The term “emerging market” was originally brought into fashion during the 1980s by the World Bank economist Antoine van Agtmael. Though sometimes used loosely to replace the term “emerging economies” a much more accurate definition would be in its use as a term to signify a “business phenomenon that is not fully described by or constrained to geography or economic strength”. Countries evidencing this trait are considered to be in the transitional phase between developing and developed status – with notable examples including China, India, Mexico and Brazil.
Whilst much research on emerging markets has been performed by luminaries such as George Haley, Hernando De Soto, C. K. Prahalad and a veritable host of professors from Harvard Business School and Yale School of management how a market emerges is still poorly understood.
However, it appears that emerging markets tend to lie at “the intersection of non-traditional user behaviour, the rise of new user groups and community adoption of products and services, and innovations in product technologies and platforms”. In other words….emerging markets are absolutely perfect for brand promotion using experiential marketing.
Emerging markets, as stated, are characterised by non-traditional user behaviour and the rise of new user groups. What this essentially means is that, in these areas, economic conditions and technology progressions have reached a stage whereby the vast majority of consumers have significantly greater disposable income, normally as a result of growing industrialisation and the resultant increase in employment, than in previous years and, crucially, access to the wider world as a whole using the satellite, internet and telecoms technology that normally grows exponentially at this point.
Consequently they are able to see what is available elsewhere and afford it – very probably for the first time. In short, whole new groups of consumers suddenly, economically speaking, make themselves available in a marketplace with no stalls…yet.
Given the very youthful nature of this particular customer base (youthful in terms of the market existence time not the age of the consumers themselves) and its resultant lack of cynicism or suspicion – something common to all advanced markets – simple, striking and experiential campaigns aimed at connecting with individuals on a personal level can be hugely successful.
There is a hunger in these markets to raise the standard of living as evidence by goods and services to levels comparable to those of developed nations (hardly surprising really). And, whilst traditional advertising may be successful in the short term – though how successful is debatable given the lack of statistics available as we’ve pointed out before – it is experiential advertising with its ability to capture the imagination and reflect the aspirational desires of the consumer whilst engaging in aggressive and widespread ground-based campaigns that will soon come to the forefront.
Why? Simple really. Developing nations are just that – not fully developed. In the first world (which is not exclusively limited to the western world, so we won’t call it that), where TV ownership or access is effectively total and literacy rates are all but 100%, traditional advertising is assumed to be effective as it reaches the entirety of the population. However, developing nations are a different kettle of fish entirely.
Literacy rates, though improving, are still much lower than in the first world. TV access is hugely limited in relation to the first world. Advanced communications technology of the like we take for granted is, whilst arriving and allowing the indigenous market to see what is going on elsewhere, still in its infancy. The entire framework of what we term as traditional advertising is massively lacking in development. And, as a result, it won’t work anywhere but the most advanced locations in any developing nation.
Experiential marketing on the other hand takes as its basis face to face communication and evangelisation….which has been around since we, as humans, first learned to grunt to each other. As such it will find in developing nations much the same marketing structure as it finds in the first world, which gives it an immediate and huge advantage over print and media advertising.
Another, lesser, note is the simple fact that most operators are blundering into these developing markets with exactly the same approaches and attitudes that they’ve always had in relation to marketing and, consequently, the playing field is – as yet – uncluttered by vast numbers of experiential agencies…allowing those that do go in to maximise their potential and effect.
Experiential marketing is the next big thing in emerging markets – you heard it here first.