Marketing in the Information Age--Interview with Prof. John Deighton--

Marketing in the Information Age--Interview with Prof. John Deighton(3)

2007-04-28 14:39:21 [ Big Normal Small ] zong xing 　Comment

Deighton: What is Google's advertising strategy? They aren't telling. As best as I can guess, their strategy is to take what they have learned about selling keyword advertising and apply it to selling offline media. If they succeed, they will be a player in the $500 billion market, not the market of 5% of that. On the other hand Google's DoubleClick acquisition is solidly in the world of online media. I don't know how they justify spending $3.1 billion to buy a $50 million stream of earnings, but presumably there is an advertising strategy there that I am not smart enough to detect.

Xing Zong: Could you please make some brief comments on social networking sites, such as Facebook? What is the good marketing strategy for these sites where thousand of young people create their own profiles?

Deighton: It's all about traffic. My guess is that advertising is less jarring in a social networking context than in a video streaming context.

Harvard Business School

Xing Zong: Let’s talk about E-commerce. You have predicted in 2001 that “in the long run, the combination of efficiency, intimacy, and community offered by direct-to-consumer marketing will have an impact on every industry and intermediary”. Do you still think so?

Deighton: Yes, although the long run looks further off today than it did in 2001. Intermediaries have proved to be remarkably difficult to disintermediate. Of course some have been shaken close to extinction - travel agents, newspaper classified sections, the people who used to print checkbooks, publishers of encyclopedias, the entire music industry. The direct-to-consumer model is the winner in the long run, but it s happening slowly enough that incumbents can adapt before newcomers do what we used to call an Amazon to them.

Xing Zong: If someone asserts E-commerce is still not perfect as many expect and ask you to list the possible ways for improvements, what the top three you would like to list?

Deighton: Not perfect? Come on! Have you tried calling a travel agent recently? Does anyone still pay bills by mail?

Xing Zong: Can supermarkets “dodge the bullet” from E-commerce? This is the issue that I would like you to address. Do you think the model “online purchase + grocery delivery” will be possible in the near future? What about the logistics? Do you think they can reach a stage which matches the demands of online shopping?

Harvard Business School

Deighton: When a population is affluent and highly concentrated, as in Manhattan or the gentrified inner cities, the economics of home delivery pay out. Otherwise supermarkets are safe.

Xing Zong: E-mail marketing strategy has been adopted by companies. But this also generates a headache for many: everyday, millions of junk emails have been sent to millions of internet users. People get annoyed and delete them. Prof. Deighton, do you think email is an effective marketing strategy?

Deighton: Everything that is, is effective. The people who send those ever-increasing millions of junk emails think it's a terrific marketing strategy and they vote with real money.

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