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In response to Unilever CMO Simon Clift’s column last week on how digital media has necessitated brands adopting a new approach to communication, you said:

Rather than terrify, digital should excite marketers like never before, because it is the only medium that can drive a skewer through the entire customer journey i.e. awareness, consideration, purchase and loyalty. The problem for FMCG companies isn’t with being able to grasp this theory but with executing it in tandem with the vast number of stakeholders involved.

Brand management pays far too much heed to the needs of the ‘supply chain’ and is by definition, therefore, inextricably linked to the promotional calendar and the retail agenda. To think that the consumer is actually at the heart of this is naive.

As Simon says, only when brands truly stand for something more meaningful than their product’s functionality, can they truly embrace the opportunities of digital. Until then we’ll continue to be bombarded with insincere and bland advertising.

Zaid Al-Zaidy, Saint@RKCR