Anti-marketing: The antidote for a dead marketing game

With shillbots, automation, droves of 'experts' pegging off PDFs to unknowing victims online to make more money, and a lot of promises that have gone missing in the plethora of slamming content, we are all left feeling a little bit empty in the marketing world.

But why do we feel this way, and how can we improve as marketers and consumers?
One of the most pressing concerns in both agency and marketing worlds is the modern need for speed. Worker bees in the digital marketing sector must produce as much as possible in order to compete with pleasing the algorithms in a sea of content noise.

According to HubSpot’s State of Marketing Report, the average marketing team is required to generate 1.7 times more content than last year. However, with huge quantities and a drive for speed, it has created a peculiar zone where spam, terrible messaging, annoying content, and irrelevant targeting collide. As a result, people who get the trash, as well as those involved in the marketing game, have grown bitter. One side screams "STOP WITH THE MORE," while the other side chases "MORE IS MORE."

So we're locked in a Catch-22, where content needs to be rethought to remove the metal-marketing taste from the masses' mouths.

Enter "Anti-Marketing".
This term is an ideal we should aspire towards, albeit not a present reality, but a starting point for us as marketers to become better and more in tune with what the zeitgeist currently requires, rather than what we believe they desire. Although media has devolved into a doom-scrolling zombie jungle of cheap dopamine hits and remakes of the last video you watched, we must adopt better processes in order to create and produce content that actually speaks beyond the #FYP algorithm.

In the 2010s, we sought out high-end professional content created by production companies for brands and industries - but as professionalism devolved into 'fake-ism', with many brands using high-end photography and video to justify poor product quality, consumers began to be wary of engaging with, and even purchasing from, such marketing efforts. According to a Nielsen survey, 66% of consumers are willing to pay more for a product if it comes from a trusted brand, demonstrating that authenticity and quality have a direct impact on purchase decisions.

Following this period, once Covid hit and the world changed, the TikTok and IG Reels eras began. Individuals and brands create their own content at home, faster and more honestly. There's no need for pristine studios or expert lighting settings; instead, just a 'shoot-it-and-get-it-done' approach with a simple button-push to publish. However, with all of this raw and authentic content coming to the forefront, and engagement increasing on fast bite-sized pseudo-memes, spam has increased, and relevancy has begun to dwindle once more.

This is why we're entering a new era of anti-marketing. The volume game is becoming difficult for everyone to keep up with. The quality game, while still vital, is less relevant. So, what comes next for the 2024s, 5s, and beyond? Marketing must go against the goals of selling, pushing, promising, and telling. Although this is what our textbooks have taught us to do, we must now become the opposite. Instead, in an anti-marketing world, we need to consider how we might leverage two critical components: (1) community and (2) co-creation.

Building a community is more difficult than building involvement. A community is an active and always-on area where like-minded people may rely on one another for recommendations and problem-solving in their unique specialisation. Facebook has their hyper-specific 'Pages' for hobbies, but the marketing world must go beyond this and expand the community to include not only cross-application talks, but also the physical world. Creating an active online and offline community fosters a sense of belonging while also generating genuine value. This is what has been lost: money follows value, not marketing.

Community spaces are intrinsic value creators, profound connectors, and safe havens for people seeking assistance and advice. Inside these areas, marketers should create and produce content about their products and services to demonstrate how they can solve their problems and answer their worries. However, establishing a community is not an easy operation and takes careful consideration of the mechanics and platforms.

The second anti-marketing recommendation is to co-create. Co-creation entails producing with your customers involved. This means they are a part of the creative experience and process. Co-creating provides consumers an inherent buy-in to the product and establishes a strong connection between them and the brand. Co-creation is also an excellent filtering tool, as no one who is unwilling to put in the effort to co-create will do so. This implies that you will screen out the rats and mice and only work with people who are actually committed to what you are bringing to market. An example of co-creation can be seen via the lens of online e-commerce and the usage of artificial intelligence: the customer can provide prompts to alter or edit the product as they see fit, and then a product example can be generated in real-time for them to buy or reject. In this case, the most cost-effective option is a made-to-order approach, in which each customised product is manufactured and supplied only when the buyer confirms and pays. Nike's "Nike By You" initiative is an excellent example of co-creation, as it allows customers to create their own trainers, resulting in improved customer loyalty and happiness.

Finding ways to incorporate your consumer begins with reviewing your sales process and determining where your customer can fit in. This allows you to modify your call-to-action from "buy my product" to "let's build YOUR product." Which do you think will sell more?

While this article has by no means even scratched the surface of the Anti-Marketing topic, another point worth mentioning is that the globe is truly suffering from content fatigue. Everyone is racing to push something. Stop pushing and start creating. Creating communities, co-creating products and services, and ultimately adding value. Without these basic tenets in your marketing mix, you risk falling behind in a sea of irrelevant junk mail and lost eyes. Chase value not only for yourself as a marketer, but also for your customers, because it ensures that they will continue to return, as will you.