SEC System - an endangered marketing concept.

Yes, maybe a few years from now we wont be as much in need of the SEC System as we are today. It is a system that has served us well but it is time we get ready to park it in the archives.

Marketing is a social science - it is about people. And, people are a complex system - each person is unique in more ways than one. But, as markets expanded, marketers got distanced from their customers - and gradually each customer just became a statistic in the marketers books. The expanding marketing eco-system then needed a language to transact this statistic and the SEC System evolved. As happens with most transaction currencies, they proper on unity of value and dimish the multi-dimensional acpects of the product itself. Likewise, the SEC System took a very simplified (uni-dimensional) view of the consumer and shoved consumers into some very dark cells of this SEC Grid.

It was also not possible for the marketers to do much different as a collective. Organizations did not have the technology and the resources to manage one-to-one relationships with customers. Every interaction of the brand was a broadcast to a segment of the population. SEC provided a viable method to refer to this population, to group them, to study them and to communicate with them.

For decades we have designed products, services, communication - all for these boxes often caring least about the unique multi-dimensional personalities in these cells. But, gone are the times when the consumer allowed himself/ herself to be confined to these cells. The times are a changing.

Now we are in a connected world. The marketer is no more far removed from the consumer. The consumer is no more a stranger for the marketer. Yes, the mind of the consumer may still be an enigma as always but atleast, the physical presence of the consumer is very well recorded. Today, the marketer at times knows more about the consumer than the consumer himself/ herself. Every day brands are establishing one-to-one connections with the consumers.

When, interacting with other functions of the marketing eco-system such as research or communication companies, brands are lesser and lesser dependent on refering to their consumers by the SEC. The comsumer profiles are far more specific. We already talk of attitudes, psychorgaphics, consumption behaviour, future intentions and so much more. With newage digital technologies of 'tagging' - customer definitions are becoming more and more specific and dynamic. The innumerable tags that today define consumers in the digital world can never fit into a system as simplistic as the SEC.

With the advent of digital technology consumers have now emerged from the SEC boxes and marketers are treating them as real people. Yes, it will be sad to see the SEC system set aside but I am sure this change shall lead the consumers to more delightful products, services and communication that is more human and personal.

Of course! we still turn to candles when the latest tecnology fails and plummets the world into darkness - so also we will always look to the SEC System to throw its frail but guiding light on to consumers as and when we stumble into darkness.

Syndicated Research is not enough

At any media symposium - bashing of media research (and subtly the media research agencies) is always a planned session. While media representatives enjoy detailing without any understanding of the science of media research, how erronours and unrepresentative the research is; the media research users (primarily agenices) reiterate how important it is to consolidate the different researches into one single entity so that they have to buy only one research. The media research agencies on their part just play the victims saying that they could do better if they had more money.

And, it is the same story that I have been seeing for the past 8 - 9 years that I have been around in the media industy. .. but nothing has changed as yet excepting the continuous reduction in the value realization of their product for all.. media research, media agency and media itself.

The media research design that we are currently (very unhappily) using was not forced upon us. At one time it was very relevant and was a game changer and the media agencies based all their methods and practices on the provided metrics. Media developed content to deliver on the metrics so that they could have a high profitability. Media research agencies flourished. But, now 10 years or so have passed and all are unhappy with the state of affairs.

'Access to media' was the variable that was of most importance and all media research delivered that metric. There was no need for any other parameter as media was scarce and differentiation amongst media was not of great consequence. The consumers consumed what media they could get. Today, consumers have immense choice and are consuming multiple media - each in a different manner and for a differenet purpose and 'access to media' information is not enough. For communication planners to reach their desired consumers they need to differentiate between media based on the same variables that are in use for differentiating between brands.

The whole media ecosystem consists of the media, media agencies, media research exists to enable brands to seek consumer and to cater to them. And, an understanding of how media connects with consumers is the vital knolwledge that will enable media professionals build brand communication plans that do justice to the brands that they serve.

Hence, for this ecosystem to prosper the critical question is not if we need one research agency or two (that is best left to the research agencies and market forces to decide). But, the critical question is what data do we need for making relevant and impactful communication plans. The answer to this question will differ across products and brands and so it would be naive to expect some piece of syndicated research to cater to the need of every brand's communication planning.

The brand has the most at stake. If the media research available is not good, ultimately the brands money gets wasted based on media strategies based on sub-optimal media plans. It is therefore for each brand to start looking at ways in conjunction with their media agency and media partners to setup information systems that deliver 'media knowledge' to build their communication plans.

Syndicated research will not be enough for communication planning. The era of syndicated research (or even conventional market research) is over. It is time for brand-dedicated consumer behaviour capture systems to be deployed that will enable the next generation of communication planning.

Think!!