Social impact of marketing

While on a trip recently, an interesting thought occurred to me about the impact of marketing on society. On the night of May 5, we had a bonfire which was accompanied by singing and games. Since most of it was in another language, I took solace in delving into my philosophical thoughts. And what I observed during that night added some new directions to my thought process. I had always been an avid supporter of marketing, but am no longer sure about the real impact it has on society. From the company perspective, marketing is essential to maximize profits. But seen from the point of view of the society, the repercussions now seem to be far from obvious to me.





Once the bonfire was lit on that night, the merry-making began with an old guy playing some musical instruments in front of the crowd of about 50 people, and a few kids were dancing around him. In the meantime, a small group of about 6 people started playing the guitar and singing some songs without paying any heed to what was already going on. They were doing it quite well and were lost in their own world of joy. Though nobody paid attention to them in the beginning, their sheer skill at what they were doing caught the attention of the entire crowd after some time. And that's the first lesson I learnt that night:

If you are good at something, keep doing it well. 

You will surely catch the attention of people someday.

Though the entire crowd had now turned to this small group of people, they didn't seem to be aware of this change in the mood of the crowd. Even if they were aware, they didn't seem to care much. After sometime, a group of about 10 people broke away from the crowd and started playing a game. I guess this would not have happened if that small group of people would have done something to retain the interest of the crowd in what they were doing. Even a small acknowledgement after every song they sung might have helped. And thats the second lesson I learnt that night:

Even if you are very good at something, 

you have to make extra efforts to retain your customers.

And then the first big question struck me. What difference it makes to the group whether the crowd is paying attention to them or not? Is it not better to be just lost in whatever you are already enjoying? Though the answer is a resounding yes when it comes to recreational activities, the answer is a clear no when it comes to actual products and real companies. Companies have to sell their products in the market, and they definitely have to make sure that the crowd is paying attention to them. So, from the point of view of the company, marketing is not only of utmost importance but is also indispensable. And this point is obvious and needs no further stress. What's more interesting is the next question.

Was it good for the crowd that this small group of people didn't make attempt at retaining their attention? If this group of people were successful at retaining the attention of the entire crowd, that new game, among those who broke away, would not have emerged. A piece of creativity that happened would have been lost. And whats most interesting is that we can extend this argument to the case of real companies and real societies. If company A has a  product which it markets properly, then people don't feel the need to create new products to achieve similar goals. But if company A does not market its products very nicely, someone else may start thinking and come up with a better idea. To put it in other words, satisfaction with existing stuff kills creativity. This reminded me of a recent conversation I was having with a friend of mine. He said that if Microsoft would not have been able to do such a successful marketing of Windows, people would have come up with much better solutions and the world would have had much better systems in place than what exist. That day I was not able to appreciate his view, but today I find it hard to disagree with him.