Resonance Marketing in the Age of the Truly Informed Consumer: Changes in Corporate Strategy Resulting from Changes in Customer Behavior

Abstract

Information availability has increased consumers' informedness, the degree to which they know what is available in the marketplace, with precisely which attributes and at precisely what price. This informedness has altered the demand side of market behavior: customers discount heavily when comparable products are available from competitors and when products do not meet their wants, needs, cravings and longings, but no longer discount as heavily when purchasing unfamiliar products. Changes in the demand side are producing comparable changes in the supply side: firms earn less than their expectations when competing in traditional mass market fat spots, while earning far more than previously when entering newly created resonance marketing sweet spots. We trace the impact of hyper differentiation and resonance marketing on the structure of the supply side, with a clear progression from a limited number of fat spots, through reliance upon line extensions, and ultimately to fully differentiated market sweet spots.