The Good, 

  • An oft touted textbook view of marketing is that it is GOOD. That it benefits society because competition improves quality, boosts the economy, creates jobs- the usual free market capitalism, trickle down theory. Yet it does not take too much critical thought  to cast some  doubt on this “marketing is good” idea.

The Bad

  • To start, there is the simple observation that many, many bad products are marketed. And not just crappy, “didn’t- do-what- it- said- it- would” products. Harmful products. Disastrously harmful products. All while marketing up a sunny storm. Nuclear Weapons are enthusiastically marketed, to someone. Infant formula is marketed with great gusto, in countries without clean water sources. The list is scary and too long to start here.

The Powerful

  • But if marketing is one of the primary ways that society, indeed the world functions- in the creation, marketing and  delivery of not only products and services but ideas- then changes and improvements in the practice of marketing can have huge impact. In this way we can understand marketing not as inherently good, but as POWERFUL.  And with such power comes enormous potential.

 

  • This coming series of blogs will look at the wave of change in marketing and business today, from small business to mega- corporations, and explain the new language of doing business in a truly global way.