Ideas can be a double-edged sword: Dunachie

While marketers can leverage technology to inspire consumers with ideas and messages, they should do it carefully as today’s consumers are more educated, he added.

Dunachie spoke at the first seminar on Sunday focused on ideas and messages, entitled “The Idea Exchange” during Spikes Asia 2012 on Sunday morning.

“Marketers [who are doing ideas exchange] have to think like editors, as they [editors] understand what makes a good story and what audiences are interested in thinking about and they are plugged into wider debates,” he added.

Ideas hence have to survive in a climate of opinion rather than a world that blindly believes in messages, he said, adding that issue-led and subject-led marketing that allows people to think will be more effective at defining a brand rather than touting a brand/product.

“Marketers have to be clever in sending out messages to consumers and influence how they think. Give people something to think about that define you,” he noted.

Philips, for example, did thought-leadership work in the UK to talk about healthcare on the media in order to create awareness among the consumers of its healthcare business.

An accompanying sidebar explained the reasons Philips is in the healthcare industry, a tactic that has successfully made consumers relate Philips to healthcare.

“Marketers need to get people who are interested in engaging in ideas, dubbed ‘the idea people’,” Dunachie said. “Credibility and trust of what they said is also very important in this cyber world where everything can be found on the Internet.”

Editorial credibility is also very important, as editorial integrity should not be damaged with of being associated with writing direct selling stories for marketers.