Angus Chak raises a very interesting question in his blog post Results of Market Research; he asks as a closing thought “Does market research results changed based on changes in society or does society change based off the decisions of market research?”
Having just finished a Marketing and MIS presentation in the past week, this question really got me thinking. I feel that traditional Marketing is constrained by societal values (i.e. you wouldn’t market ways to cheat on tests) and reacts to trends in society (i.e. everyone thinks that ___ is hot, we have to market ___ more/give it a spin/emphasize values/etc). However, I feel that the most effective Marketing techniques challenge societal views and attempt to change them. For example, not-for-profit campaigns such as the Canadian Breast Cancer foundation, Kony2012 and similar campaigns aim to alert society to pressing issues. Marketing can also challenge societal views to gain more attention (“EXTREME CARROTS ARE HEALTHY AND AWESOME”).
But, sadly, Marketing can also have negative impacts. Privacy concerns such as those raised in targeted marketing contribute to consumer unease and the ever-present stigma that Marketing is “Profit-driven” and “evil.” To add on to this negative stigma are the abundance of advertisements that have already desensitized and changed modern society through “culture as anaesthesia“.
It is somewhat grim to think that people view Marketing in such a negative fashion.
Few people recognize that the true value of Marketing is to cater to the customer, to raise lasting relationships so that a firm can MORE EFFECTIVELY serve a customer, not simply to raise money. A firm that does nothing but raise money will eventually lose out to a firm that can effective instill enjoyment from their customer base.
If only more people were aware of that.
