Lester Wunderman spoke at the Forrester Marketing Forum. This is what he had to say:
The opening lines of my talk were: "David Ogilvy was famous for creating his agency's slogan: "we sell or else." I went on to say that, in this customer-centric era, we here at Wunderman have moved further ahead by recognizing and proving that "we create relationships or else."
"The business of advertising is to create relationships between buyers and sellers. We used to be in the business of direct marketing – now we’re in the business of relationship marketing." We will eventually move on to personal marketing, which will be facilitated by the use of data.
"Communications used to be dominated by the seller. Today, the hero is the consumer. Advertising used to speak – now they must listen." Marketers need to move from product trial to creating and retaining loyal customers.
Four goals for direct marketing: Relevance, relationship, repurchase, and retention.
Closing thought: “In marketing, as in life, there’s no substitute for imagination or leadership.”