Marketers may have lost the desire to create magic but consumers haven't – let's make marketing magic together Throughout much of the 20th century, marketing narrated the march of progress and possibility.
Invented as a brainchild of capitalism, stewarded by the vision and wisdom of the likes of Henry Ford and Levi Strauss, it played the essential role of messenger and guide as the Industrial Revolution reconstructed the world around us. It improved our lives, it changed behaviours, shaped society and created culture for the better. It was a marvellous machine.
During the latter part of the century, as all around us the world trumpeted unbridled consumption, marketing began propagating a model that often resembled "selling for the sake of selling". It was a time of excess, a time of status and stuff, a time whose favour has passed.
Capitalism is at a crossroads today and so is marketing. Three seismic shifts have forever changed the world in which we live and have ushered in a new era.
The first is sustainability; we know we must live more sustainably. This realisation is rapidly raising expectations, and prompting demands for change, both inside and outside our corporations.
The second is D&E – we have to respond to the explosion of developing and emerging markets, of urbanisation. Every two months in the developing world, the equivalent of a city the size of Beijing is created, bringing new consumers with radically new and different needs.
The third is the power of digital. Digital changes everything – its implications for transparency and empowerment will completely change every facet of business, of marketing. Today, everybody wants to be a marketer. With social media, everybody can.
These fundamental shifts have ignited a radical reinvention of marketing. And it is people – not organisations – who are driving this change. The world revolves around them, not us. We must embrace that.
That means changing the way we work. Marketers today have a unique opportunity to reinvent marketing post-sustainability, post-D&E and post-digital. But this reinvention is also a revival — one of marketing's original ideals when improving people's lives was at its core.
If we're going to tackle today's biggest challenges and win, we need a new model that feels real and human. One that people will join forces with. To do this, we must above all put people first and through the power of brands, unlock the magic of marketing.
Putting people first
If people are driving the agenda, then more than ever, we must listen to them and learn from them. Only by truly knowing them can we do what's right for them.
In a new, sustainable age, that means accompanying people in the difficult march towards sustainable living, recognizing, as M&S says, that there is no Plan B, and acknowledging that there is no better driving force than marketing to help make sustainable living commonplace.
In a digital age, that means inviting and empowering people to own our brands – their brands – and shape them alongside us. Creating marketing that is social by design. Helping people tell their brand stories, not just hear ours.
In a planet that will soon host nine billion people, that means enabling all to flourish and helping everyone access a better life – just like soap brands Sunlight and Lifebuoy did over a century ago when they helped millions of people access basic health and daily hygiene practices.
The power of brands
Brands, too, have a role to play. They are our change agents and they are most powerful when they combine a great product people can buy with a powerful idea people can buy into. Think Different. Just Do It. Wonderful products wrapped in amazingly empowering ideas.
More than ever, while we're confronted with massive change and uncertainty all around us, brands with strong ideas are essential. They will guide our lives, facilitating our move to more sustainable lifestyles for today and for generations to come. They will also be critical in shaping the culture and society of the billion people who, for the first time, are discovering a world of opportunity.
Unlocking the magic
Marketing is a rigorous craft. It's relies on numbers, but also stories. Truly great stories have an emotional thread, one that takes the logic and mastery of a well-crafted script and brings it to life with the magic of ideas, of inspiration, of imagination.
In our quest for mastery, we seem to have lost the belief in the magic of marketing. But our consumers haven't. To the contrary, they long for the chance to amplify the magic, to become the magicians themselves – on YouTube, on Facebook, on Twitter.
By inviting them to create the magic with us, we can make hard change easy and fun. Think Coke's Happiness Machine or thefuntheory.com, creating more smiles around the world or making recycling a delight.
People. Brands. Magic.
At Unilever these are the beacons on our journey of reinvention: we call it "crafting brands for life". It embraces the challenge of Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan – to double the size of our business while reducing our overall environmental impact – and holds true to our original ideals, back to the times of William Lever, when we first crafted marketing to improve people's lives.
It's an exciting time to be a marketer. Not easy, but exciting. We all have an incredible opportunity, a responsibility, through marketing, to shape how we will live our lives for the generations to come.
To reinvent marketing for life.
Marc Mathieu is the senior vice president for marketing at Unilever – follow the firm on Twitter @unilever_press
About Me
- Keith Weed
- I am responsible for the marketing and communication functions at Unilever, a role that also includes leading Unilever's sustainability work, its drinking water business (Pureit) and the Unilever brand. Prior to this I was Executive Vice President for Global Home Care & Hygiene at Unilever, covering Fabric Cleaning, Fabric Conditioning, Household Cleaning Products, Oral Care and Potable Water. Previously I was Chairman of Lever Fabergé and Chairman of Unilever Export. I have worked for Unilever in the UK, France and the United States, as well as in a variety of global and regional management and marketing roles. Outside Unilever, I am a Fellow of The Marketing Society and, as an engineering graduate, a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. I am also a non-Executive Director of Sun Products Corporation.