Marketing is about ideas

Michael Mendenhall, CMO of Hewlett-Packard, sees there’s an evolution going on in marketing. He talks about how his organization looks at brand building, “Many companies continue to look at marketing in conventional ways — from a mass-market point of view. Branding today is not about the media; it’s about the idea. You need to dismiss the conventional way of thinking and start with an understanding of the value of each communication channel and how — or whether — it will ‘engage’ people. The idea should be the organizing principle, and it should inform everything you do to help consumers grasp your brand promise in whatever channel you’re reaching them: the television, the blogs, the banner ads or the word of mouth.”

Mr. Mendenhall makes a critical point, without a good grasp of who your customers are and what appeals to them about your product and/or service you will never be able to generate the ideas that will make your brand successful/profitable.  Why is it then that few companies want to devote the resources for the research and time to create the ideas?  Is it that they are clinging to the “old way of marketing”?  Much like the drowning man clings to the sinking ship?