The Consumer.
The Customer.
These two words pretty much form the fulcrum of Marketing – as the profession (and indeed, all of business) exists because of them.
These two words are used extensively in Marketing Courses – and used interchangeably. While I have no problem with that, I guess it is important that we understand the difference between these two words.
One way would have been for me to define these two words, but I will skip that. My teaching experience has taught me that definitions scare (and bore) students. This word reminds them of Closed Book Exams. In these exams, they were asked to play “What’s the Good Word” or “What are the Good Words” – and were asked to define something, and many other things.
So, let’s skip the definition and just understand what each term means (which is a much better way). Put simply, the consumer consumes (or uses) the product or service while the customer buys it.
Huh! So what’s the Big Deal? Good question.
It’s no Big Deal when the consumer is the customer – like in the case of say, cigarettes – or samosas purchased by a student in the canteen. Hence, the consumer buys what he/she wants, uses/consumes it and that is the end of the story.
The Big Deal is when the customer and consumer are different – and the attributes looked for by the consumer are different from those looked for by the customer. This poses a serious communication challenge for the marketer – whom should we target?
Let us take some examples. Let’s take packaged food like Instant Noodles. The predominant consumers are the children while the customer is the Mother. The children would rate “Taste” as the most important attribute while the Mother would rate “Healthiness” and “Nutritive Value” as the key attributes. Sadly, in most cases, something that is healthy and nutritious does not taste good for most children (ditto for Adults, but let us not digress!). So, here is the dilemma for a person marketing Instant Noodles: Do we highlight “yumminess” – and end up alienating the mother? Or talk up taste and nutrition – and the kids will view it as a medicine supplement?
Let’s take 100 cc Bikes. The consumer is the teenager. The customer is the Dad. The teenager wants Speed. Pick Up. Sleekness. All attributes to be the Dude on Campus. The Dad wants Fuel Efficiency. Safety. Sturdiness. All attributes to be the Dud on Campus. Some 20 years ago, the Dad wanted to be the Dude, but alas, times have changed. The teenager wants to know how many seconds does the Bike take to reach from Zero to Sixty. The Dad, on the other hand is showing keen interest on how many seconds the Bike takes to go from Fifty to Zero (as it should not reach Sixty at all). Now, what does a 100 cc Bike marketer do? Show the Bike as a Cheetah reincarnate – and end up alienating the Dad? Or talk up Safety and Sturdiness – and the teenager views it as a value added Cycle Rickshaw?
Hence, whenever you are given an assignment to design a communication package for a brand – (and you will have plenty of such assignments!), first ascertain as to whether the customer is different from the consumer – and is there a clash in the attributes looked for by both parties. Because, when that happens, your communication needs MUCH more thought – and needs to be far more nuanced.
What does one do? If you look at what Instant Noodles marketers do, they focus on the consumer – and talk of taste.
But their creative execution tries to ensure that the customer (mother) is kept in the equation either by:
(a) Delivering the joy derived from hungry kids enjoying the food, thus reducing the guilt pangs of the mother: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jdj5hcvGYE or by
(b) Compromise options such as Atta Noodles. This is an attempt at “taste bhi health bhi” – if that is possible! Can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd9kBpea9As
Some brands, like Complan (which was loved by the mother because of the healthy connotations and hated by the kids because of the same reason - as healthy = yucky) found a way. They cashed in on kids wanting to be taller and linked Complan as a method to gaining height. Can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RL4HqBnQQc
They ran into some trouble on this claim, including cases in court. But they ensured that the asymmetry between what the customer and consumer wanted was removed. It has now been modified to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqDF3YdhHJs
And coming to 100 cc bikes, this advertisement tries to keep the customer as well as the consumer happy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjfYdLHFufs
- By Prof. Govindrajan
The Customer.
These two words pretty much form the fulcrum of Marketing – as the profession (and indeed, all of business) exists because of them.
These two words are used extensively in Marketing Courses – and used interchangeably. While I have no problem with that, I guess it is important that we understand the difference between these two words.
One way would have been for me to define these two words, but I will skip that. My teaching experience has taught me that definitions scare (and bore) students. This word reminds them of Closed Book Exams. In these exams, they were asked to play “What’s the Good Word” or “What are the Good Words” – and were asked to define something, and many other things.
So, let’s skip the definition and just understand what each term means (which is a much better way). Put simply, the consumer consumes (or uses) the product or service while the customer buys it.
Huh! So what’s the Big Deal? Good question.
It’s no Big Deal when the consumer is the customer – like in the case of say, cigarettes – or samosas purchased by a student in the canteen. Hence, the consumer buys what he/she wants, uses/consumes it and that is the end of the story.
The Big Deal is when the customer and consumer are different – and the attributes looked for by the consumer are different from those looked for by the customer. This poses a serious communication challenge for the marketer – whom should we target?
Let us take some examples. Let’s take packaged food like Instant Noodles. The predominant consumers are the children while the customer is the Mother. The children would rate “Taste” as the most important attribute while the Mother would rate “Healthiness” and “Nutritive Value” as the key attributes. Sadly, in most cases, something that is healthy and nutritious does not taste good for most children (ditto for Adults, but let us not digress!). So, here is the dilemma for a person marketing Instant Noodles: Do we highlight “yumminess” – and end up alienating the mother? Or talk up taste and nutrition – and the kids will view it as a medicine supplement?
Let’s take 100 cc Bikes. The consumer is the teenager. The customer is the Dad. The teenager wants Speed. Pick Up. Sleekness. All attributes to be the Dude on Campus. The Dad wants Fuel Efficiency. Safety. Sturdiness. All attributes to be the Dud on Campus. Some 20 years ago, the Dad wanted to be the Dude, but alas, times have changed. The teenager wants to know how many seconds does the Bike take to reach from Zero to Sixty. The Dad, on the other hand is showing keen interest on how many seconds the Bike takes to go from Fifty to Zero (as it should not reach Sixty at all). Now, what does a 100 cc Bike marketer do? Show the Bike as a Cheetah reincarnate – and end up alienating the Dad? Or talk up Safety and Sturdiness – and the teenager views it as a value added Cycle Rickshaw?
Hence, whenever you are given an assignment to design a communication package for a brand – (and you will have plenty of such assignments!), first ascertain as to whether the customer is different from the consumer – and is there a clash in the attributes looked for by both parties. Because, when that happens, your communication needs MUCH more thought – and needs to be far more nuanced.
What does one do? If you look at what Instant Noodles marketers do, they focus on the consumer – and talk of taste.
But their creative execution tries to ensure that the customer (mother) is kept in the equation either by:
(a) Delivering the joy derived from hungry kids enjoying the food, thus reducing the guilt pangs of the mother: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jdj5hcvGYE or by
(b) Compromise options such as Atta Noodles. This is an attempt at “taste bhi health bhi” – if that is possible! Can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd9kBpea9As
Some brands, like Complan (which was loved by the mother because of the healthy connotations and hated by the kids because of the same reason - as healthy = yucky) found a way. They cashed in on kids wanting to be taller and linked Complan as a method to gaining height. Can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RL4HqBnQQc
They ran into some trouble on this claim, including cases in court. But they ensured that the asymmetry between what the customer and consumer wanted was removed. It has now been modified to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqDF3YdhHJs
And coming to 100 cc bikes, this advertisement tries to keep the customer as well as the consumer happy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjfYdLHFufs
- By Prof. Govindrajan
And this article refreshed my Consumer Behavior classes where we went through lot of advertisement, the message conveyed in the process, what went wrong in the communication and how sometimes big brands failed while trying to do something extraordinary.... thank you for the wonderful article and the videos linked
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