In The New Rules of the Road, Dan Khan explores how the traditional media business model has broken down in light of the Internet revolution. As distinct media channels have transitioned to disorder, Khan observes: “We have both more control and less leverage over how our messages reach the masses - and what happens once they do.” His years of industry experience allow him to provide brand managers a roadmap for navigating the digital shift.
Before delving into recommended strategy, Khan walks readers through an early marketing narrative from the 1890s. Samuel Zemurray, through both information and manipulation, seized an opportunity to distribute bananas across the United States by railway. He hustled crates of the then-exotic yellow fruit one train car at a time until he and his colleague Edward Bernays (notably, the nephew of Sigmund Freud) launched a marketing campaign to establish bananas as a mainstream food source. Doctors were paid to affirm their unsubstantiated healing properties, while celebrities posed with them in staged photo ops - arming the media with “newsworthy” endorsements. Despite the ethically questionable media exposure, the campaign succeeded and Zemurray and Bernays were able to expand the banana operation internationally. Still in existence today, Chiquita Brands has an undeniable global presence in the produce industry.
While early marketing relied heavily on manipulation and information planning, The New Rules of the Road points out that marketing methods have evolved extensively over the past century. The early 1920s eclipsed rudimentary face-to-face marketing communication with the advent of radio and newspaper, closely followed by television. By the 1980s, national TV networks gave rise to influential voices, at the same time that the Internet began to revolutionize communication.
Fast forward to the twenty-first century, and although marketing still involves a balance of information and persuasion, the landscape has fundamentally changed. With instant access to information, consumers are drawn to transparency and authenticity. Brand managers who acknowledge this shift – and adapt favorably to the impact of technology – gain a distinct competitive edge.
Brands now readily communicate and interact directly with the masses, leading the traditional marketing pathways of public relations, content-creation and advertising to overlap. Today, brand success depends on cultivating genuine connections and staying attuned to consumer sentiment. Knowing the landscape can future-proof a brand by staying informed of market trends. Khan asserts that “Brands need to be agile and responsive to stay ahead. This requires a deep understanding of the current environment, a willingness to experiment with new approaches, and the ability to pivot quickly when necessary.”
Along with adaptability, Khan emphasizes that it’s more important than ever for brands to know their customers. By tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), successful brands stay informed in real-time, adjust to market conditions and remain responsive to consumers. This requires ongoing, targeted research that drives decision-making and maintains trustworthy customer relationships.
Collecting actionable data allows your brand to stay attuned to customer needs, monitor competitors and anticipate marketplace trends. These solutions require a realistic evaluation of your brand’s goals and trajectory coupled with an assessment of what’s most relevant to your brand’s success. Whether your objective is to build brand awareness, evaluate the launch of a new product or measure trust in a new ad campaign, capturing relevant metrics reveals where a brand has been and where it’s headed.
The New Rules of the Road provides both a wake-up call and a strategic guide for navigating this new reality. In our current data-rich digital age with constantly shifting consumer expectations, brands no longer have to rely on instinct alone. With the right information, your brand can move beyond reacting to change and start leading it by turning insights into action. At MarketVision, we see our clients aggressively leveraging data to drive meaningful progress. From brand health tracking and positioning to segmentation strategies, they set the pace for what’s next.
