Marketing itself hasn’t changed. Ever. What has evolved over the centuries are the communication tools. The communication tools have influenced the distribution system and hence the economies of scale.
This presentation was sourced from the article written by Jessie Paul - a marketing expert, CEO of Paul Writer Strategic Advisory – a marketing advisory firm and the author of the book “No Money Marketing”. She was formerly Chief Marketing Officer, Wipro IT Business and Global Brand Manager at Infosys Technologies Ltd.
7. What has evolved over the centuries are the communication tools. The communication
tools have influenced the distribution system and hence the economies of scale.
9. In the first phase of marketing, everything was social.
You bought something because you knew and respected the person who made it.
So you had your special jeweler or weaver or tailor or baker.
11. Brands were based on track-record - whether they were honest in
previous transactions with you and your friends - and craftsmanship
- and this was usually visually or physically discernible.
12. Once communication and transportation improved a bit, you bought
something because you knew where it came from and that place
had a reputation for that product.
13. For example, Dacca muslin, South Sea pearls, French wine, Swiss cheese,
Cayenne pepper, Darjeeling tea etc. These were the great trading years,
and often the best products were identified by where they came from.
14. Distribution was still rather sketchy (and dangerous with pirate-infested seas) and you had
itinerant merchants carry these specialties and sell them across the world. Given the cost
of transportation, these goods were expensive and became the precursor of luxury brands.
16. The advent of the printing press revolutionized communication. It
led to the creation of handbills and newspapers and made it finally
possible to reach people outside your immediate circle.
17. Supply chains improved around the world as postal systems were introduced. The
Industrial Revolution helped to mass produce products. The combination of mass
communications and mass production helped to create the first mass brands.
18. TV and radio gave a big push to an already emerging trend and mass media was the
norm. Marketing 2.0 was all about how to communicate your message effectively to the
largest group of people as most products were about scale. Since these were very
large investments, marketing moved from being an art form to being a science with its
own models, metrics, and frameworks.
19. This business model favored those with capital. It was required in order to build the
factories with scale, and it was required to fund mass advertising that could capture
marketshare.
20. The big winners in this model were early entrants into each category and/or
those who had sufficient financial clout to build awareness through mass
advertising. This was the era of large global brands in categories such as apparel,
beverages, banking, hygiene products etc
21. India was a very late entrant in this model. Because of British policies India was late to
participate in the industrial revolution. The same British trade practices marginalized the
craftsmen responsible for the luxury brands of the previous era.
Secondly, for most of the 20th century, India was marked by an absence of capital. So mass
advertising as a means to global brand-building was also ruled out (further exacerbated by our
isolationist policies). India was however a consumer of these global products and brands, and
mass advertising was used to localize the communications.
23. In the 21st century there has been an increasing demand for personalization, which has been
met in many industries. This has been made possible by changes in manufacturing processes,
as well as the increasing digitization of content. From a distribution perspective the rise of
e-commerce and low cost of shipping allows an economic order quantity (EOQ) of one.
24. Electronic media also enables marketers to reach customers individually in a cost-economical
way. At the same time social media allows customers to increasingly rely on word-of-mouth
from friends, peers and like-minded individuals. The difficulty is that social media has yet to
provide a means for mass paid communication. What is currently available is an opportunity to
“seed” paid content which still relies on word-of-mouth to gain a larger mindshare.
25. In order to benefit from this ability to connect one-on-one to customers and also to
create a core group of consumers to promote their paid messages, marketers need to
look at building and owning a community. In other words, Marketing 3.0 tries to
replicate the community approach of Marketing 1.0, using sophisticated digital tools.
26. So, the more things change, the more they stay the same!
27. The article was authored by Jessie Paul - a marketing expert, CEO
of Paul Writer Strategic Advisory – a marketing advisory firm and
the author of the book “No Money Marketing”.
She was formerly Chief Marketing Officer, Wipro IT Business and
Global Brand Manager at Infosys Technologies Ltd.
