402 The Marketing Book
single parent families. In all these situations,
their needs and expectations will be sub-
stantially different from each other, and effective
marketing communications need to recognize
and respond to these underlying changes in
society.
The ageing population
In many countries, the improved standards of
living and better health care have resulted in
two parallel changes. On the one hand, in
order to sustain living standards, people are
deferring having children or are having fewer
of them. On the other, life expectancy is
improving as medical care is enhanced. These
forces have resulted in a progressively ageing
population in most developed markets. And
with it, a change in the values, needs and
wants which consumers exhibit about prod-
ucts and services.
The green imperative
Increasing numbers of consumers are con-
cerned with the environmental impact of the
products and services they consume. The aban-
donment of cfcs, the reduction in the volume of
packaging waste, the consumption of scarce
and irreplaceable resources, and similar factors
have all impacted on the consumer’s percep-
tions of desirable products and services.
No longer is the single focus of their
attention the efficacy or otherwise of the prod-
ucts they might buy. They require reassurance
that not only do the products perform in the
way that they expect, but they also contribute
to a better environment.
The changing face of media and the
growth of narrow casting
The advent of an increased number of media
channels – land based, cable and satellite
television, an increasing number of radio net-
works, and a mammoth explosion in the
number of ‘specialist’ magazine titles – has
resulted in a fundamental shift in terms of
media planning. Where once the advertiser had
to recognize that the use of a chosen medium
might, whilst providing excellent coverage of
the desired target audience, carry with it a
substantial wastage factor, the situation has
now changed somewhat. Consumer groups can
be targeted with a far higher level of precision.
A specific message can be developed to appeal
to a subgroup of users accessed by the nature of
the television programmes they watch or the
magazines they read. And the increasing use of
direct marketing techniques has resulted in the
possibility of one-to-one marketing – where the
proposition can be tailored specifically to
respond to the individual needs of the single
consumer.Mass media advertising dominated marketing
communications for decades; however, the
nineties have seen companies place a greater
emphasis on alternative communications
mediums.
(Lannon, 1996)Most people are aware of the increasing frag-
mentation of media channels. However, per-
haps more importantly, there is a wide variety
of new channels of communication which can
be used by brand owners to communicate with
potential consumers and others – postcards,
mobile Internet, till receipts, fuel pumps,
hoardings around sports grounds and product
placement, to name but a few. Research must be
capable of monitoring the impact and ability of
all of these communications channels to influ-
ence the ‘viewer’.
Franz (2000) argues that the proliferation
of new media adds complexity to the media
landscape, since these new media channels
rarely replace old media. Rather, they tend to
complement each other. What is significant is
the way that media are used. Consumers tend
to be more selective in their use of media, both
because of time and money. The consequence is
that media selection tends to be more specific
than ever before.