How Media Planners Can Sell When Consumers Won't Stop Researching

Working at the 'Zero Moment of Truth'

Advertising Age Article, By Antony Young

Last week we hosted a number of clients at GroupM's "What's Next" conference, a summit that offers a window into some of freshest thinking and practices in the marketing and digital media spheres.

Jim Lecinski, VP for U.S. sales and service at Google, presented a thought-provoking idea that he calls the "Zero Moment of Truth."

It's a modification of the P&G marketing mantra conceived in the golden A.G. Lafley era, when the packaged-goods marketer evangelized on "winning at the two moments of truth" -- the first at the point of purchase and the second when consumers use the product.

Now "The Zero Moment of Truth" -- or ZMOT -- is potentially disruptive thinking for marketers.

The idea is that a real consumer shift has taken place in the last few years. Consumers have changed their pattern of decision-making dramatically, increasingly deciding and switching their opinion of brands or products before they step into a store, talk to a sales representative or visit an e-commerce site. Hence the "Zero" moment of truth refers to the stage before the "first" and "second" moments of truth.

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http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/sell-consumers-stop-researching-web/230498/