By Robert Wheatley

In the era of media convergence, consumers are thinking AND feeling

Here at the World Marketing Federation Friday Night Smackdown we have in one corner Dr. Logic, the muscular godfather of analysis with paralysis. And on our right the Love Machine, the master mesmerize-er who’s hypnotic, phermone-like mind manipulation powers draw in opponents as in bees to honey. Who will reign supreme?

Marketers may be quick to jump to feelings and emotion as the default filter consumers use to process brand preference, while management may see it as a hardnosed evaluation based on the indisputable facts arrayed around asserted superiority in product features, benefits and formulations.

New theory: it’s both.

We are living in a digital world. The convergence of media and technology has leveled the playing field between consumer and brand. Witness the new application now in development that will allow consumers to scan barcodes with their mobile phones and instantly retrieve company background, pricing and citizen reviews of the products they’re considering. Mind-numbing detail is now available anytime, anywhere about brands, reputations, good works, bad behaviors, satisfied customers or indignant naysayers.

Search engines, pricing aggregators, blogs, review sites, communities all work in tandem to strip away the artifice and lay bare the reality of products and services. On the other side is ample evidence that the sheer over-choice consumers are exposed to from the vast sea of marketers working to gain their favor has forced a near shutdown in rational processing. Why? Because there are just too many products, messages and too much media clutter chasing everyone. And thus too much work required of the brain to keep track of it all.

We know, for instance that even when consumers are confronted with blind taste tests that consistently confirm their preference for Pepsi over Coke, once in the presence of brand name and packaging the taste bud facts fall apart. Coke outsells Pepsi by 50 percent in the US alone — and you can’t lay that off to distribution advantages.

Well what do we know about consumers?

They are skeptical

They want, no demand, credible proof of marketer assertions

They believe others before they believe corporate messages

Brands must be relevant and meaningful to their lifestyles

They have access in real time to inside and external info about brands

They increasingly yearn for control in an uncontrollable world

Technology allows consumers to avoid messages they don’t want

The Internet is the ultimate “in-control” media platform

We are social creatures and like interacting with others who share interests