I recently read an article on Forbes.com by my colleague Joshua-Michéle Ross about the implications the ability to scan bar codes with a cell phone have on “how we design and market products.”
Bar code and QR code scanners on phones are not new. In fact, I blogged about them last January. But just like all technology, their uses are ever-changing.
Ross wrote about RedLaser, an iPhone app that works “just like the scanners at the checkout (you know, the ones with the red laser),” according to its Web site. On the site, its developers, Occipital, LLC, claim RedLaser can “do all sorts of cool things,” like check online prices for a DVD player and scan movies at the store and beam them to your TiVo.
But that’s not what struck Ross. Instead, he was more interested in what this means for products and consumers. He asked:
- How long before we can scan any food product and know more about its ingredients than the misleading label tells us?
- How long before every in-store customer seamlessly moves online to the vast Internet marketplace to find the rock-bottom price and bargain with the store manager?
- How long before every product will disclose to us not only the things the manufacturer would like us to know but also all the things they may not like us to know, such as how the device was manufactured (toxic materials?), by whom (child labor?), where (mostly offshore) and so on?
As I was reading this article, I got to thinking about how phone applications like RedLaser will change the way we engage with consumers, so I had a chat with Ross. Here’s what I learned from him:
Flex Planning
Lighting fast mobile conversations create the opportunity for companies to interact with customers immediately instead of pushing out pre-planned messages that were developed in advance. This will transform the way we do business planning. The C-suite will always want and need plans, but with constant monitoring of the conversation and pulse of their stakeholders, soon executives will be required to spontaneously course correct and modify or change their plans mid-stream. Are today’s MBA programs ready to train for future expectations?
Corporate Social Responsibility
The ability to quickly answer all manners of questions means customers will soon be able to decide in real time whether they like what a company stands for or how a product is made. If every aspect of the company is discoverable by its consumers, companies will be forced to “do good” in order to “be good” in customers’ eyes. It will be a must for companies to be honest, authentic, transparent, ethical, moral (not just legal), empathetic and compassionate – just as individuals must behave this way to sustain a marriage or a friendship over a lifetime. Because business is becoming social, social responsibility will become a must. Are corporate policies and standard operating procedures ready to be truly social?
Intangibles/Connecting to Ideas
If consumers will soon be able to haggle with sales people because they know the rock bottom price, then companies will be faced with having to offer more intangibles in order to maintain their brand position. They will have to move beyond just selling products to making their products the gateways to experiences. According to Jim Gilmartin on mediapost.com, “product centered marketing is dead, say Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore in ‘The Experience Economy.’ Like many others, Pine and Gilmore say marketing is now more about the customer experience than the product.”
Companies will have to move beyond the quest for gaining material goods to address the need for relationships, gaining knowledge and growth, rejuvenation and recreation, and the pursuit of meaningful experiences. Companies will move from being sellers to being facilitators. Are companies really ready to make it all about the consumers instead of all about the product?
Real Insight
Soon your personal data, location, product searches and even your exposure to ambient advertising will be captured via your mobile device and sent back to advertising data-marts to help profile you for future advertising. Companies will have the ability to know what you are doing, what direction you are heading, how you move through your day – and gain better insight into how you actually behave – not just how you say you behave in traditional focus groups. Do corporate researchers know how to translate behavior and insights and turn them into ROI?
Join me tomorrow for more on what this means for communications, business and innovation.
– Kathie
Well put Kathie! I especially resonate with the comment “Do corporate researchers know how to translate behavior and insights and turn them into ROI?” I find that doing the research, design, engineering, etc is very different from being able to translate between them. Most companies aren’t set up to facilitate this translation even if they have people who can cognitively do it.
I also love the points about how consumers will be able to find out both rock bottom prices and how products are made. This will work to the company’s advantage as well as the consumer’s. For example, if a company can’t offer a rock-bottom price because they won’t use child labor, then the consumers will be asked to make a very transparent, values-based decision, and companies can better serve the needs of the consumers who choose them.
That is a great point, which I hadn’t thought of! It is truly imperative that companies follow responsible practices because I too think consumers will be willing to pay more for products that were made in safe and sustainable way. It will be those companies that win in the future. So glad you shared!