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International Marketing Review

INTRODUCTION

“Marketing refers to “The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.”

The Chartered Institute of Marketing

Marketing helps producers identify and anticipate the needs and wants of consumers. It helps producers understand – what product is required by the consumer, where it is required and in what quantity. The purpose of this composition is to present a view on Marketing's role with regards to Consumption. It presents the view for the motion to outline the following content. By referencing the following, with theories discussing marketing's role, social marketing, impact of marketing etc. an analysis of the said topic and whether it is still relevant as it was in 1969 will be presented. William Lazer in his paper on ‘Marketing's Changing Social Relationships' contends “that in an economy of abundance, marketing is more than a technology of the firm and that marketing responsibilities extend beyond the realm of profitability. Marketing is viewed as an institution of social control instrumental in reorienting a culture from a producer's to a consumer's culture”. According to Kotler (2002) Marketing is the set of human activities directed at facilitating and consummating exchanges.

Social Marketing

The use of marketing principles and techniques to influence a target audience to voluntarily accept, reject, modify, or abandon behaviour for the benefit of individuals, groups, or society as a whole. Kotler (2002, p. 394)

Lazer (1969) talks about recognition of intrinsic values and enhancement of moral values

ANTI SMOKING CAMPAIGNS

Numerous attempts have been made by The National Health Services, UK to resolve the problem of smoking amongst its population. The problem has been responsible for far many deaths and complications.NHS launches gritty anti-smoking campaign.

The ‘Fight back' campaign, which spans film, experiential, posters, and PR, aim to show the damage smoking can do to a person's insides by showing a man being beaten up. Ads carry the lines ‘Smoking. Advertising becomes the primary factor for quitting and the target is hit three years early saving lives and millions from NHS expenditure. Thus it can be agreed that Marketing has a big role to play towards Social Responsibility (Department of Health: Anti-smoking).The majority of social marketing initiatives focus on changing behaviour to increase the well-being of individuals and/or society. It can be applied to a wide range of social issues, but the majority of campaigns relate to personal health (Ken Peattie , Sue Peattie , 2008).

POPULATION CONTROL – CHINA and INDIA

INDIA

In 1952, India, one of the most inhabited countries in the world launched a mass media movement to spread the idea of family planning in response to population growth. Most developing countries soon followed suit. While the campaigns have had varying degrees of accomplishments, they have made a momentous impact overall. According to a World Bank study, the average number of offspring per woman in the developing world declined by 2.5 children between 1960, when many of the campaigns began in earnest, and 1990, and there has been constant decline.

Efforts to persuade people into family planning through print media, radio announcements, and television ads are carefully designed for national audiences in most developing countries.

CHINA

During the 1970s, China's Communist Party first implemented the “one child” rule. This came to be known as the best-known population policy in the world— amidst growing concerns over whether China a famine-prone country could continue to feed its ever growing population. The rule stipulates that urban couples should have only one child while couples in rural areas, where 80 percent of the population lives may have two or possibly more children but they should delay getting married initially and then space their children. This rule is strictly enforced and families that defy the rule face obligatory abortions and harsh financial penalties, while single-child couples all over the nation are entitled to a lot of facilities like improved child care, privileged housing assignments, and cash bonuses. The policy has generally worked, and fertility rates have declined to an average of about two children per woman, from more than five children per woman in the 1950s. However, the number of Chinese women having children today is still much greater than were having children in the previous generation, so China's population growth continues.

National ad campaigns promoting “one child” link this policy to prosperity and good Communist citizenship. By showing happy single female children, many of the ads also seem to respond subtly to traditional preference for boys over girls, which some critics maintain has led to the killing of female infants. Example of one of the posters is:

Social performance are becoming the key product or service attribute in many markets, and a source of potential differentiation and competitive advantage(Porter and van der Linde, 1995), consumers' are becoming aware of these factors and are able to make a clear choice which in turn is changing their belief and behaviour.

GLOBAL WARMING

A new TV campaign by the Advertising Council and an environmental group uses stark imagery of a child about to be run over by a train to drive home its point on global warming.

“The new global warming campaign marks a watershed moment in the effort to stir the public's consciousness about global warming,” the non-profit Council and partner Environmental Defence said in a statement Thursday announcing the campaign.

The train ad starts with an adult standing on tracks and asking why he should worry about a problem that he might not live to see. He then moves away, revealing a girl also standing on the tracks as the train comes barrelling down (msnbc, 2006). The commercial messages to viewers is an integrated marketing strategies used to persuade their behaviours.Marketing's role is to derive global consumption, and to develop a concern about environmental and social issues amongst consumers, so that this concern would influence consumer behaviour (Vandermerwe and Oliff, 1990; Worcester,1993).

Developing Economy

Marketing practices that take place in developing economies are changing due to emergence of rising economic expectations and aspiration levels of developing nations. (Lazer, 1969).

The context of what happened in the America, an abundant economy as explained by Lazer in his article in 1969 is happening in the developing countries now. Marketing aims at increasing the purchasing power of the people and increasing the growth prospects of the people in the nation.(Lazer, 1969).

Marketing plays an important role in economic growth in the present global world. It ensures the planned economic growth in the developing economy where the scarcity of goods, services, ideas and excessive unemployment, thereby marketing efforts are needed for mobilization of economic resources for additional production of ideas, goods and services resulting in greater employment. According to Ranis (2000), we view economic growth to human development as a two-way relationship. Moreover, Ranis suggested that the first chain consist of economic growth benefiting human development. According to Cundiff & Hilger certain levels of development marketing are not just helpful, but are essential to economic development. Marketing can lead to expansion consumption and production. Marketing as an activity is necessary during the early stages of growth and development (Cundiff and Hilger, 1982 ).

In a developing country, as much notice must be paid to marketing infrastructure as it is paid to new production capability. The United Nations Economic Mission to Egypt in 1959-1960 concentrated its efforts on identifying opportunities for the development of new industries. They did not address the marketing of such products; the impact of the mission was minimal. For example, plans were developed for the production of asphalt from available raw deposits, but since no plan was made for marketing the final product, the idea came to nothing (Cundiff and Hilger, 1982 ). Glade and Udell (1968) report on a government-owned fertilizer plant in Peru which was closed due to the inability to distribute the product. Hence t is necessary for the developing countries to develop a marketing infrastructure to achieve increased levels of consumption, it is also necessary to channel investment in production facilities into the right industries that help the nation to develop economically.

Environmental Marketing

Marketing bridges the company and its markets in a societal context. Satisfying the needs of customers in a profitable way is the core of marketing ideology and in turn is a core of the market economy (Karna, Hansen, Juslin, 2003). Environmental or “green” marketing has been seen as a tool towards sustainable development and satisfaction of different stakeholders.Peattie (1995)defines green marketing as “the holistic management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying the requirements of customers and society, in a profitable and sustainable way”.According to kassarjiani's research Ecological or Environmental Marketing leads to consumption. With growing consumer sensitivity to social and environmental problems, markets will be evaluated according to the quantity to which consumers believe the concept and buy as individuals approved not only with their own satisfactions (Anderson and Cunningham ,1972). When a consumer is aware of environmental problems, and realises that these are partly related to consuming goods that are providing the most positive direct outcomes, a dissonance may emerge between ones preferences and cognitions. As a result, processes of cognitive dissonance reduction may emerge (Festinger, 1957).

According to Peattie (2001), the fruition of green marketing has three phases. First phase was termed as “Ecological” green marketing, and during this period all marketing activities were aimed towards helping environmental problems and offer remedies for environmental problems. Second phase was “Environmental” green marketing, here the focus shifted towards clean technology that involved designing of innovative new products, which take care of pollution and waste issues. Third phase was “Sustainable” green marketing. It came into prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000.

When companies innovate and produce eco friendly products, they can access new markets, enhance their market shares, and increase profits this can be shown using 4p's of marketing.

PRODUCT

The products have to be developed depending upon the needs and wants of the customers who prefer environment friendly products. Products can be produced from recycled materials or from used goods. For example, Nike, a shoe giant, is the first amongst shoe companies to market itself as Green. It is marketing its Air Jordan shoes as environment-friendly, as it has significantly reduced the usage of harmful glue adhesives. It has designed this variety of shoes to emphasize that it has reduced wastage and used environment-friendly materials.

PRICE

Green pricing takes into consideration the people, planet and profit in a way that takes care of the health of employees and communities and ensures efficient productivity. Value can be added by customizing, changing its appearance, functionality etc. Wal Mart unveiled its first recyclable cloth shopping bag. IKEA started charging consumers when they opted for plastic bags and encouraged people to shop using its “Big Blue Bag”.

PLACE

Green place is about logistics management to cut down on transportation emissions, thereby in effect aiming at reducing the carbon footprint. For example, instead of marketing an imported mango juice in India it can be licensed for local production. This avoids shipping of the product from far away, thereby reducing shipping cost and most importantly, the consequent carbon emission by the ships and other modes of transport.

PROMOTION

Indian Tobacco Company has introduced environmental-friendly papers and boards, which are free of elemental chlorine. Green marketer can attract customers on the basis of performance, money savings, health and convenience, or just plain environmental friendliness, so as to target a wide range of green consumers.

Consumer awareness can be created by spreading the message among consumers about the benefits of environment-friendly products. Positing of profiles related to green marketing on social networks creates awareness within and across online peer groups. Marketing can also directly target and influence the consumers through advertisements for product such as energy saving compact fluorescent lamps, the battery –powered Reva car, etc.(Lakshmi and Babu , 2008)

CONCLUSION

Marketing stands as the strongest tool for increasing consumption. It is not an end in itself, it is only a means. Social Marketing is a strategy used by marketers to encourage consumption by changing the belief and behaviour of consumers by using and creating concern among them for their social behaviour. Increase in production leads to increase in consumption along with right marketing infrastructure leads to increase in Economic growth. Marketers also have the responsibility to make the consumers understand the need for and benefits of green products as compared to non-green ones and develop concern for their consumption of green products. Thus based upon above facts we can say that marketing's role is to encourage consumption.

References

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