The annoyance economy
Tash Walker
Founder The Mix, IPA 2017 women of tomorrow finalist, ex-Chairman The Marketing Academy Alumni, business leader, public speaker
“You’ve got a kid, come sponsor another one.”
This was a chugger on the street on 6th avenue, NYC last week, who also tried to physically block my way as I was taking my daughter to see the Christmas lights on the Macy’s building.
Don’t get me wrong, after blocking my path he was super charming in trying to illicit my cash. But the game was always going to be a bust.
I hate being accosted everywhere by charities:
In the street. At my front door. In the mail. Via email. Text message. Phone call.
If they popped up in my bed whilst I was sleeping, at this point I wouldn’t be that surprised.
Charities need our money, lord knows governments aren’t doing a great job of taking care of the ills of society, but their methods are terrifyingly short term-ist.
Berate people for cash, then hound them for more because they’ve already given some right?
Its classic loyalty marketing nonsense.
“Charities have become notorious exponents of the loyalty approach to marketing. This says that the easiest way to make money is to screw more of it out of existing customers.”
Les Binet & Sarah Carter, How Not to Plan
And this isn’t just charities. The general state of affairs, media narratives, up and down economy, broken governmental promises and conflicts are all giving birth to a disillusioned consumer.?
We are all living in fairly paradoxical times which can be hard to make sense of when you are a consumer of goods.
You cannot avoid bad news: From global instability, war, the threat of future pandemics, cost of everything going up, public services on their knees etc.
Yet most people are spending more: Consumer sentiment is up, credit card spend is up, premium & luxury brands are having their best ever years.
So we are being constantly bombarded by bad news, going from one crisis to another with no real solutions offered and little confidence in what’s coming next, and yet whilst the world is burning, a lot of us are:
·?????? Buying LuluLemon jogging pants for $128[1]
·?????? Or going on expensive holidays. (the total revenue from leisure travellers spent on luxury hotels in the US is?expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.2% between 2021 and 2024)[2]
The feeling that dominates is that someone (or everyone) is not being honest with us.
That there is a big con going on and someone else is benefiting.
From horse-gate, to big tech being hauled in front of Congress, to food scandals resulting in multi-billion dollar lawsuits, there is a pervading feeling that big corporations and governmental institutions might not have our best interests at heart.
?All this gives rise to a disillusioned, skeptical consumer who:
??????? Doesn’t believe what brands say
??????? Feel cynical about being sold to
??????? Disengages from shopping by going online
?I read somewhere online recently that the hallmark of being a successful person is now someone who can avoid marketing by using adblockers wherever possible.
And quite frankly, to avoid insanity you’ve gotta try and avoid some of it.
Digital marketing experts estimate that most Americans are exposed to around?4,000 to 10,000 ads?each day most of which go completely unnoticed.
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What must go hand in hand with this, is the often short-term-ist nature of digital marketing. The ability to measure clicks and impressions creates an irresistible urge to chuck more and more budget at tactical not strategic marketing. In the short term it looks great.
But how often are people measuring the cost of the short term impression against the longer term effect on being annoyed as hell?
I for one would like to be part of an industry that doesn’t just trade on being an irritant.
Mum: “I never did work out exactly what you did for a living”
Me: “Oh you know just spend time helping brands work out how to annoy you for a living.”?
It’s why we continue to see the rise in peer to peer reviews as being more and more critical in helping consumers navigate the choppy waters of buying something.
Indeed, Nielsen found that consumers were 77% more likely to buy a product if their friends recommended it. And whilst we are at it McKinsey & Co reported that word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20-50% of all purchasing decisions.
Ironically McKinsey themselves are embroiled in multiple lawsuits in multiple markets over conflicts of interest, their role in the Opioid scandal amongst others.
?So who can you trust? Your mates. Mates of your mates.
TikTok?
?Basically yes. One study indicated that in the influencer channels, 91% of influencers were now described as ‘micro-influencers’ (those with fewer than 100k followers) in 2022. [3]
As proven by Ehrenberg Bass countless times, and described by Byron Sharp in ‘How Brands Grow’, brands need the really big stuff. They need the big famous campaigns that entertain and drive awareness. They need reach.?
But in a world where everyone is on the make and it’s likely that even your most favourite brand will probably shaft you at some point to make a quick buck, they probably also need the really small stuff – the advocacy of the many, garnered by the trust of the people closest to you.
And please, stop being so bloody annoying.
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[1] The company's $2.2 billion in net revenue was up 18% year-over-year.1?Gross profit was up 23% compared to a year ago, at $1.3 billion. https://www.investopedia.com/lululemon-upped-guidance-chinese-demand-7964743#:~:text=The%20company's%20%242.2%20billion%20in,year%20ago%2C%20at%20%241.3%20billion.&text=The%20strong%20growth%20was%20primarily,international%20revenue%20growth%20of%2052%25.