I recently spoke to a co-worker who asked the common rhetorical question about marketing: “Isn’t marketing just about selling people things they don’t need.” I happily engaged in the intellectual sparring match, as I enjoy enlightening those unaware of how marketing makes our lives better. Granted, marketing is not as noble a cause as teaching or hospice care, but I argue it plays an equally important role in our society.
Imagine a world without marketing. Our economy would collapse. Our standard of living would plummet as a result of consumers not having enough information about their options and due to the plunging stock market. Without branding, people would lack confidence in their decisions as they wouldn’t know what type of performance to expect from a given product or service. Television would not have enough funding to operate. Google would go out of business. Can you imagine a world without marketing?
Image from NOAA Photo Library
I believe that there couldn’t be any world or society without marketing. Even in a more primitive – intuitive form, marketing basically is in everything. Even God needs advertising –> think of bells!
By the way, great blog!
As a marketing student with a tiny piece of psychological knowledge, I think I could be better off going to the supermarket with a fresh mind. All I need to know is what I am going to buy with certain qualities for certain purposes in a product.
I subsequently have much more effective and transparent choices in comparison with a mind flooded by banners, ads showing miracle utilities that the product supplies I think I’d never want to spend more money on them.
Marketing, promotion campaigns and ads really are drastic tool for giving information. However, what does matter is how authentic and appropriate they are to your budget.
99% of marketers never helps you with the best products that benefit your life, they make you trust THEIR product then benefit themselves.
As far as I concerned, an economy without marketing probably will automatically establish itself another paradigm for gaining market information such as: shoppers will pay more attention to the description rather than its brand, authorities or organizations will create explicit standards that can clarify consumers’ perspectives to all kinds of products.
Our economy has survived much longer than those marketing theories. So in conclusion, I don’t think there is any collapse if we no longer use marketing in our economy.
Hope to see your reply. Thanks 🙂