By William Fellows
Too many net companies are reducing themselves to commodities by selling their products at a discount instead of building relationships with customers and will go to the wall because of it, in the opinion of Young & Rubicam Inc chairman and CEO Peter Georgescu.
Speaking at a PriceWaterhouseCoopers conference on convergence. It comes as no surprise the management giant’s CEO recommends that building a brand is the key to success because his company sells advice on exactly that. But Georgescu nevertheless reflects the view of executives at the conference that brand building is key because commodities can be replaced at the drop of a dime, he said. Big brands will survive, he added, but not many of them. He admitted to being terrified of some aspects of the internet revolution. There’s too much emphasis on revenue and not enough on profit in an excess supply world, he said.
Georgescu at least offered what he called a ‘digital to-do list’. Know your customers. Worry about the relationship with your customer. Do customer relationship management. Create differentiation. Build a brand. Drive margin and get the profit, he said.
