The End Of The Surface Economy

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Here is the Opinion section from the new issue of “Urban Lifestyle Report - New Media” due out later today:

“The End Of The Surface Economy”

For many years, perfect packaging and total (perceived) branding control by companies has ruled the land of marketing. This has become a “truth” that everybody takes for granted, much more effort, measured in both time and money, is spent on polishing the surface of products, services and brands instead of product development, consumer engagement and transparency.

A recent example here in Sweden is our own clothing giant H&M. A big part of H&M’s marketing strategy is inviting well-known designers to create or influence parts of H&M’s clothing line for limited periods of time. Recently some picture of a clothing line by an upcoming guest designer were leaked and plastered all over the Swedish fashion blogosphere.

H&M’s reaction? To hunt down these bloggers and demand that they remove these pictures immediately. Why? Because it was messing with their marketing plan. And the pictures were also not polished enough or displayed low resolution. A spokesperson also claimed that this was bad for consumers since they would have to wait too long before the clothes were actually available in the stores.

Do bloggers and blog readers really care about the resolution of the pictures? And are they really so impatient that they react in a negative way to H&M’s brand because they would have to wait for the clothes?

I think this is a perfect example of old school thinking, which still dominates big brands. I say just focus on designing good looking clothes at the right prices. And don’t forget to do all you can to make it as easy as possible for people to talk, blog and share information about your products.

That’s the new way of marketing and the best way to succeed in the digital era. So forget the old way, there is no sensible direction but forward.

What do you think? Feel free to leave your comments below.

//Tomas Nihlén, Editor in Chief

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