Learning from the "Occupy" Movement: The importance of beliefs that connect consumers

Marketing is about engaging consumers. Or is it? Sometimes consumers can lead the process of engagement by becoming activists for a cause, an idea or a need. Today, marketing has shifted from “mass marketing” to “social marketing” to a new frontier I like to call “social activist marketing”. Some brands such as Lululemon have tapped into this emerging concept.

A teaching moment for marketers The Occupy movement is different and could potentially become a teaching moment for marketers. As you see in the video below, produced on the one month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, most protesters don’t know where the movement is going or what it should achieve. And yet they are united by common themes and beliefs.

According to posts on Wikipedia, "The original protest began on September 17, 2011, and by October 9, similar demonstrations were either ongoing or had been held in 70 major cities and over 600 communities in the U.S. Internationally, other "Occupy" protests have modeled themselves after Occupy Wall Street, in over 900 cities worldwide. A catchy 1% and 99% slogan certainly helps (My favourite- "The 1% have Addresses. The 99% have Messages"). There is even a claim that the protests were initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters. Elevating the conversation

One lesson that resonates with me is the importance of elevating your conversation with consumers. Find a big theme that is above a specific need, want or desire. The theme represents a deep insight about a belief that needs to be unearthed. It is rare that campaigns dig that deep. Most focus on insights, benefits and product features. Our research indicates that campaign ideas that have withstood the test of time are based on basic beliefs that connect a group of consumers.

Merril Mascarenhas

Tags: Advertising, Branding, Social Media