowered the consumer to have his say and publish his opinion to the world. Consumers have embraced this newfound power. Enter a product name into your favorite search engine and you’ll likely find hundreds of personal product reviews written by real customers who purchased the product. Was the product well made? Was it worth the price? Did the company provide good customer service? It’s all there for millions to read.

The new empowerment consumers have experienced with Web 2.0 is congruous with the control many consumers have been seeking over their entire media experience. For decades, people have been looking to new technologies and services to help them consume media on their own terms. Tivo, iPods, Video on Demand, and even peer to peer networks have enabled the end user to watch what they want, when they want, and avoid unwanted advertising. While today’s consumer still watches ads, and may even seek out the really entertaining ads, she’s more empowered than ever to zap the nefarious ones.

It’s time for marketers to implement a second-generation approach when engaging the consumer. We already have Web 2.0. I propose ‘Respect 2.0’. It’s a new philosophy that recognizes that the consumer is now in control. In order to get a message under the consumer’s advertising radar, marketers must come to the table with a relevant message and a credible, respectful presentation. Respect 2.0 doesn’t require any expensive new software or flashy technology. It just requires that as marketers, we put ourselves in the shoes of the consumer to see life from her perspective, and that we then respond accordingly. The same year that the phrase Web 2.0 was coined, Proctor and Gamble Chief Marketing Officer Jim Stengel told the audience at the AAAA Media Conference, “All marketing should be permission marketing. All marketing should be so appealing that consumers want us in their lives”. That statement is a cornerstone of the philosophy of Respect 2.0.

Listening = Respect

Perhaps the best way for marketers to develop marketing that respects the consumer is through becoming better listeners. J. Crew’s CEO Mickey Drexler spends time almost every day visiting his company’s stores and chatting up customers. He incorporates much of their feedback into the clothing retailer’s business strategy. Drexler follows up with customers he meets in store and lets them know that their opinions – both positive and negative – are important.

Charles Schwab leverages online communities to hold conversations with a diverse group of constituents, from day traders to high net worth individuals. Diane Hessan, president and CEO of Communispace, the company that facilitates Schwab’s online communities, says that this intelligence has really paid off for the financial services provider. “Communispace created an online community of Millennials (people now in their late 20s and early 30s) to learn about their financial dreams, fears, frustrations and thought processes. During one exchange in the community, the members were asked to critique a prospective ad campaign talking about Schwab's 'no load’ mutual funds. The community's first response spoke volumes: 'What’s a load?’”

Schwab used the findings to retool their marketing for Millenials and started offering a ‘high-yield checking account’. Within the first few months after launching the new product, the Millenials opened 65,000 accounts with Schwab. After one year, the number of Millennials doing business with Schwab increased by 40%.

By better understanding consumers’ preferences, attitudes, and even their vernacular, marketers can develop more effective, more respectful brand messages.

Situational Relevance

With the sheer volume of advertising out there, in all its various forms, the consumer has become extremely adept at filtering out and ignoring anything that isn’t personally relevant. So what makes an ad relevant? Significant factors include the context of the exposure combined with the need state of the consumer. Search marketing helps facilitate decision making for consumers when they are seeking advice. Retail media can perform a similar function. In a 2004 Arbitron study, researchers polled people in grocery and drug stores in which in-store audio advertisements were played. Seven in ten people who recalled hearing the ads while shopping found the messages to be ‘very or somewhat helpful to their shopping experience’. Perhaps that’s because the messages were situationally relevant. How many people do you think would classify the average TV commercial as being ‘very or somewhat helpful’?

'I Don’t Get It’

The average person is exposed to thousands of ads per day. As competition for the consumer’s attention increases, only ads with a clear proposition and laser sharp product focus will get through. Unfortunately, some ads are so circuitous in their logic and the creative platform is so removed from the product that the consumer would likely have to read the entire creative brief and see several sets of storyboards to understand what the advertiser is trying to get across. A proposition pretty far removed from the 1.2 seconds that most consumers are willing to invest in an ad. The lesson? Leave the complex plot lines to independent filmmakers and focus on the straight-forward proposal.

If non-intrusiveness and permission based marketing are part of your brand mantra, you’ll find it more challenging than ever to find places to advertise. Magazines that once adhered to strict standards barring intrusive ads have now lowered the bar, allowing bindings to be jammed with discs, ‘spectaculars’ (those thick paper displays), even fold outs that play audio. TV networks, having taken a cue from pop-up ads on the web, are experimenting with all sorts of on-screen banners, bars, and translucent overlays promoting everything from Chrysler mini-vans to snack cookies. Nothing ruins a viewer’s enjoyment of a tender love scene in her favorite drama than to see one of the Cro-Magnon stars of the show ‘Cavemen’ walk across the bottom of the screen. Even new media, that once held the promise of a more meaningful user experience, is now proliferated with advertisers that miss the mark. Some companies try to seed social networks to push their brand rather than nurturing true brand advocates who will respectfully testify to their favorite brands.

Perhaps you’ve heard that ‘you’re judged by the company you keep’. The same applies to brands. On advertising mediums where many ads are perceived as irrelevant or unnecessarily intrusive, consumers will have their defenses fortified more than usual. That’s why it’s imperative that you advertise where neighboring brands share your ‘consumer focused’ values.

Context of media consumption

Respect-based marketing takes into account the context in which the marketing message is being presented. While tuning in to morning drive time radio, the average listener may be showering, getting dressed, driving to work, and dodging traffic. Perhaps it’s raining during the commute and the windshield wipers and defroster are on. With all the environmental distractions, how well will the listener be able to follow a commercial with nuanced sound effects, multiple characters, and an involved plot line? Throw in a ten-digit phone number and you have a prescription for anonymity.

Similarly, billboard advertising with microscopic text and ornate lettering also fails to contemplate the plight of the daily commuter. By simply walking a mile in the consumer’s shoes, we can create marketing that better resonates with the end user.

Respect their Personal Information

A recent Berkeley study indicates that 85% of people object to behavioral tracking by websites. Facebook’s misstep of publicizing the purchases of their users, often much to the users’ chagrin, is a clear case of misuse of customer data. When the consumer places her trust in you, respect her wishes for privacy.
‘Be’ The Consumer.

When was the last time you grabbed a shopping cart and walked the aisles to experience your product in context? When did you last call your company’s customer service line or visit your company’s website to try navigating through it as a busy consumer would? Too often, as marketers, we get too close to the product and the marketing and fail to understand the experience of the end user. The philosophy of Respect 2.0 dictates that regard for the consumer should extend past the marketing message and to every aspect of the consumer’s experience with your brand. Who is your company’s designated consumer experience advocate?

Respect the Voice of the Consumer

Several decades ago advertisers had much more control over how their product was positioned. Today, if a consumer wants to get the real scoop on a new product, he or she only needs to hit a few blogs or forums to read real stories of people who have purchased the product. Doc Searls summed it up nicely in “The Cluetrain Manifesto”. “Instead of fake, artificial commercial messages people can now get real life comments from peers on anything they want”. This means that today, your marketing message isn’t just competing against other marketing out there; it’s competing against the widely circulated opinions of your satisfied (or dissatisfied) customers. In 2005, Jeff Jarvis posted a blog entry about his recent purchase of a Dell notebook and the horrendous customer service he received. When other angry Dell clients weighed in, it started a chain reaction that lead to the story being picked up in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, and resulted in a drop in Dell’s stock price. Who says one person can’t be a catalyst for change. Don’t underestimate the power of the consumer.

No Brand Exists in a Vacuum

To some extent, as marketers, all of our ships rise and fall on the same tide. So how do we collectively improve the advertising experience for the consumer? Perhaps by forming a coalition of like-minded marketers and setting up some by-laws that further the cause. By abiding by a set of consumer-focused marketing guidelines, marketers could ensure that all communications would respect the consumer’s time, intelligence, and desire for relevant information. Similar to the ‘Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval’ a ‘Consumer Respect’ seal of approval could be used to signal a brand’s commitment to the ‘greening’ of the advertising environment.

The consumer has become highly adept at filtering out unwanted advertising. Marketers who view new media as a new vehicle to deliver the same rodomontade will learn a hard lesson. When deluged with the same pap, consumers simply turn the filters up even more. The key to getting through to today’s advertising weary consumer can be summed up with one word: “respect”. Saying it is easy. Delivering on the promise requires work and diligence.