FMCG brands need to use social media to engage housewives - Ankit Prasad

Philip Kotler pointed out sixty years ago that the ultimate aim of marketing is to create a product so accurately matched with the consumer needs that it should not require any promotion at all. The functional benefits of the product will sell it themselves. However, if hundreds of companies do a great job with the functionality of the product, ‘who will sell’ becomes an interesting question to ask. Brands, over the decades, have tried to overcome this challenge by attempting to satisfy the needs very few consciously know they have, their latent or unstated needs. Marketing has tried to dive deeper and deeper into the consumers’ psyche and has tried to appeal to the most elementary of human needs, those of affection and connection. It has also tried to be as big a part of the consumers’ daily life as it can. Hence, what helps the product sell is not a monologue of the functional benefits of the product, but the conversation between the brand and consumer.

Thanks to social media, there has never been an easier way to have this conversation. Never has it been easier to listen to the customer, promote your brand, measure the results and modify your strategy in real time. The WOM and earned media generated by an effective social media campaign can do wonders for the brand.

With more and more housewives moving on to social networks, it is a great opportunity for marketers to empower them through their campaigns. What Ariel did with ‘My Story, My Ariel’, in my opinion, will remain etched in the consumers’ minds for a significant period of time.