Unboxing Marketing

1 Introduction  9

Unboxing marketing’s next top model 11

From traditional marketing toward cultural marketing 16

The purpose of this book 21

Problematizing marketing (or, the road to hell is paved with
good intentions …) 23

Problematizing a book about marketing  27

The logic of the book  28

Part I Unboxing Society

2 Globalization 33

Introduction 34

Globalization and its driving forces 36

Globalization and cultures 37

Global convergence of culture? Homogenization or heterogenization? 39

Global convergence of strategy? Standardization or adaptation  44

Global value chains 47

Marketing communications on global markets 48

Marketing strategy adaption at the base of the pyramid 52

Movement of people: emigration and immigration 54

Concluding comments: Always and never truly global 56

3 Sustainabilization 57

Introduction 59

Sustainable development and marketing 59

Sustainability marketing challenges 61

Circular economy 71

Sustainable branding 72

Concluding comments: Sustainable marketing – your future! 76

4 Polarization  79

Introduction 80

Marketing in a polarized world 82

Class, work and income 84

Gender 87

Geographical location – polarization between metropolitan and
 rural areas 89

Ethnicity and religion 92

Ageism 94

Fragmentization of marketing and other communications
 – we’re living in separate worlds 97

Concluding comments: The inter­related­ness between
 polarizing aspects 99

Part II Unboxing the Credo of Marketing

5 Making markets 103

Introduction 105

The good and bad of marketization: Can we get enough Christmas?  106

Forms of marketization 112

Market making in practice 123

Conclusion: market making in a nutshell 128

6 Marketing value 131

Introduction 132

The relationship between marketing and value  133

What is value? 135

Who defines value? 142

Re-thinking the value chain 147

Value and pricing  156

Valuable conclusion 162

7 Consumer culture and the language of consumption  165

Introduction  167

Bringing symbols to the table 169

Why consumption matters 173

How consumption is filled with meaning  177

From product meanings to consumer image 179

Consumer happiness and stress 182

Concluding comments: Consumption für alle! 183

Part III Unboxing Marketing Strategy

8 The Rise and fall (?) of the 4Ps 187

Introduction  188

Historicizing the 4Ps 189

The 4Ps framework in contemporary market landscapes 195

4Ps and value 198

Concluding comments – 4Ps in transition 202

9 Marketing research 203

Introduction 205

Problematizing marketing research  209

Big data 215

Developing quality consumer insights through
 culturally-informed research  222

Market-driven or market-driving? 224

The marketing research toolbox 227

Concluding comments: Research is da shit! 239

10 Marketing in the digital era 241

Introduction 243

Grassroots movements 246

The Big Five: Capitalizing on an idea 260

Algorithmic consumer cultures 263

Concluding comments: It’s just marketing!  265

Epilogue 267

Marketing unboxed – now what? 268

Making things better – but how? 269

Why change doesn’t come easy 272

We have given you the tools, now use them! 274

Image sources 277

References 279

Index 295