How to Become a Marketing Superhero

foreign
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a few weeks ago
I read this
there are 6 billion people in the world
who have access to mobile phones
and only 4.5 people who have access to
toilets
in other words it means that we have
more smartphones than toilets
it is such a great news
it means that there are plenty of
telecommunications companies who are
making great deals
phone makers and consumer electronic
stores that are selling plenty of
products and marketers like me were
creating clever campaigns for these
brands for these companies to support
their sales
and don't look at me like that
I know what you're thinking here is
another hidden Persuader trying to
manipulate us to convince us to buy
useless products and services
but the reality
is that we are all marketers
marketing is helping the world
look at this image
thanks to technology now marketers can
reach out to 6.5 billion people
regardless of what they are and we can
interact with them we can exchange those
we can recommend products it is amazing
it wasn't possible only a few years ago
and frankly
you should also think that you do
marketing every day yes you too
your marketers every time that you take
a selfie you post it online and you try
to build your personal brand
I do exactly the same professional
marketers do exactly the same on behalf
of their clients
and your marketers when you put on
makeup when you decide what to wear
when you decide where to go for dinner
we are all marketers
and it's fine
we
see marketing even in nature and it's
fine look at this male peacock
he's trying to sell the product himself
trying to attract as many customers as
possible female peacocks in order to
maximize his return on investment
and look at this female bear carefully
choosing the right Channel
the river to maximize her return on
investment Salmons
and coming back to humans
how could we possibly choose among so
many different but very similar
alternative products if marketers hadn't
carefully designed a catchy packaging
and find a memorable brand name and pay
attention to the product positioning on
the Shelf
it's been possible
the reality is that we need marketing
in this part of the world we need
marketing to make sense of our own
existence to communicate with others
to build our identity
in our image
other than of course to choose the right
products and services
and if we go back to the roots of
marketing
this is a definition given by Philip
kotler who is unanimously considered the
father of marketing
if you look at this definition marketing
is not only useful but even ethical
so what is the problem
what is wrong with that
this is wrong
we acted as if the resources on this
planet were infinite
we acted as if
the only Compass to follow was growth
and this is wrong
this is wrong
they told us the business of business is
business
and if there are collateral damages well
they are technically negative
externalities they are part of the
equation it's fine
this is wrong
we created an unequal Society
prioritizing the vested interest of the
few
at the expenses of the many
this is wrong
it's wrong because
globalization can be something very good
but if we don't care about the
consequences then the planet will remind
us of the consequences and we created a
toxic cocktail of marketing
globalization capitalism and consumers
and this is the result
this is wrong we abuse globalization and
thought that we could just telecallize
production without paying too much
attention to the details
so now the point is how can we reconcile
these contradictions
this is the real question today
how can we Leverage
The Unbelievable computational power at
our disposal that of virtual reality
augmented reality artificial
intelligence blockchain 3D printing and
what is the role of marketing
in this effort to reconcile
contradictions
as you can imagine given what I do for
living these questions have been keeping
me awake for quite some time and then I
add my epiphany
I traveled back in time
to
the south of Italy
to a region called Calabria
to a little city a little town called
Castroville where I was born
the Romans gave to that part of the word
the name of magnet Risha or greater
Greece because of the many Greek
settlements
well I was lucky enough to grow up there
and one day
25 years ago more or less at school one
of my professors told us an amazing
story
it was the story from the ancient Greek
mythology of
daughter
of two gods
heiress the god of war and Aphrodite
the godness of love
can you see the power of this idea two
opposite incredibly opposite
contradictions Love and War United to
give birth
to a baby to a baby girl to a child
and what is even more impressive
the name that they decided to give
the child
armonia
or harmonia in English
she was the goddess of Harmony conquered
and synthesis
to me
the very existence of Harmony is the
proof
that 20 centuries ago ancient Greeks
among other Western and Eastern
civilizations understood that the word
is not linear
it is actually full of contradictions
and it's been like this since the tone
of civilization think about it male
female
day night
odd even
circle square
light Darkness good
evil
and wise men and women
in order to be successful in life had to
reconcile these contradictions they had
to deal with them they had to find a
compromise
they to find the solution
whether in their private life in society
in politics in science in art even in
their own body
so here is my Epiphany armonia can fix
our broken word armunia can help us
finding a compromise between the
contradictions that I showed you before
between the legitimate interests of
companies to make profit and the
consequences the inequalities that
that's generated
but it will be quite hard
because we spent the last few centuries
trying to kill our own ability to deal
with
this
opposites
we decided that it wasn't very efficient
to have nuances we decided that it was
way easier to have black or white and to
double down on one of the two
we decided to sacrifice armunia
in the name of efficiency Effectiveness
predictability calculability control
effectiveness
planning if you want
and we did that because the only way
achieve economies of scale of scope
economies of learning efficiency is to
have a very stable predictable
environment
you can't deal with these cows you need
stability if you want to maximize the
return on investment if you want to
maximize your profit if you want to
maximize the competitive advantage to
exploit your competitive Advantage as
long as possible you need stability
so do you see how complicated it is
today we need to relearn something that
we used to know that we forgot and that
we now need because today's word is full
of contradictions it's all about
volatility uncertainty complexity
ambiguity
so let's have a look at today's
contradictions humility and ambition we
need to find a way to blend the two we
need to admit that we don't have all the
answers but we also need the ambition to
write the rules of the game
Art and Science
assuming that they are two opposites
if you think of Leonardo da Vinci was he
a scientist or an artist hard to say
probably useless to decide
short-term and long term you can have
short-term returns you also need to have
long-term sustainability if we don't
find a way to reconcile these two
contradictions or these two opposites
we're lost
ethics and profits
finance and ESG
local and global
human and Tech
and while this list is by no means
exhaustive I could have had
virtual and real physical and digital
he gives you a very clear sense of the
complexity we have to deal with
so
we need to go back it would be hard it
won't be linear it would be very
difficult
but maybe there is a solution
and of course
now you know me enough to know that to
find the solution I had to go back
to the ancient Greece
among many other very interesting things
beside armonia
they also invented heroes
think of
Ulysses
Achilles
Atalanta
women and men
with Superior abilities women and men
with superpowers as we would call them
today
they were the predecessors of Superman
Batman
but woman
Wonder Woman
and man with Superior capabilities with
superpowers
this is what we need today
we need to go beyond our limits
we need to unlearn and relearn something
and so
here is my Eureka moment here is my
epiphany
we need to when I say we I mean
marketers the business community at
large everyone
we need to relearn to accept ambiguity
and ambivalence as inevitable variables
of the status quo
we need to start making products that
are harmonic by Design
we need to consider harmonia our new
modus operandi
and if we are successful if marketers
are successful then we will lead the way
we will be seen as a source of value
creation we will honor the very first
definition of Philip kotler
we will help and Inspire companies to
make products that are good for the
company good for the customer good for
the planet this is possible
I'm thinking of shoes that are
fashionable
good for performance but at the same
time are made of recycled materials I'm
thinking of expensive devices that
generate profit for the phone makers and
at the same time they can be part of the
circular economy at the end of their of
their life cycle
I'm thinking of expensive luxury
products that are absolutely cruelty
free and child labor free even though
they generate huge margins for the
companies it is fine if we can reconcile
and so here's my final dream
a dream of a word where marketers and
the business community at Large
can relearn to deal with these
contradictions
I dream of a word where armunia becomes
our superpower
I dream of a word where
marketing can Inspire the next
generation of products and services
energy of a word where marketers can
become the superheroes
that this word
desperately needs and deserves
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