The answer to Mark Ritson’s voice search problems can be found in the pub

Earlier this month, Mark Ritson penned a piece in UK publication Marketing Week about the perils of voice search for both brands and retailers. It hit the mark, as ever. But I can’t help thinking this is simply a new manifestation of an old problem.

Brand awareness helps tip decisions in your favour when there are decisions to be made. Even trivial ones, like many FMCG purchases. When faced with an aisle-full of options, hopefully the consumer chooses your brand over the competition. This is the theory, and indeed is often the practice. But what happens when there isn’t a decision to be made? When there is no aisle?

The voice search problem is that when you run out of Lurpak and shout over to ‘Alexa’ to add more butter to your shopping list, you probably won’t be getting more Lurpak. You’ll be getting ‘butter’. Someone else gets to make the choice as to which one.