‘Marketers are now curators of brands’

Marketers have become curators of brands rather than creators, according to Unilever’s marketing chief.

Unilever

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Advertising Association today (February 29), Unilever chief marketing and communications officer Keith Weed said consumers are increasingly in control.

Weed added: “We are curating brands rather than creating them and the consumer is a big part of that.”

The Unilever marketer said the industry has the opportunity to better target consumers as technology is increasingly changing the way brands interact with consumers.

He told the audience that through improved targeting brands can offer consumers “something better”.

Weed said that with 6 billion mobile phones worldwide “lifestyles were going to change more,” and that “it’s going to change the way we interact with consumers.”

The Unilever marketer said, for example, that friends sitting in Hyde Park on a sunny day could be targeted with adverts of three nearby ice-cream vendors on their mobile phone.

Weed said that in an increasingly connected world, the division between traditional and digital advertising is becoming less relevant.

Talking about when TVs connect with the internet, Weed argues that “there won’t be a difference between traditional and digital advertising, whether it’s on a smartphone…it’s still a moving picture on a square screen.”

He added: “You could say that with capitalism at a cross roads, so is marketing. At Unilever we have stopped our quarterly forecasting and reporting every six months. We’re thinking more long term.”

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