Very succinctly put, Shaun Ching states that Marketing is an art form driven by science. A product manager in a world-leading innovative logistics service company, Shaun talks about the shift away from business' purpose of maximizing shareholder-value to consumer-driven capitalism, and the rise of "prosumerism".
Prosumerism - the progressive consumer- is a modern consumer who searches for the highest quality product that best meets their needs and fits their budget criteria, through researching the product’s value, performance and price through social networks and consumer product reviews.
Are you a progressive consumer?
Shaun Ching
Marketing Specialist Advisor
FedEx Corporation
What site(s) do you have to visit every day for marketing news?
www.bbc.co.uk, www.wsj.com. www.smartmoney.com, www.cnbc.com
What site(s) do you go to at least once a day for fun and inspiration?
www.theonion.com, www.oprah.com
Greatest skill a good marketing professional requires?
Leadership flexibility to adapt strategies in the fast changing pace of marketing environment, and the ability to make fact based decision in ambiguous business situation where few data points are available.
What’s the recent “it” marketing phrase/trend of the moment that you hear almost every day and what does it mean for the industry and marketplace?
Reinvent marketing to steer organization to be customer-manager driven and not product manager driven. Basically it is the customer centric approach to develop customer managers who engage individual customers on narrow segments in two-way communications, building long-term relationships by promoting whichever of the company’s products the customer would value most at any given time. To compete in this aggressively interactive environment, companies must shift their focus from driving transactions to maximizing customer lifetime value. That means making products and brands subservient to long-term customer relationship. And that means changing strategy and structure across the organization-and reinventing marketing department altogether. Transformation of this scale must be driven from the top down. But however daunting, the shift is inevitable. It will soon be the only competitive way to serve customers.
There have been fads in the marketing world. In your opinion, what are recent developments that are here to stay?
The era of the purpose of corporation should be to maximize shareholders’ wealth has shifted. It is a tragically flawed premise, and it is time we abandoned it and make the shift to a third era: customer driven capitalism, where CEOs are free to concentrate on building the real business, rather than be constrained by managing shareholder expectations. The quality of corporate decision making would improve because thinking about the customer forces you to focus on improving your operations and the products and services you provide, rather than on spinning lines to shareholders. This does not mean that you will lose cost discipline, the profit motive will not go away. It means we need to reinvent the purpose of corporation to not fall in the trap of trading long-term gains from temporary gains.
What is essential NOT to do when it comes to your specialty?
Failure to keep abreast of the latest thinking in marketing and business world and stick to the old dogma of how previous marketing successes were formulated.
What’s an imminent hurdle in the marketing world that you think will cause significant changes to the way we market to consumers or businesses?
The proliferation of marketing mediums to reach customers and the rise of prosumerism.
Can marketing ideas travel across continents, countries and languages? Does globalization work or is localization more effective?
It definitely can, with screwed localization tactics to bring the global ideas that can connect with local customers.
Best piece of advice you’ve received professionally or personally?
At the end of the day, one would not cringe on the deathbed and say to oneself: “ How I wish I spend more time at work!”. Career is only a one part of our lives, don’t let it over rule our being.
Growing up what was the first thing you can remember wanting to be?
Newscaster in BBC news
Is Marketing more of an art or more of a science?
It is an art form driven by science.
What is a recent campaign that you admire?
The HTC wants you campaign is brilliant. HTC “Quietly Brillaint” brand positioning focuses on “You”, the consumer. Rather than technical capability or product specifics (yawn, IPad), the “You” campaign trumpets the emotional connections made possible through smartphones. It is a riveting positioning and the television commercials undermine the marketing principle that companies that offer products that complements consumers just the way they were are emotionally more resonating, rather than offer products that will make them a better person – more responsive, better organized, less cluttered.
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