Decent Marketing

On the Issue of Marketing Eggheads

Those of you who are trying to be Decent Marketers are no doubt confronted with a wave of snickering at your overwrought concern for the common man. I've been reading a very interesting book called Exuberance: The Passion for Life by Kay Redfield Jamison that led me to thinking further about marketing reform, profit, and decency. Many people look at me like I'm crazy when I suggest it might be a good idea to chill out a bit on the desperate need to sell, sell, sell at all costs. I simply feel that we marketers still look at people as though they haven't much choice in the matter of being marketed to -- that we can outsmart them, daze and confuse them into buying -- and I don't like it. It's like watching an entire industry transform into the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, rubbing our hands together and sneering "I'll get you, my pretty."

I feel like we've fully adopted the philosophy of P.T. Barnum, as Redfield describes him in her book.

"People liked to be humbugged, declared P.T. Barnum. They need sizzle and flair to lighten their otherwise 'drudging practicalness': they long to catch fire, be bedazzled, be a part of something that delights them, excites them, and binds them to others. They want someone to splash their world with color; someone, as Barnum put it, to 'throw up sky-rockets.'

Color and bedazzlement can work, and I wholeheartedly agree that we all need entertainment. But all of life is not about entertainment, and many of us do not suffer from drudging practicalness. The P.T. Barnum approach is about distraction and amusement, which may have been welcomed in the last century but seems less necessary in this one. Still, the reaction of many of my peers to my longing for a kinder, gentler marketing is: "Welcome to capitalism. Get over it. Our job is to make money." Corporate America is a tough place to be when you start hearing a little tiny voice inside your head asking "What's all this for?" You learn to tell the voice to pipe down, and you get back to that meeting with everyone hunched over the conference table, exuberantly planning ways to make MORE money.

"Exuberance becomes dangerous when the goal is reprehensible, the means suspect, or the delight indiscriminate. Enthusiasts may be more interested in the problem to be solved than in the ethical issues which obtain in the wake of a solution."

I think it's easy for the means to become suspect when the goal is one-dimensional. It's not often that you see companies that can truly balance the goals of profit and good citizenship equally -- one inevitably falls by the wayside. Those few companies that do seem successful are often privately-held companies, like Chick Fil-A. I doubt the people at Chick-Fil-A were made to feel like marketing losers when they decided to remain closed on Sundays to keep in line with their values. Imagine suggesting an idea like that in most major corporations - you'd be turning in your badge, BlackBerry and corporate American Express in short order. A lot of marketers don't feel comfortable expressing their feelings about balance and consumer connection, except in the politically correct language of annual plans and consumer insight presentations, where we all shake our heads and say the consumer is number one but then proceed not to act that way. It's not cool to be an egghead, a flake, an "emotional" person. Until one day, when you realize, it doesn't matter whether you're cool. What matters is whether you feel good about what you're doing.

I feel good about decent marketing. I say "Eggheads, unite!"

Tag: marketing

Impact with Ampage

I just read this post from smart blogger Johnnie Moore and I wanted Decent Marketers to read it. I think it's a very interesting way of talking about what we've lost as marketers. We've become attention-getters and entertainers rather than people who get to know our consumers and provide them with support through our products and services.

Check it out here: Johnnie Moore's Weblog: Volts and Amps in conversations

Tag: marketing

Moral Myopia

I've just returned from a fabulous vacation in the Caribbean - refreshed and ready for more decency in marketing. On the heels of my post a week or so ago about cigarette marketing, I found this interesting tidbit in BusinessWeek's September 6 issue:

"Ever wonder if advertising execs have qualms about promoting bogus diet supplements or 'safer' cigarettes? If they do, apparently 'moral myopia' keeps them silent about ethical quandaries, notes a study of 29 ad agencies. The study says ad execs get so immersed in clients' corporate culture that this condition leads them to lose their objectivity."

Big Tobacco's Delusions of Grandeur

One thing I think most Decent Marketers are getting truly tired of is corporate marketing doublespeak. We talked about this a bit at the "Does Marketing Need Reform?" conference in Boston. So many companies say whatever they need to say, in cleverly crafted talking points, about their marketing, but behave very differently. Take the case of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., manufacturers and marketers of Kool brand cigarettes.

In a story today in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reporter Kaitlin Bell writes about Kool's current marketing program called Kool Mixx, " ... a series of disc jockey competitions that Kool sponsors in cities across the country as part of an aggressive marketing campaign for its Smooth Fusions line of cigarettes." The program is accompanied by a promotional CD-Rom that "... features hip-hop artists waxing poetic about their music and allows users to create their own mix 'n' scratch tracks and graffiti on their computers."

It seems even former Surgeon General David Satcher thinks the Kool Mixx program is an obvious attempt to get the attention and interest of young people, as does the National African-American Tobacco Prevention Network (NAATPN). It wasn't that long ago that I was a "young person." As a mid-30s girl now, I can tell you that I can't imagine as many people aged 25+ being interested in the Kool Mixx program as I can people who are, say, 10 to 20 years old, regardless of the corporate BS that Reynolds puts out, such as this: "'It's about an urban experience, [R. J. Reynolds spokesman Mark] Smith said." Oh, well that clears things up! He also added that flavored cigarettes aren't just for kids, according to the article. (Just for kids?)

Kool Smooth Fusions comes in flavors like Midnight Berry, Mintrigue, Mocha Taboo and Caribbean Chill.
Satcher believes flavored cigarettes are starter cigarettes, and the NAATPN thinks these companies use sweet flavors to lure young people into smoking. According to the CDC, black and Hispanic teenagers overwhelmingly prefer mentholated cigarettes.

Now here is some copy directly from R. J. Reynolds' website, in a section called Our Marketing Philosophy:

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJRT) believes that cigarette smokers are at significantly increased risk for a number of diseases and conditions, including lung cancer, cardiovascular disease (including heart disease) and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (emphysema and chronic bronchitis). Our company's philosophy is to operate as if smoking is a cause of these diseases. As a result, we believe that children should not smoke. We believe that pregnant women should not smoke. We believe that children should not be exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke or any other airborne irritant. Reynolds Tobacco is not interested in trying to persuade any nonsmokers to begin smoking or in persuading any smokers not to quit.

Now think about the above statement being written at the same time that people in the marketing department are coming up with the Kool Mixx program. Do you think this might qualify as doublespeak? Or doubledeeds? Or doublesomething? R.J. Reynolds knows what it is doing, even if it does so subconsciously. I don't think they have a memo somewhere that says, "Let's get all the black kids addicted to smoking!" But they're coming up with compelling ways to do just that, all the same.

It's all part of the marketing delusion many of us suffer, where we convince ourselves we're not doing something when in truth we really are. As Decent Marketers, we need to think twice.

Tag: marketing

Just Back from Boston

I spent all day Monday in Boston at the "Does Marketing Need Reform?" conference, and I think the question got a resounding answer: Yes. I was fortunate to share my table for the day with David Wolfe and Tom Asacker, fellow bloggers and smart men, as well as Philip Kotler (yes, THAT Kotler - the one whose name is on practically every marketing textbook to be found on the planet).

I will say there was a lot of discussion of the problem, and very little discussion of the solution, but I'm not discouraged. I think many solutions are on the way, given the passion of the people who were there, and the people who read this blog, and the many Decent Marketers I come across in my travels. It was disappointing that the audience was mainly academics, and that more companies (or marketing practitioners, as they like to call us) didn't show up to join in the discussion.

And now, some tidbits for your reading pleasure:

* Walker Smith of Yankelovich shared that the top five areas people feel need government regulation are 1. water pollution, 2. toxic wastes, 3. air pollution, 4. advertising, and 5. nuclear energy. He commented that 4 out of the 5 are things that can actually kill you ... and then there's advertising. I liked his point that marketing has become a game of wits against the consumer.

* Professor Jonny Johansson of Georgetown went so far as to say that American marketing is morally bankrupt and that we've had a hand in bringing American life to its lowest common denominator. He used experiential marketing (in addition to viral marketing, captive marketing and other types) as evidence for why marketing has gone downhill, which of course really bummed me out. As you know, the problem with experiential marketing is that it is being co-opted by a number of people who come up with entertaining ideas lacking in personal relevance or meaning. I won't give you my definition of what real experiential marketing is here, because regular readers might log off their computers at the mere possibility they might have to read it again, but you know where I stand. I think if Prof. Johansson knew how many Decent Marketers feel about experiential marketing, he might instead use it as an example of how marketers are turning the tide.

* Professor Raj Sisodia of Bentley College (sponsor of the event) made the interesting point that bad marketing is cheaper than good marketing. He wondered, for example, why it is that the US Postal Service charges its lowest rate for third class mail, thereby making it easier for direct marketers to bombard our mailboxes. Later in his presentation he made some recommendations for restoring marketing virtues:
- Forget all the old ideas about marketing warfare, customer conquest and capture, and aggressive marketing tactics of any kind
- Indeed, aggressive sentiments and mindsets have no place in marketing
- Marketing must be about pursuing desirable ends (delighted customers, undamaged societal interests, fair returns to shareholders) through desirable means.

* Dr. Jagdish Shesh, professor of marketing at Emory University, provided his thoughts on how to reform practitioner marketing, academic marketing and marketing policymaking, including establishing a national academy of marketing similar to the National Academy of Science and establishing certification and recertification for marketing professionals similar to what accountants must do.

I'll share more in the next post ...

Tag: marketing

The Bad Seeds

I'm not sure how much more we can talk about the subject of Indecent Marketing. I don't think it's good to harp, but I can't ignore the story from 60 Minutes this past weekend: CBS News | Undercover Marketing Uncovered | July 23, 2004?10:31:20.

When you attempt to con or mislead, you begin heading toward the land of criminal, if you ask me. I know it's a free society and we're all allowed to be jerks if we so choose. Marketers can do what they want. But I must say I'm relieved that many of us are starting to refuse to behave in ways that show no respect whatsoever for the consumer.

It's too bad that CBS chose to paint all marketers with the same brush - like their assertion that there is deception in all advertising. I think a lot of companies and brands present what they offer through clever, compelling communication, but not deception. Not every marketer resorts to poor methods when selling products, and it's too bad that so many believe we do because of our greedy cousins who choose to take that route.

I'm sure this story will be fodder at the "Does Marketing Need Reform?" conference in Boston. I've got my plane ticket and my hotel room and I can't wait to go there and report back to you on what takes place.

Thanks to Peter Caputa for sending me the link.

Tag: marketing