Description
Scope of Marketing for New Realities
In this chapter, we will address the following questions:
1. Why is marketing important? (Page 26)
2. What is the scope of marketing? (Page 26)
3. What are some core marketing concepts? (Page 29)
4. What forces are defining the new marketing realities? (Page 31)
5. What tasks are necessary for successful marketing management? (Page 34)
Marketing Management at Unilever
Under the leadership of ex-P&G marketing executive Paul Polman and marketing whiz Keith Weed, Unilever is steering in an aggressive new direction. Its “Crafting Brands for Life” model es-tablishes social, economic, and product missions for each brand, including Dove, Ben & Jerry’s, and Knorr. One part of the mission, for instance, is sustainability—specifically, to halve its ecological footprint while doubling revenues. To improve marketing communications, it aims to strike a bal-ance between “magic” and “logic,” doubling marketing training expenditures and emphasizing ad research. Unilever has set its sights on developing and emerging markets, hoping to draw 70 percent to 75 percent of revenues from these markets by 2020. The company has also adopted “reverse in-novation” by applying marketing innovations from developing markets to recession-hit developed markets. In Spain, it now sells Surf detergent in five-wash packs. In Greece, it offers mayonnaise in small packages.1
Good marketing is no accident. It is both an art and a science, and it results from careful plan-practical solutions to new marketing realities. In the first chapter, we lay our foundation by re-viewing important marketing concepts, tools, frameworks, and issues.
The Value of Marketing
Finance, operations, accounting, and other business functions won’t really matter without suffi-cient demand for products and services so the firm can make a profit. In other words, there must be a top line for there to be a bottom line. Thus, financial success often depends on marketing ability. Marketing’s value extends to society as a whole. It has helped introduce new or enhanced products that ease or enrich people’s lives. Successful marketing builds demand for products and services, which, in turn, creates jobs. By contributing to the bottom line, successful marketing also allows firms to more fully engage in socially responsible activities.2
Many firms, even service and nonprofit, now have a chief marketing officer (CMO) to put marketing on a more equal footing with other C-level executives such as the chief financial officer (CFO) or chief information officer (CIO).3 In an Internet-fueled environment where consumers, competition, technology, and economic forces change rapidly and consequences quickly multiply, marketers in every organization must choose features, prices, and markets and decide how much to spend on advertising, sales, and online and mobile marketing—while under intense pressure to make every marketing dollar count.
At greatest risk are those that fail to carefully monitor their customers and competitors, continuously improve their value offerings and marketing strategies, or satisfy their employees, stockholders, suppliers, and channel partners in the process. Thus, skillful marketing is a never-ending pursuit. Despite these challenges, some businesses are adapting and thriving in these changing times.