Consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers have long been preaching that the mass market no longer exists…yet the trusted toolkit of a CPG marketer continues to be dominated by mass market tools: TV, print, coupons, displays – all virtually the same as the past several decades. Even the terms “non-traditional” and “alternative” media are not-so-subtle references to how marketers view media that includes the internet, mobile technology and entertainment on demand. This is the very media that today drives our news, shopping, and conversations with each other. Isn’t it quite normal? Quite mainstream? Even traditional?

The CMO Council and Pointer Media Network released a study in December 2008 that I found fascinating. They studied purchasing patterns of 1,364 brands to validate the “80/20 rule” – the Pareto principle that suggests that most businesses will derive 80% of their sales from 20% of their customers. Their findings: A very small slice of shoppers are responsible for 80% of brand volume…just 2.5% on average.

Surely the preaching and talk must stop on this news. The inefficiencies of using mass vehicles to attempt to reach 2.5% of shoppers can no longer be supported. Unless the mass program is all about incrementality – the other 97.5% that is mined for 20%. It would be interesting to do the math on that proposition.

I’m reminded of a conversation I had with a direct marketing agency years ago on the most important tenet of relationship marketing. Your customers want you to know who they are, and what they represent to your business. The corollary being to say “thank you.”

Do you?