Latest / The Galaxy of Marketing / How marketing shapes society

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How marketing shapes society · The Galaxy of Marketing

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  All of us dreamt of some superpowers while we
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  were children, and it was so painful to realize
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  that they just don't exist. But the truth is,
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  we see at least one of them every single day,
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  and somehow we just overlook it while it quietly
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  shapes our lives. Hello there, I'm Olga Kay,
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  a marketing major and author of the podcast,
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  and I'm here on a mission to tell you how marketing
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  is done, so that you can benefit from it and
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  don't let it fool you. And as any superheroes,
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  marketers need instruments. And today we're going
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  to acquire that superpower by starting one of
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  the most powerful of them – marketing campaigns.
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  Ready to take on? Then we'll start with a question.
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  What is the power that ruled the world? Let's
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  break it down to make it simpler. You have a
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  crowd and you want the crowd to do as you say.
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  What will you do? Thousands of years taught us…
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  well, at least most of us, that yelling and fighting
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  are not the best option, but finding the support
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  and emotions are. And if I had to name two things
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  that united people all across the globe in every
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  epoch, that would be social anxiety and desires.
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  And there is a sign that studies exactly those
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  things, and at the very peak, even shapes them.
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  And that power is marketing. Our first case is
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  famous Debi's Diamonds, a textbook example of
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  great marketing. We're all used to diamonds being
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  symbols of eternal love and loyalty, because
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  diamonds are the hardest natural stones on earth.
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  But it hasn't always been this way. In fact,
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  until 1940s, engagement rings rarely featured
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  diamonds at all. Let's conduct a small market
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  research, first to understand from the company
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  perspective and then from social perspective.
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  After the Great Depression, the consumer demand
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  for diamonds plummeted for apparent reasons,
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  and monopoly of the business on diamond supply
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  was no longer helping. Besides, a lot of new
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  mines were discovered in South Africa, and if
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  that supply entered the market in the US, prices
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  would collapse even more. The last straw was
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  the second -hand market that would successfully
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  compete with their stores offer. From consumer's
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  point of view, spending money on an object traditionally
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  associated with ultra -wealthy people was considered
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  impractical and irresponsible. Regular people
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  opted for safer investments – cars, appliances,
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  houses, etc. Subsequent Second World War made
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  the situation even worse, while US government
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  launched antitrust lawsuit against cartel. Checkmate.
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  Or no. In 1938, the Bears hired marketing agencies
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  that spent a year conducting marketing research
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  to discover all of the above information, because
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  at the time company had no idea what was going
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  on. And that is exactly where they turned on
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  their superpower. World War II halted advertisements,
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  yet initial marketing efforts drew sales by 55%.
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  And by 1947, they rolled out a Diamond is Forever
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  campaign. The whole idea was that an engagement
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  ring with a diamond is the confession of unbreakable
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  love and loyalty, because diamond is a rare and
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  durable material. Later on, an object tied to
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  such strong feelings was also promoted as a family
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  heirloom, on demanding second -hand market. And
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  our geniuses of marketing didn't stop there,
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  and created one -month salary rule. If you want
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  a marriage proposal to look substantial, you
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  gotta spend at least one month's salary on the
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  ring, because if you do otherwise, do you really
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  love your partner? People love demonstrating
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  their status through symbols, so the game was
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  eagerly accepted, raising standards as people
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  competed who bought the best jewelry. In 40 years,
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  company completely changed the rule of the game,
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  especially in the US and Japan, where diamonds
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  engagement rings are a must. They rate their
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  venues from 23 millions of dollars to 2 .3 billions
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  in the US alone. Are you shocked? So was I. Now,
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  let's apply this to general marketing philosophy.
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  Essentially, what makes marketing so powerful
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  is its ability to understand people and talk
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  to them in the language of their deepest desires.
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  As we just saw, or should I say heard, in the
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  example above, people didn't crave to buy some
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  shiny cool rock because it is the hardest natural
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  material on earth but they did see the point
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  of that hardest material on earth being a symbol
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  of eternal love and loyalty even though on its
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  own the stone meant nothing but successfully
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  tying that object to the emotions made the birds
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  huge profits And all of that is the exact point
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  why marketing is so keen on making people feel
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  something. Because when you think about something
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  from an analytical point of view, you rarely
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  think about something not practical, especially
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  if you are running low on budget. But the buzz
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  took it even further and tied all of that into
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  the social game by introducing one -month salary
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  rule. And since people are keen on competing
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  with each other, they actively started engaging
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  into that game and showing off their status.
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  And that works especially well with the middle
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  income class. However, it's important to remember
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  that the things or services sold are not inherently
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  something bad or useless or impractical. But
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  the thing is that marketers sometimes cross the
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  line and the obsession goes out of any borders
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  and people start scraping the last of their money
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  just to buy something that will allegedly fix
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  their relationships, friendships or life difficulties.
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  And in these moments, it's crucially important
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  to stop and question whether it's really worth
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  it. As a final touch, to understand marketing
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  influence on social behavior, I suggest you recall
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  some social rituals or emotional associations
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  with some products and Google how it came to
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  be so. I'm pretty sure you will find a lot of
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  interesting stuff and maybe inspiration for your
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  own campaigns. But as I said before, now when
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  you realize the extent of marketing power...
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  Don't forget about the responsibility. Thank
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  you for staying with me. In the next episodes,
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  we will keep discussing marketing strategies
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  and incredible cases to use marketing and don't
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  let it use us. Have a great morning, day or evening
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  and hear you in two weeks.