Chris Sutcliffe wrote an article for MarketingWeek titled Mark Ritson: Segmentation is not the prerequisite for success (5 October 2023).
« At the opening session of the Festival of Marketing 2023 Mark Ritson broke down the state of the industry in 2023 – with a particular focus on what it is doing wrong. There are three areas where the marketing industry is spending too much time and energy, and often missing the point, according to Mark Ritson. »
SEGMENTATION
« segmentation of audiences is often “pointless” as there is so much homogeneity in the market. »
« He described the work of agency Ladder on behalf of the financial management app Money Dashboard, which found that the simplest digital display ad was the most effective across all segments. He cited this as evidence that the “overwhelming reality is that the best ad for one audience is the best ad for all audiences”, which “runs against 50 years of marketing thinking”. The agency found this to be true across all its clients, big and small. »
TARGETING
« He noted that for years, particularly during the 2000s, the industry was hellbent on pursuing exclusionary marketing techniques as a result of a fixation upon targeting. »
« The lingering effects of that focus have, at least, led to a recognition that the more targeted a campaign the more prohibitively expensive it is to actually reach those audiences in an effective way. »
« Over the past 10 years, he argued, the industry has gradually moved towards a more mass market approach to targeting, driven by Byron Sharp’s How Brands Grow. It is a recognition that it is much more cost-effective to speak to a mass market for brand building – though he noted that given finite budgets some concessions have to be made. »
« “There’s another problem with sophisticated mass marketing – none of you have got enough money to do it… So what we have to do, and this is a great paradox, we have to slice into the market. Not because we believe in targeting and segmentation. We believe in mass marketing, but we can’t afford to do it. ” »
« “If you look at the book [The Long and the Short of It by Peter Field and Les Binet] when they talk about brand building, the long of it, there is very clearly broad reach, a Byron Sharp style approach. But when they talk about the short of it and activation, they move into a much more targeted world. Two speeds. Everyone for the brand, target segments for activation at the bottom of the funnel… so we kind of have to do both.” »
POSITIONING
« “Positioning is the one area I would impel you to change next year if you want more success. You’ve all lost the fucking plot with positioning.” He argued that no brand has truly unique attributes, and that pursuing the idea of finding a unique selling point was “the biggest 50-year waste of time… we made that the centre of marketing” when in reality consumers have been shown not to care. »
« He argued that the idea of purpose driving profit is a childish and naive way of thinking about intent that gets rolled into the idea of differentiation: “We lost the plot with purpose. The whole point of purpose is that it will cost you… we do purpose because we believe in it. Well-meaning effort led you to a wrong conclusion, that consumers feel the same way about your brand and its centrality in your life in their life. Nobody gives a fuck about your brand.” »
« He said the idea of ‘wear out’ – that consumers eventually tire of marketing messages due to overexposure – is in fact marketers’ paranoia… Most importantly for positioning, he said, brands need to be consistent with their messaging for “at least 20 years” … He cited KitKat as a brand that is successful in maintaining market share because of the consistency of its approach. It focused on getting across a single associated attribute – ‘Have a break’ – across all its messaging, and has a presence in consumers’ minds as a result. »
« “Start saying [fewer] things, say them much more often, say them to everyone. Say them across different media, say them with 60% of your budget, say them with better creative, say them across more than advertising because it’s the weakest of the touchpoints.” »
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