technology is even allowing us to start seriously dreaming of inter-stellar travel and space colonization .
But this amazing achievement brought about by the ingenuity of the industrial revolution has come at a heavy price for mother earth in the form of climate change that is threatening the very existence of the planet that hosts us .
Marketing bears a good portion of the blame for this state of affairs as the profession was and still is at the forefront of creating and satisfying wants that are arguably infinite . Marketing has had to rethink and reflect on what constitutes responsible social marketing .
The industrial revolution created an unprecedented level of gas emissions especially carbon dioxide that has adversely affected the Earth ’ s ozone layer and created the frightening global warming that is currently blamed for the climate upheavals that are being experienced around the world .
To give you another perspective of the industrial menace , in the year 2020 alone the global industrial extraction amounted to a staggering ninety two billion tons and the resultant waste is of a gargantuan level and clearly this is unsustainable apart from being destructive .
The world became used to smog as the price they had to pay for industrialization from the early 1900 ’ s and at that time it was due to burning coal , we still have the same problems today but the smog is photochemical , a more dangerous scenario .
In summary the quality of air that we breathe in the cities is so bad that it has contributed to a sharp rise in respiratory diseases and the compromising of the immune system that cannot cope with the bad air coupled with the bad diets promoted by the marketing of fast food outlets .
The world has in the past suffered the devastating effects of nuclear plant accidents and currently the coronavirus , which appears to be a laboratory accident as the investigations that are ongoing indicate , means we have to learn to mitigate the adverse effects of industrialization .
Marketing was grappling with the new reality of climate change before the whole world was put on pause by the Coronavirus that caused the dreaded Covid-19 . An unanticipated consequence of the Corona pandemic is that it disrupted the world as we knew it .
The pandemic has changed the way we congregate and consequently changed the way we work , socialize and live . The pandemic has within a year wiped out a sizable chunk of careers and businesses and redefined how most work will be done .
But this is exactly where Marketing thrives in a state of uncertainty , confusion and chaos , the discipline will redefine customer needs and wants incorporating the new limitations brought about by the Coronavirus and create the new normal .
Fortunately the challenges of climate change already had Marketing thinking in the right direction and the pandemic just accelerated the process by demonstrating that the only permanent thing in today ’ s world is change which will increasingly be unpredictable , fast and potentially disruptive .
More significantly the consumer of tomorrow is changing and he will be a tech native . This tech savvy individual will be at home with digital technology and devices and his home will be the various digital platforms available as close as on his palm .
As Marketing is already postulating , this consumer may redefine the original 4Ps and introduce the 4Es as the consumer of tomorrow will seek engagement with the product or service and will expect a pleasant experience which should be both exclusive and emotional .
Marketing as a profession had already started the shift and without discarding the 4Ps that are central to Marketing had already redefined the 4Ps to take into account the marketing of services which corresponds closely to the new market reality using the SIVA model .
In this model you replace Product with Solution which makes perfect sense since the real reason you buy a product or service is to solve a problem or a need you have . Viewing a product as a solution also opens the space to other products that may equally solve the same problem or need .
You replace Promotion with Information and rather than worrying about what type of advertising and where to place it , all one has to do is to provide the necessary information to the consumer who will in turn decide when and where they will consume the product of service .
You replace Price with Value and without getting into complex economic theories of pricing one simply sets the price based on the value they derive from the product or service . Perceived value which is emotional has been used to charge premium prices .
If you then replace Place with Access then the consumer is in a position to access the product or service when and where they want it instead of the business determining access to them . Product or service on demand is what tomorrow ’ s customer expects .
The concept behind the SIVA model is to restate the 4Ps in such a way as to reflect today ’ s changing marketing environment where the power of building brands is becoming to a large extent a shared convergence between the business and the customer .
The marketer of tomorrow will be analyzing and dissecting metadata to gain a specific insight in the needs of the customer . Using a combination of personal , location and environmental data he will target their customer with the right message at the right time on the right device .
We have not even delved into virtual reality where companies will be able to create the illusion on in-store shopping and allow the customer to surf the shelves of a supermarket and interact with brands from the comfort of his couch .
The marketing discipline has proved that it is versatile enough to not only anticipate and create the future and be a proactive force in the business environment but to also react positively and appropriately to a swiftly changing business environment .
In the next decade those that work in Marketing will have the unique opportunity to determine how progress will look like . A combination of creativity and the ability to leverage technology in every sphere of life will create new businesses and careers .
The only drawback that may be encountered will be the lack of trained high caliber marketing professionals that are required to creatively imagine how tomorrow looks like . The demand for these multi-talented individuals will grow exponentially in the coming decade .
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