521: The Way to Earn Attention, with Raja Rajamannar

Apr 12, 2021

Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer for Mastercard and author of *Quantum Marketing*, shares insights on the future of advertising. He discusses the shift from traditional interruptive ads to engaging, story-making experiences. Raja emphasizes building consumer affinity over loyalty, advocating for meaningful interactions. He highlights innovative marketing successes, like immersive brand experiences, and the importance of permission-based strategies in today's landscape. Mindful marketing and personal wellness are also explored as essential elements for effective engagement.

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INSIGHT

Affinity Over Loyalty

Consumers are not inherently loyal to brands, despite loyalty programs.
Focus on building affinity, or positive associations, instead of expecting loyalty.

ANECDOTE

Modern Ad Consumption

Raja Rajamannar finds YouTube's interruptive ads annoying, highlighting a poor user experience.
He uses ad blockers and streaming services like Netflix to avoid ads.

ADVICE

Storymaking

Shift from storytelling to storymaking by creating memorable customer experiences.
When customers share these experiences, it's more impactful than traditional ads.

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Raja Rajamannar: Quantum Marketing

Raja Rajamannar is Chief Marketing & Communications Officer for Mastercard, and president of the company’s healthcare business. He also serves as president of the World Federation of Advertisers. Raja has held C-level roles at firms ranging from Anthem to Humana, and has overseen the successful evolution of Mastercard’s identity for the digital age, from its Priceless experiential platforms to marketing-led business models.

Raja’s work has been featured in Harvard Business School and Yale School of management case studies, and been taught at more than 40 top management schools around the world. He is the author of Quantum Marketing: Mastering the New Marketing Mindset for Tomorrow’s Consumers*.

In this conversation, Raja and I discuss the reality that traditional advertising as we know it is ending. He also invites us to rethink how we’ve traditionally thought about customer loyalty. Instead of telling stories about our brands, we should be doing the work to create stories along with our customers.

Key Points

Organizations need to engage in permission-based marketing to be credible to consumers.
It’s helpful to think about relationships with consumers as affinity instead of loyalty.
Most of what we call advertising today is interruptive to consumers and a poor experience. It’s not entirely dead, but certainly heading that way.
Invite consumers into unique experiences by making the transition from storytelling to story making.
Create experiences that are scalable and economically viable and sustainable.
Smaller firms can seek out opportunities to create partnership that will help them make stories that are purposeful.

Resources Mentioned

Quantum Marketing: Mastering the New Marketing Mindset for Tomorrow’s Consumers* by Raja Rajamannar

Interview Notes

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