It was really interesting to read
Sorrell’s call and Ruth Mortimer notes in Marketing
Week:
“All our instincts as
clients, agencies [and] media owners are to encourage people to consume more –
super consumption.” He added that people had become used to: “The aspiration
that you should consume more; the aspiration that you should have a bigger car;
the aspiration that you should have a number of holidays, bigger houses [and]
multiple houses”.
His point was that marketers
and their agencies need to adopt a new way of thinking to stop this trend of
‘super consumption’ becoming a real problem. In an age of worries about global
warming and limited environmental resources, brands need to behave with
responsibility. He suggested that the days of companies creating items that
would quickly become obsolete could – and should – be numbered.
Sorrell cited Apple as an
example of a brand creating products that consumers quickly jettison in favour
of the company’s newer ones. While nobody can deny that Apple produces
desirable, design-led objects, they do tend to become outdated very quickly.
The company cut the price of its 8GB iPhone model and scrapped the original 4GB
model only two months after launch.
But should Apple really be
worrying about issues such as ‘super consumption’? As the economic climate
worsens, don’t marketers need to keep parting people from their hard-earned
cash? This is especially important when the finance director starts asking
difficult questions about how the company can afford to run TV spots when sales
are being squeezed.
Let’s apply some common
sense. Sorrell isn’t saying that marketers should stop doing their job
properly; this is the man heading an organisation that made pre-tax profits of
£817m in 2007, up seven per cent on 2006. He is a clever businessman and he’s
not suggesting that as spending is curtailed, companies should stop trying to
sell.
Rather, he is picking up on
an important point: any problem opens up opportunities. You can be the company
worrying about what ‘super consumption’ means for you or the one rubbing your
hands together with glee at all the potential new business it presents.
If people are less willing
to buy items in large volumes because they have less money, make a virtue in
advertising of how long your products last. Charge slightly more for them.
That’s good for the landfill sites and good for your sales.
Or what about finding ways
of getting people paying to ‘upgrade’ old products? It shows that you’re
thinking about obsolescence while still offering people the sexy new functions
and features they desire.
You don’t have to do these things, of course. You can fight economic
difficulties by cutting prices and laying off staff. But you can bet Sorrell is
already working out how he will address ‘super consumption’. That £817m profit
last year suggests he’s pretty good at turning his ideas into actions.“
That’s great to read that as powerful man as
Sorrell is standing up against consumption. Great initiative. Great idea. There
is no doubt that our society needs to address those issues. I like Sorrell’s
suggestion about getting people to pay for upgrading the old products. This
could be something that could definitely help solving environmental issues. My
concern is however about the companies’ power to fight against super
consumption. The common belief that all consumers are thoughtless puppets in
the hands of devil corporations. Consumption is the culture. Culture is not
nothing new.
Many centuries ago, Aristotle wrote in
‘Politics’:
“The avarice of mankind is insatiable”
Over two thousand years later Leo Tolstoy
wrote in “My Religion”
"seek among men, from beggar to
millionaire, one who is contented with his lot, and you will not find one such
in a thousand....Today we must buy an overcoat and galoshes, tomorrow, a watch
and a chain; the next day we must install ourselves in an apartment with a sofa
and a bronze lamp; then we must have carpets and velvet gowns; then a house,
horses and carriages, paintings and decorations."
The desire to possess seems to be the part of
our society across centuries. Mankind has known and enjoyed consumption over
centuries. Consumption is not just modern times phenomena, this is something
that has always existed and has it is roots in the social structures; this is
the part of Weber’s stratification process, where status is based on the
economical status and the non economical qualities like honor and prestige. Can
Mr. Sorrell figure out how to change culture that thrived for thousands years?
I doubt so, but his words open the door for the new and better vision. More
responsible vision of doing business that appeals to consumers, who aren’t any
longer only passive recipients of communication from corporations advertising.
Due to technological empowerment, we have a possibility to change the world.
Corporations together with consumers – people. After all we are all responsible
for the society and the world we are living in.
Photo by Fanboy30
