The Vanishing Mass Market

www.jagooindia.com In the 1960s, an advertiser could reach 80% of U.S. women with a spot aired simultaneously on CBS, NBC, and ABC. Today, an ad would have to run on 100 TV channels to have a prayer of duplicating this feat. Monolithic blocks of eyeballs are gone. In their place is a perpetually shifting mosaic of audience micro segments that forces marketers to play an endless game of audience hide-and-seek." - Eric Schmitt, Forrester Research, Business Week, "The Vanishing Mass Market", 12 July 2004. Introduction Mass media is a term used to denote, as a class, that section of the media specifically conceived and designed to reach a very large audience. It was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks and of mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. These channels of communication such as books, magazines, adverts, newspapers, radio, television, cinema, videos and Internet, which occupy a central and pivotal role in our lives, and through which messages flow, are produced by a few for consumption by many people. The success of any company depends upon the type of marketing strategy used and there is a direct correlation between the media and its target markets. There are four alternative methods used for defining target markets. They are mass marketing, niche marketing, market segmentation and micro marketing. These techniques can be effective when used properly in the right situation for the right product levels of Marketing Strategies. The various levels of targeting markets are as follows: Level 1 - Mass Marketing Level 2 - Segment Marketing Level 3 - Niche Marketing Level 4 - Micromarketing, e.g., Local Marketing, Individual Marketing Mass Marketing Mass marketing is used to sell a product to a large variety of customers in large amounts. i.e., it involves a single marketing program aimed at large numbers of customers with essentially the same product, promotion, etc. Mass marketing assumes that all customers have similar needs in relation to a particular product. Mass marketing is the opposite of niche marketing, where a product is made specially for one person or a group of persons. e.g.. Henry Ford Model T, Coca Cola, etc. Market Segmentation Somewhere in between mass and niche marketing is market segmentation. This essentially means taking the overall group of customers and breaking them up into similar smaller groups. Products and marketing activities are generally focused on two or more well-defined groups. The market is divided into countless number of complex new market segments based on geographic (urban, rural, region), demographic (age, income, education) and physiographic (lifestyle,

personality characteristics). Each sub-market reacts to something different. Different products and targeting strategies are required for different segments. Thus, using a single mass marketing tool to reach out to the various customers will not work, e.g., automobile companies such as Maruti, Hyundai, etc., follows this type of marketing. They have various models, each catering to a specific income segment of the market. Niche Marketing The opposite of mass marketing is niche marketing. With this technique, a particular group of customers is concentrated on and given specialized attention. Marketing to this group is much focused. This can be a very effective method for smaller companies with limited financial resources. Creating a niche market can be achieved not only with the product, but also with specialized attributes and sePeople are increasingly becoming cautious whether the product is right for him. Customized products make a lot of sense from the consumer point of view when convenience and comfort are the prime motivators. From the marketer's point of view, using mass marketing strategy will not work for such customized products catering to specific consumers. Thus, it is better to save by avoiding mass media and using niche-marketing techniques, e.g., teenagers buying various products for their bikes like four exhaust pipes, gold tire rims, fancy trims, black windows, and neon-lights underneath, etc. Big brands are jumping on the opportunity, after realizing that personalized products form an even closer bond between the consumer, the product, the brand, and the company, e.g., Rolls Royce and Bentley Automobile. Micromarketing Micromarketing tools are fine tuned to allow ever more targeted media, extending the concept of one-to-one marketing over one-to-many or one-size-fits-all. In this new age of micro marketing, it is not size of the audience that matters but the ability to reach and respond to very specific segments of customers. Micromarketing includes a personalized message to each consumer regarding the product, and hence, when done rightly, commands more success and loyalty. Various forms of micromarketing are: Personalized Selling Process It involves identifying the potential customers and approaching them individually. The sales person gives the customer personalized attention by interacting closely with him/her at various stages such as order placement, delivery and after-sales to ensure complete customer satisfaction and repeat business. Direct Mail is in fact a promotional medium. Like all media, it is used to disseminate messages to inform, persuade, and/or remind. Mail Order does its promotion through any medium. It facilitates responses remotely, without direct, face-to-face contact between buyer and seller. Direct Response Advertising is advertising through any medium designed to generate an immediate response that is measurable, such as an order, a request for information / to talk with a sales person, to have a sales person call, to make a donation, etc.

Direct Marketing consists of direct connections with carefully targeted individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer relationship. There has been a tremendous growth in direct marketing due to the following factors: The Internet / Email De-massification - A move toward concentrated / niche segmentation Higher Costs of Driving, Traffic and Parking Congestion Consumers Lack of Time Convenience of Ordering from Direct Marketers Growth of Customer Databases The most important factor in Direct Marketing is the Customer Databases. It is an organized collection of comprehensive data about individual customers or prospects, including geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data. Direct marketing utilizes the various techniques such as Telemarketing, Direct-mail Marketing, Catalog Marketing and Direct Response Marketing. The benefits of direct marketing are: Powerful tool for building customer relationships Can target small groups or individuals Can tailor offers to individual needs Can be timed to reach prospects at just the right moment Gives access to buyers they could not reach through other channels Offers a low-cost, efficient way to reach markets Comparison between Mass Marketing Vs. Micro Marketing Mass Marketing Average Consumer Customer Anonymity Standard Product Mass Production Mass Distribution Mass Advertising Mass Promotion One-Way Message Economies of Scale Share of Mind All Customers Customer Attraction

Micro Marketing Individual Customer Customer Profile Customized Market Offering Customized Production Individualized Distribution Individualized Message Individualized Incentives Two-Way Messages Economies of Scope Share of Customer Profitable Customers Customer Retention

Why Mass Market is Vanishing? Marketing is undergoing fundamental and necessary changes. Conventional mass marketing approaches like sending the same offer to many or all customers at the same time through so many channels is less and less effective. This means that marketers must be able to anticipate what customers will want, when they will want it and through which channel, in order to stay competitive, keep marketing costs under control and increase revenues. The following are some of the reasons that could be attributed to this shift from mass marketing: Growing Digital Media - Today's world is increasingly being defined by the Internet, which is changing the way we market and communicate to customers. Micro marketing provides the ability to target and reach increasingly narrow market segments through new digital media and new digital tools - including e-mail, blogs, wikis, web-casting, pod-casting and RSS, a specification that allows for the sharing of content over the Internet where users can select or "pull" in just the content they wish. These digital media also provide immense capabilities of personalization. For example, the TiVo device available in the US automatically finds and digitally records up to 300 hours of one's favorite shows and programs with pause, rewind and slow-motion features, all while one is out. So a user can conveniently skip commercials, thereby curbing the reach of advertisements. Media is no longer mass-mass but niche-mass - Mass media are no longer mass. Communication channels are exploding and fragmenting (broadcast TV, cable TV, billboards, radio, Internet). Audiences are diminishing. Audiences have more choices, more distractions than ever before. This is proven by the fact that the prime time network ratings and newspaper circulation have been sliding since the 1970s. India being country of vast diversity, media is becoming more and more regionalized. Regional channels have emerged, which enables a marketer to reach a linguistic group through the electronic medium - independent of where he was staying. Markets are becoming more and more competitive - Products within a category are getting less and less differentiated and brands are getting closer and closer and consumers have started to see little difference between brands. Hence, the brands are forced to find newer ways to stand out and connect with consumers. Once, marketers could define their brands for consumers. Make one TV commercial and run it in some top-rating TV shows, so millions of consumers would see it. Job done!! Those days have gone forever. Today, consumers are defining brands, even redefining them. And because consumers experience brands holistically these days, it's not good enough to produce a wonderful TV commercial extolling the virtues of a brand if the claims do not match up to the actual brand experience. Brands get one chance and if they don't deliver, forget it. Especially in this age of the networked consumer, they will share good and bad experiences with their friends. Consumers have the power. They must be shown enormous respect if marketers are to have any hope of them respecting their brands. The moneyed consumers are getting more and more evolved - With greater exposure and experience, customers demand from products and brands to deliver to individual needs and requirements will get greater. And thus the lowest common denominator principle (the basis of mass marketing) will no longer make brands exciting. Shopping is changing - From being a chore to just buy products / brands for the home, it is slowly taking the form of leisure and entertainment. Whether it is done on-line or off-line, consumer behavior at the shopping moment will become more and more critical. Influencing that will be as important as creating the right perceptions for the brand.

Also with the technological advancements; there has been a prolific increase in newer, narrowcast communications from specialized cable programming to cell-phones and PDA's. The Internet has emerged as a very important advertising media. The reason for its popularity as an advertising media is its interactive nature. Thus, due to the wide variety of channels available, with all having there own reach, single mass media to target the entire target consumers may not be helpful. In today's highly competitive environment, businesses and marketers are experiencing diminishing returns on advertising budgets. Response rates for traditional methods receive lower and lower returns and are due to many factors, some of which are: The increase of advertising clutter. The continued fragmentation of mass media. The higher cost of reaching consumers. Lack of reaching customers on a personal level (irrelevant information) The truth about the present America is that the mass market as it has been defined, no longer exists. It is much more heterogeneous across the board. Hence, the key is to having a sustained branding success relevant with the consumer's life. The next question arises is "How do you define "Relevant"? From the "least relevant" way to communicate with a customer through the "most relevant", the varying degrees of relevance is illustrated below using example of a document. It shows the different levels of how you can customize a document: Mass - A "one size fits all" marketing message. Your marketing message is "mass-produced" using conventional methods in large runs and every customer will receive the same message, regardless of their relationship or profitability to your company. Personalized - Each customer's name and address will appear on each document to attract attention but the marketing message is static and exactly the same for each and every customer, regardless of their relationship or profitability to your company. Versioned - Multiple versions of a document are created to meet the needs of different groups, or verticals, in your customer base. Combined with personalization and segmented according to demographic or other attributes, response rates leap, as the piece is much more relevant to the individual's interests. Fully Relevant - Each document's content is fully customized to be highly relevant and customtailored to a specific individual. A full colour document is dynamically composed and everything in the document can be varied - the layout, text and images can all be swapped depending on the customer. Sophisticated charts and graphs can be generated automatically and instantly included in a finished document. Fragmentation is the key driver of this vanishing market and Customization is the new standard. Further, technology is empowering consumers to filter out contact from irrelevant marketers. Hence, the brands need to be more focused in their communications - one-size-fits-all branding approaches don't necessarily work. Another important factor is to recognize the differences amongst larger segments of the population.

McDonald's, Allstate, Procter & Gamble all have recognized this and haves specifically focused on effective communication stemming from a deeper human truth as applied to a brand or category. For success, an in-depth understanding of the audience as well as experience handling brands across time and space (to manage their equity) will be critical. Only with this balance can strategy and executions be highly targeted and on brand. Example: McDonald's originally a mass marketer, adapting itself to tap the huge African American (AA) market with a new campaign. The campaign was developed specifically based on an AA consumer research on McDonald's. The research had pointed out the following facts: More AAs are single moms than any other ethnic group Developed AA Women 18-34 target vs. the Traditional Moms target of 25-49 More value conscious than Married Moms It led to the development of a new target: "Single Moms with Kids" The Need of the Hour Becoming a "remembering" enterprise also provides competitive advantage. It presents the opportunity to build powerful relationships through using the right design interface and remembering customers' individual specifications and interactions. The enterprise can take an integrative approach to competition, linking the individual customer's interactions with previous knowledge of that customer. This information is then used to drive the company's actual production process. Today's customer-oriented business strategies result from a unique convergence of technological developments and social evolution. The Internet gives consumers unprecedented control over the flow of information that reaches them. To survive in the Interactive Age, companies must forge relationships with customers that make it more convenient for a customer to remain loyal than to go elsewhere. The web enables us to dispense complex product or service information, qualify sales leads, complete purchase transactions and perform service tasks. It presents the opportunity to build powerful relationships through using the right design interface and remembering customers' individual specifications and interactions. The enterprise can take an integrative approach to competition, linking the individual customer's interactions with previous knowledge of that customer. This information is then used to drive the company's actual production process. Will the Situation in India Mirror the West? "Consumer satisfaction is passé'. Delight is de-rigueur." Today's consumer wants to be shocked, surprised, and jolted out of the boredom of countless marketers offering him the same utopia. Mass advertising is diminishing in its effect. The customer knows he is the King. Given this backdrop of consumer lassitude, carnivorous competition and shrinking marketing budgets, the challenge for marketers is to get up-close and personal, micro-segment and micro-position their

offering. Necessity and desperation - the parents of invention, have made the marketers try every trick in the book and those on the net. The sheer diversity of India poses a challenge to marketers but also offers enormous opportunity to differentially target and grow select regions and states. As media becomes localized, it is possible to vary the marketing mix by state rather than rely on mass marketing activity alone to build regional brands. This also entails shifting marketing responsibility to operating teams based in the regions rather than run it as a central function from the corporate office. Changing Nature of Trade and Shopper: The relatively homogenous nature of the trade in the country is changing rapidly with the emergence of modern trade in pockets, key accounts in self service formats and consolidation of large grocery outlets. At the same time, we are seeing the rapid mushrooming of outlets due to growth of urban centers. Shoppers and shopping behaviour are being segmented by outlet type. This will have a huge impact on both the scale and type of promotions. Marketers will be forced to design and implement channel based promotions in order to maximize their effectiveness. Rural Markets: While designing promotions, marketers have however treated them as adjuncts of urban centers. As rural markets emerge as the powerhouse for future brand growth, marketing has to be done accordingly to tap this market. Direct-to-Consumer is an emerging channel to approach a select target audience: As consumer needs become sharply segmented and specialized products are available to satisfy them, the use of this channel will explode. Financial institutes in India offer various customized loans to its customers with variables interest rates, pay back options, etc. Promotions in this channel are quite specialized. Direct marketing is increasingly being used by many firms like ICICI, Citibank, etc., via e-mails, calls. Mass Customization has also become a vogue as it is an effective means to incorporate customer feedback into the production process. It involves producing elements of the product or service that can be assembled in different combinations - using customer feedback to identify their individual needs. According to Pine, the mass customizing organization is driven by observing and remembering individual customer requests and comparing those requests to the requests of other customers. Consider a major hotel chain's customization effort. If a customer checked into Taj Hotel in New Delhi and asked the desk clerk for a firm pillow, the staff would make note of that request. When that customer's travels lead to Chennai and checks into Taj again, the customer would have a firm pillow on the bed - even if he/she forgot to request it. In other words, this hotel chain tailors its service individually, based on the learning relationships developed with each customer. Height of personalization in the future could be from McDonald's, placing an order, and reading this on screen: Welcome, Mr. Ram, and thanks for coming in for lunch again. Your order will be ready in two minutes. Touch the Please button and we'll be happy to print out a coupon good for a free Chatpat sandwich or Large Fries any weekday evening in the next two weeks. And, because you've never tried our very popular Cherry Pie dessert, just touch button Four and you'll receive one with our compliments today. Thanks again for coming.

However, one cannot generalize any comment on the success of market entry strategies adopted by multinational premium brands. Several brands have failed whether multinational or Indian and the reason in most cases is not as simple as having targeted the top end of the market! The real mistake is committed if premium brands targeted at a niche in the market have expected mass volumes. Premium brands cater to a specific target group of the market and should expect shares from that target group. At the same time, brands with meaningful differentiators do command a premium over other brands and this has happened in the Indian market too, whether it's cars, footwear or watches. Some MNCs enter the top-end but gradually bring in products (or acquire a brand or a company with brands) targeted at the larger `mass' market. Bacardi, for instance, acquired Whyte and Mackay (Whytehall whisky) to address a larger target group. There are other players who want to upgrade mass consumers by making their brands aspirational and take them up the value curve. There are also players like Kellogg's who are here for the long haul as the brand's task is to change consumer habits. The real issue with the strategies adopted by some of the MNCs was not just about launching high-priced products but about taking the Indian consumer for granted. The attitude of `I know it all' or that `I have a strong brand, which will make consumers just queue outside stores' is what did not work here. Revlon's market entry strategy with its high-priced colour cosmetics and international advertising could not show results and this forced the company to go back to its drawing board to tailor products for the Indian market while L'Oreal's premium-priced hair colour products successfully managed to create the category and the habit amongst its target group. Hence, it would be wrong to assume that just having low-priced products aimed at the mass market is the way to enter the Indian market. While price is an integral part of the mix, the other elements cannot be undermined. We have seen some fast learners in the Indian market too - players who have tailored their strategies as per the realities of the Indian market. They have kept their brands relevant to Indian consumers and created the right imagery as required for a premium brand. Players like Reebok have products at the top-end but are continuously creating products at the entry level to get more and more consumers into their fold. It gets critical then to continue to be aspirational amongst consumers at the top-end who have the purchasing power for the innovative and value-added products. Marketers also have different strategies for introducing top-end products. LG's strategy of promoting its premium, top-of-the-line models like Flatron helps the brand create an imagery of high-end technology. When the consumer discovers an aspirational brand like LG offering TV sets to suit his budget too, he willingly purchases it and is proud to own an LG TV set. The company manages to chase volumes as well as attract the top-end consumer segment. The media itself had created the `multinational' hype and later played a large role in dismissing each and every brand as a failure in the Indian market. The reason in most cases would be its high-priced products. But hasn't this made Indian consumers upgrade to better products, become more discerning? It has also made Indian players upgrade their own packaging, quality and retailing standards. And yes, MNCs have also been forced to create offers, which can make it meet its volume targets, whether at the top-end or in the mass market. Further more...

"P&G's Micromarketing": To reach out to teenagers, it set up a viral marketing unit Tremor. It redesigned one of its products, Always, for the Russian market. For targeting the Blacks in US, it created a separate budget and introduced a product variant (Pantene Relaxed and Natural) for Black women. Through packaging (information both in Spanish and English) and direct mailers, it targeted the Hispanics. "LG: Rural Marketing in India": For serving the spread out rural markets better, it opened more than 60 Remote Area Offices (RAOs) and put in place more than 2,500 service personnel. On the product front, it launched color television sub-brands (Sampoorna and CinePlus), semi-automatic washing machines and refrigerators at affordable prices and with customized features. Its other initiatives included road shows and demos. As a result of its rural marketing moves, 60% of its turnover came from semi-urban and rural areas in 2003. "Allen Solly's Foray into Western Wear for Indian Women": Madura Garments extended its brand to western women's wear. Its initiative was the first attempt in India to offer readymade western wear for women. A pre-launch study revealed that though Indian women liked to experiment with western wear, they did not have access to styles that suited them. Madura recruited an international designer to offer specialized and modern styling to suit Indian women. After test marketing in Bangalore, the exercise was rolled out nationally, with promotions (fashion shows and direct mailers) and even exclusive outlets. With this attempt opening up a new segment, competing brands Raymond's, Wills and Indus League also ventured into this business. Every advertisement, may it be Pepsi that features Shah Rukh Khan in the north, while Madhavan and Surya in the South, Thumps-up that features Akshay Kumar in the north while Chiranjeevi in AP, and Head & Shoulders features Shahid Kapoor in the north while Madhavan in the south, regional customization is being increasingly evident. FMCG major HLL took a break away from conventional mass media advertisement to launch its new Clinic Plus Hair Fall Defense shampoo through the guest appearance of its brand ambassadors John Abraham and Bipasha Basu on the Ranbhoomi episode on Sony Channel's Fame Gurukul. With the brisk growth in GSM subscribers in India touching a figure of 58.7 million and the number of online users touching a figure of 28 million, online and mobile phones are soon poised to be important communication vehicles. Further, the Indian online market could touch upto Rs.162 crores by March 2006. Recently, Cadbury India chose the online medium to complement its "Pappu pass ho gaya" (Pappu has passed). Pepsi also recently previewed its Shah Rukh Khan 'Sapera' (Snake charmer) campaign online before taking it to the TV while arch-rival Coca-Cola created a promotional blitzkrieg around Vanilla Coke launch on its website. "The convergence of million consumers and digital media, providing the access to rich media content and services from the internet making it a very potent medium for advertisers," says Jasmeet Singh, VP - Product Marketing, Rediff.com Micromarketing through Internet is picking up the heat due to following reasons: 1) Most of the Internet users are young and prefer to read about the product online before making a purchase decision. This facilitates "extended dialogue" with the viewers. For instance, against an average dialogue window of 30 seconds in traditional media, Net advertisements can provide an extended dialogue of six minutes including the time taken to do research, download information, leave behind their information and conclude a transaction.

2) Online advertising provides a 24X7 access to information. Besides, it is the customer who decides which advertisement to watch and hence offers a better penetration and conversion. 3) Micromarketing through Internet might prove cheap as unlike a 30 second spot on any of the popular serials or during an important cricket match could cost upwards several lakhs, a onemonth banner ad on homepages of popular websites can vary from Rs..1 Lakh to Rs. 25 Lakhs. 4) Further, online medium enables accurate tracking of the viewer response as the returns are calculated based on cost-per-impression (how many times the ad is noticed on the site), cost-perclick and cost-per-conversion. Also, the spending on interactive medium has witnessed significant growths with financial services companies allocating as much as 2.5% of their budget on net advertisements. This year the industry expects, that some of the sectors such as consumer durables, financial services and FMCGs to spend upto 4% of their budgets on this medium. Going forward, search ads (from Google, Yahoo, Search.com, Ask.com) would gain prominence as they allow companies with smaller budgets to reach out to targeted set of customers in a more focused manner. It has been noted with the burgeoning IT industry, more and more software professionals log on to the net to check out various brands, their specifications and prices before hitting the street for the actual purchase. Of course, a majority of Indian consumers still visit stores and chat up with sales representatives or gather product information from relatives and friends, but a growing number of people are sifting millions of pages online before making purchase decisions. According to the Internet Association's Desai, no other form of communication comes close to turning exposure to promotion into immediate customer action as Internet, which allows customers to make purchases immediately after experiencing a promotion. Prior to Internet, the most productive call-to-action was through television "infomericals" that encouraged viewers to call toll-free phone numbers. However, moving customers from a non-active state (i.e., watching TV) to an active state (i.e., picking up the phone) is not nearly as effective as getting people to click on an Internet advertisement while they are actively using the Internet. The height of the convergence is companies are beginning to experiment different models for enhanced brand recall through "Advergaming" that involves connecting consumers with brands and companies through games on Internet or mobile phones. Coke's association with Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai starrer, Kuch Na Kahon where the company's site carried movie specific content, sneak peeks, games and downloads yielded more than seven million people visiting the site during that period. Unlike other media such as TV where viewers generally multi-task, an estimated 93% of netizens engaged in gaming session prefer to concentrate on the task at hand. This makes advergaming an effective way to communicate with people. Currently, the business of Internet advergaming is still small in India and is pegged at Rs. 1.0-1.5 crore per annum unlike its potential world wide that stands at Rs. 1000 crore business. Already, various Indian market communication firms like WPP are offering advertises to exploit tactical micro-marketing opportunities at some of the most vibrant fairs and festivals of India like Pushkar Mela, Rajasthan (October-November); Gwalior Trade Fair, MP (December-January); Maha Kumbh, Nasik, Maharashtra (July to September); Nehru Boat Race, Alapuzha, Kerala

(August-September); Sonpur Mela, Bihar (November-December); Magh Mela, Allahabad, UP (January-March); Nauchandi Mela, Meerut, UP (March April). They also offer Audio-video visibility through commercial time, shows and spots. Visibility on mela ground through screen branding and mela gates, hoardings, kiosks, vinyl banners. Visibility enroute to mela through hoardings at bus and train stations. Increased brand consumer contact through contact programs by sales boys. Research to determine run on investments (efficiency study and customized research). The increased effectiveness of such micromarketing exercises has been reinforced by the following data provided by IMRB International.

Category Mela Promo Efficacy ---

Details

Pushkar Fair, Rajasthan

Participation in adv Reach of Dialect

Sonpur Gwalior Kumbh Nauchandi Mela, Trade Fair, Mela, UP Mela, UP Bihar MP

74%

925

78%

67%

64%

32%

38%

21%

11%

27%

Market potential and spending capacity

Total spends in Rs million

123

250

2500

1500

230

---

Purchased / person (Rs)

358

524

3512

156

256

Conclusion The Indian market would follow the west with the mass marketing giving way to micromarketing in the near future with the buyout economy, increased per capita income, increased literacy and increased influence from the west. Customization of advertisements and products through different packaging, flavor, etc., is already existent but increased customer personalization would be the order of the day soon. Hence, the marketer has to gear up to: Recognize and identify the micro communities within his target group Build up a solid database of the target group comprising of their needs, buying behavior and characteristics Embrace digital media and use it to the fullest extend to micro-communicate Design products and communication in keeping with their expectations

Use the available 'niche mass' media to reach these micro communities Put in place a 'strong customer feedback system' to keep the customer database up-to-date and delight customers with "apt customization" Be prepared in the long run to actually address each consumer as an individual (as databases build up and develop) Respect customer privacy