Future Click

Peter Sealey, a futurist, author and marketing guru, has been senior vice president of global marketing at Coca-Cola Co. and president of marketing and distribution at Columbia Pictures. Founder of Silicon Valley consulting firm Los Altos Group Inc. and adjunct professor of marketing at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, in July Sealey was appointed chief strategy officer for Internet advertising firm MaxWorldwide Inc., formerly known as L90. Sealey is the author, along with Steven Cristol, of “Simplicity Marketing: End Brand Complexity, Clutter and Confusion.”

DIRECT: What’s wrong with Internet marketing?

SEALEY: What’s wrong with Internet marketing is the same thing that’s wrong with marketing in general. We are overburdened with choices. I know that I don’t have the right cell-phone plan. There are so many with so many different features and prices, how in God’s name would I ever find the right cell-phone plan? If some telecom came along and said, ‘Peter, I’m going to give you a product tailored to your usage for the right amount of money,’ I’d use it for life. The marketers who are going to succeed are those marketers who can make those choices easier.

DIRECT: Don’t consumers want lots of choices?

SEALEY: It’s not less choice. It’s easier choice.

DIRECT: Who is doing that well on the Web?

SEALEY: Amazon because of one-click ordering. Even though I know that Best Buy has lower prices, I don’t have time to go in there and fill out all the stuff — my credit card number, address, shipping information. I’m going to go to Amazon and with one-click order, I click once, the site has all my information and I’ve made my purchase.

DIRECT: Who is serving the customer well online?

SEALEY: JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines Co. are selling more than 40% of their tickets over the Web. The major trunk carriers sell only 10% to 15% online. The reason is the utter simplicity of ordering a ticket on JetBlue or Southwest. They have one fee structure, no paper ticket. You log onto American Airlines and say where you want to go and there’s step after step. You go to Southwest and they have two boxes: What is your destination and where are you flying back to? Are you flying in seven, 14, or within 21 days? Once I key in my route and the time frame — click and I’ve ordered. It’s an absolutely flawless, easy, intuitive process.

DIRECT: Are they doing well?

SEALEY: I was with the president of JetBlue last night. He told me they are running at 97% of capacity. Most airlines run at 60% of capacity.

DIRECT: You attribute this to simplicity of marketing?

SEALEY: Absolutely. Apple Computer does this. I did an experiment with a Stamford MBA student and a 12-year-old kid to see which one could get online first. We gave the kid an iMac and the student a Dell computer and gave both of them an instruction booklet. The kid didn’t crack the book and was online in six minutes.

DIRECT: So the point is that Apple has made simplicity part of its brand?

SEALEY: Yes. I believe the travel sites and companies that sell electronics are learning how to do that well. The eBay purchase of online payment company PayPal makes that possible for eBay. I like Yahoo! because I can customize my preferences in one place. Those companies that can configure to the customer’s desires and wants are the ones that are going to win.

DIRECT: What’s the next hot marketing trend on the horizon?

SEALEY: Relationship marketing. You’re not going to have a relationship with Wrigley gum. But you are with travel, healthcare and automotive companies. And Procter & Gamble is going to say to me one day, ‘Peter, I want to know what P&G products you like. You use this brand of Crest? OK, I’m going to deliver it to you before you need it.’

DIRECT: People won’t need to shop anymore?

SEALEY: There are certain products I want to shop for — when I’m entertaining, I want to buy the swordfish and strawberries myself. But when it comes to Tide, I want it there when I want it.

DIRECT: Product replenishment marketing is the wave of the future?

SEALEY: I promise you, in the next five years you’ll be scanning in the UPC code from your empty Tide bottle [on your home scanner], then plugging it into the P&G Web site and getting it automatically.

DIRECT: As new chief strategy officer, what are your plans for MaxWorldwide?

SEALEY: I want to position Max in the center of the tornado of traditional direct marketing moving toward electronic marketing, and mass advertising moving toward direct marketing. All are going to be using addressable media — sending messages to people who request those messages instead of to a marketing segment — say, women 28 to 49. I’m going to put the initial emphasis on growing our e-mail list management area. The Internet advertising area will have to wait until next year.