Marketing - Its So Very Human!

I chose marketing not because I was inclined towards the four P’s, but because I found this subject somewhat more practical than others. Probably the strong faculty in marketing also influenced me in making this career decision. And I have never regretted this decision. My theoretical knowledge in classroom teaching made me observe so many things in a better way. 

Probably “structured way” is an apt phase. I started connecting marketing with almost everything. When a child is born, the event is a kind of “NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH”- a NEW PRODUCT, who is to be named. Someone who will create a different brand value altogether. Either he will be known because of the “PARENT BRAND” or he will create his own identity and his own sub-brand. In course of time, he will interact with different people- maybe the “clients, users or the competitors”.

With his actions, he will be “POSITIONED” in the mind of others. Whether the marketing message he is giving, is consistent or not, would depend on the types of personality he is portraying. An inconsistent message would create a “dilemma” in the decision of buyers – colleagues, friends, TRADE PARTNERS- Juniors, neighbours, bosses; sometimes even the suppliers – parents and siblings.

Now the so-called “child”, who has reasonably grown will not like to be associated with cheaper brands because that can “DILUTE” his “BRAND VALUE”. While reaching the peak, he will suddenly add to his ego, attitude and rude behaviour – such a sudden increase in his “PRICE” value will affect his buyers in a negative way. There will be a sudden fall in the number of well-wishers. Some will switch to other brands – the people who can provide better benefits. Some will stay forever – The family, the best of friends – The set of “LOYAL CUSTOMERS”. The so-called “child”, who is no more a child is tested and tried by a number of people in his life – “THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE”.

In a competitive world like this, where everyone is fighting to make a brand out of him; “HE” tries to find a feature that can help him “DIFFERENTIATE" and provide a “COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE”. He starts focussing on his “CORE COMPETENCY”.

He promotes himself through “PACKAGING” – following the latest fashion trends. He “CUSTOMIZE” himself according to the customer’s demand – Maybe he wants to get into the IT industry, so he learns C++ and JAVA! Then sometime in life, he reaches the stage of “MATURITY” – he becomes more or less stable now. He starts focussing on the “TARGET AUDIENCE”.

The only thing he focuses upon is “RETAINING CUSTOMERS”. The customers who still make him feel important and worth something – The respect, recognition, care etc. Then comes the “FINAL STAGE” of the product life cycle. At this stage, “new spectacles” is the only investment a company can make for the dying product. The other expenses also happen – on medicines, treatment etc. According to the BCG matrix – it brings the product to the quadrant named “DOG”. Will he ever die or live forever, is up to him. 

It depends on the “FORMULATION” of the “STRATEGIC PLAN”, the way of “IMPLEMENTATION, “MONITORING” and “CONTROL”.

A special day has hardly made her days special..

“What do you want to become in your next life?” – The question which we all must have answered. Ask a woman, if she still wishes to be a woman in her next life and the reaction would be a considerable amount of pondering and then probably a NO! Ask a man, and he proudly says “Yes! A man again”. A time pass question that has so much to say.

No specific day for a man – they have all the days with them unlike women with just one day!

It is still a male-dominated society; however, the metro cities have shown a major change. Women are becoming powerful by expressing themselves more but the societal mentality is still a problem.

Ask an urban woman, if she wants to visit her grandmother who resides in a village. A strange worry can easily be seen on her forehead. You have to change it all – those fully covered dresses; preferably suits, staying at home all the time, hesitation in picking up a male friend’s phone, talking nice and so on.

Our society is designed in such a way, that not just men but even the ladies of old times have contributed so much in suppressing the position of women.

“Feminism” exists but more of it is still required. There are so many things written on women.

People read on to them, sympathize and move on the very same way. Let me not make it just another writing piece mentioning women’s sacrifices, her deep love, her contributions to society, and what she gets in return – the female infanticide, dowry murders, forced sex, eve-teasing, domestic violence and so on. These things are so much common that women have started taking things as normal. Nobody wants to fight or question a man and society. I wish to see a world where a man is turned into a woman to understand what she goes through throughout her life.

Sometime back, someone asked me the same question – “what do I want to be in my next life – a man or a woman”. Without much thinking I answered “man”; not because I am not proud to be a woman but I want to know a man’s mind, his hard heart, how eve-teasing can give him pleasure, does he turn robot when he forces a lady for sex, doesn’t his heart cry when his wife is tortured for money, does he feel proud with the amount of dowry he gets, what fun does it give to cheat on to his girl, and of course, I want to understand that damn Man’s Ego.

Women’s day – 8th march

She smiles when somebody wishes her. She smiles when she gets a gift on the day. Sometimes a man decides to cook for her this special day to give her respect and thank them for the things she does for him and the family. She might get a beautiful dress. Go out on this day, and just see how the malls and brands make the day so very obvious. I wish the things done on this special day become a usual affair. Respect throughout her life.

Though the celebrations on a particular day at least make the things noticed. It would be a great time when the day will be celebrated even in the remotest of areas. I am taking it as a positive start. But this start should achieve a right finish too.

For all the companies making the best use of the day – let's make it happen all over the place, not just for marketing your own product but changing the positioning of women among the target audience called man and the society – because you have the resources to make it happen.

Still incomplete..

No matter how close we are to each other, there always exist some hidden truths which we never want to share.

We are rational beings. We carry opinions about situations and people around. How true we are to someone on face is somewhat linked to the position we have in someone’s mind.

Are we friends to be honest enough? Or do we enjoy a respectable (or authoritative) position of a boss to carry out honest opinions. It is a world of “maintaining good customer relationships” and each one of us is a prospect customer. We tend to smile even if we hate the person badly! Smiling is no more a depiction of happiness. But sometimes it says, “Shut up and go!”

The training given to an airhostess for treating all the guests nicely has become an inborn talent in people. We are good on face and hard on back!

Luckily, words like “friendship” still exist; though the meaning remains diverse depending on the situations. We are friends till it is a “placement season”. We are friends till we get to know an extra question in an exam. We are opinionated human beings. We form impressions of everyone who passes by. We are not gutsy enough to make the comments on face but we enjoy things better if we talk behind backs.

Any day turns great when we get to hear a compliment. “Awesome”, the word is becoming too powerful to turn you “awesome” in an awesome way! While a comment, not so good, turns us off and makes us conscious enough.

We have turned so fake that we start believing our own lies. And we have turned so busy that we don’t get the time to bring out the trueness of our heart and mind.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the father of psychoanalysis, gave the theory of “Id, ego and superego”. The “Id” is driven by “pleasure principle”. If we would be governed by our “Id”, we will satisfy are needs and wants in all the ways possible. And this sort of behaviour could be both disruptive and socially inacceptable. The “superego” on the other hand keeps a check on our moral standards and ideals which we acquire from our parents and society. “Ego” is responsible to deal with reality in a socially acceptable way.

This reminds me of an example given by my Psychology teacher, “sex” is an Id, while “marriage” is a way of expressing this Id in socially acceptable way. We carry hard truths and secrets inside us. But we are different to others.

The day dreams and the unconscious dreams during sleep bring us closer to ourselves. We face an interview and we try to alter ourselves in the best possible way. We twist our answers in such a way that it fits in to interviewer’s perspective. And then “luck” is the answer for almost all the rejections!

Our family background and the past relationships never leave us. But we hide them, because we fear reactions which can bring us down in an embarrassing way. We like someone and we don’t come open about it because we don’t want to deal with “image issues”. “I don’t care” attitude comes late in life when we acquire a status that no one can question. We love wearing “red” shoes but it makes a girl, super girlish and a guy a gay!

Though the young generation pretends to be much advance and cool, it is also governed by peer pressure. We pretend to be rich even if we don’t have much to spend. But image demands it all. India, besides its advancement as an economy is also getting a feel of western culture.

Expression of love and liking is now accepted by many more people. ‘Loving friendly hugs’ in public are becoming common. But then there still exist a major class of people which does not understand its relevance. We carry so many emotions with us but we fear expressing them. We smile at the person we don’t like and we do not look into the eyes of the person we like.

Honesty has become a relative term. It is something which people modulate in their own way. “I am having an affair-the whole world knows it except my parents!” The statement makes the person honest to the world but untruthful to the parents. We don’t speak truth because we believe that people won’t accept it. We either wait for the right time or we just keep it to ourselves.

Too much of alcohol is injurious to health. But it is been considered a good way to socialize. It makes us comfortable and helps us in bringing out the little things which we would never reveal when fully conscious. We need someone to share things.

But there are things, people just can’t listen too. Psychologists, the meditational camps are in good business today. They help people to connect with themselves, so that they take time out to understand their inner self. There are ugly truths which can make us criminal in a friend’s eye. So better keep it to yourself. Confessions are difficult to make. Somewhere I read “to forgive is human, but to ask for forgiveness is divine”. I am not referring to little word ‘sorry’ which we regularly say for our repeated mistakes. But the deep confessions which we make that can badly ruin our self respect, ego and pride.

Most of the times, we are not courageous enough to confess.

Stardom is in. Youth dreams of dressing up in a fashionable way. But only few can live it their way. The society takes it all. I have a problem with male dominant society. The things are changing for sure but the pace is too slow.

We have so much inside.. that a post can never present it all..

still incomplete..