Bloghound

I’m
a little down after meeting yesterday with a respected chief marketing
officer of a large fast food company. But what I learned was a valuable
reminder about what it takes for change.

“I don’t care about the concepts of community and conversations and consumer relationships,” the marketing exec told me.

“What
matters to me is transactions. Does a marketing tactic connect directly
to sales? If it does, it has value. If it doesn’t, we shouldn’t be
doing it.

“The concept of a having a community for our customers
is nice. So are more viral, entertaining ads. But I’m not sure the
investment is worth it. For one, it would appeal to a limited number of
customers. Secondly, I can’t measure its value in terms of sales.”

The exec pointed to some of Burger King's promotions, like the Subservient Chicken, which got a lot of people talking. But, he added, Burger King's chicken
sales didn't budge. So the money was really, to him, a waste.

While
so many of us see the value of a shift in marketing from “talk at”
promotions to "talk with" conversations, we probably need to remember
that decision makers are reluctant to change without measurement
metrics.We need more proof.

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