Pyar and Marketing

All marketeers are romantics. They are out there standing to pamper you.. They are out there to serenade you by tempting u to savour all those temptations!! No wonder few puritans, offended by the romantic gooeyness, called all the marketing folks devisl!! Infact if I could sum up marketing in one word: it could be "Pyar" Note, Im not using the traditional four letter word, used so casually to downgrade its status to be throw-away slang or rather a semi-colon. Marketing and to be very precise Branding is all about "Pyar". After all, what do lovers/consumers do, so gobsmacked by their beloved brands, they could do anything for her!!

How can you explain long queues of youngsters braving the long night before I-phone could be released, all just to touch and feel the silken smooth skin of the electronic nymphet, showcased to the world by the greatest lover of all ages: Steve Jobs!! Isnt he the pioneer to bring in hot n sleek electronic chicks right from Macintosh to the latest I-phone!! If Marketing is all about "Pyar" , Steve Jobs is apna Devanand, the king of Indian romance.

If you ever thought branding was so boring, here is a refreshing way to look at it.

Lemme explain the evolution of branding through a simple love story!!

Long long ago, there lived a smart, suave talkative lover. Lets call him old Brander. He was the only Old Brander in town. Inspired by the likes of Shakespeare and Keats, poetry flowed from Old Brander's lips to woo pretty consumers.He gave amazing promises to all those gullible n naive consumers who were swayed by his charm. People believed his promises so dearly as they had no other handsome chap to fall for. They bought all those he showed to buy, without any other restraint. As world began to grow in, things began to change and the tribe of Branders grew. Lets call them New Branders!! These New Branders took themselves too lightly and began to indulge in amorous activities. They grew up to be philanderers. They had multiple relationships with different consumers. They gave different promises to different consumers. They made the cardinal sin of breaking several promises which stood in contradiction to other promises. The naive consumer, perplexed by confusing promises, began to break the relationships quickly with the branders. There were too many breakups.. No wonder Brand Equity paper, few weeks ago, screamed the headline, "The Consumer is an infidel"... Pampered by too many choices around, consumer is now an infidel. Although New Branders are getting new techniques every day( Twitter and Face book are the latest to be added to this list!!) to seduce the consumers, they are struggling to get their relationships right with the consumers. Old style of romance by throwing brand promises across the air will not work anymore. The consumer is no longer naive. She now demands undivided attention on you and expects to u fulfill all the promises given. If you fail once, she ll begin flirting with someone else.

Is it still surprising we see relationships breaking down so quicly in brandspace and real world??

Infact real-life relationships can learn a lesson or two from the concept of branding to solve several problems!!! I guess Im goin too deep into this!! Ill delve into this later!!!

Let me pause at this moment and give you a small tip.

Next time when you open the fat Kotler book and read every chapter, remember, you are reading a beautiful way to create a love story in the mind of a consumer!!!

Venky-09-11