“What are you doing as a brand to make the world a better place?”
This was the question Philip Kotler posed in a recent interview with reporters. Kotler is recognized as the father of modern marketing, and is the S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the
Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He is also the author of Marketing Management—the pivotal marketing textbook now in its 15th edition.
The marketing expert added that customers should be at the center of brand activism as they can easily influence its growth or stagnation.
Kotler further explained that it is imperative, now more than ever, to make a brand’s various stakeholders the center of all marketing activities. He noted that these stakeholders influence the brand value and viability of market growth. It would be foolhardy to ignore these stakeholders, he added, because they are now able to directly communicate through tools like social media.
“If you really want to make more money for the shareholders, you need to change your whole view of the stakeholders,” Kotler observed.
In addition, he said: “If you introduce a brand new thing that creates a ‘wow,’ people line up and therefore there is no need for hard selling. Now today more than ever, customers want that ‘wow’ experience.”
