Marketing as a Warfare

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Author: Tim Ambler , Senior Research Fellow at London Business School, Head of International Marketing at International Distillers and Vintners (IDV). The material is published in an abridged translation from English.



Of all the possible definitions of marketing, the most amusing is the formulation of its essence through conflict (at least for those who still slovenia whatsapp data nostalgia for playing with soldiers). Competitors are the <enemies> , sales representatives are the <infantry> , advertising is the <artillery> , the main indicator of success is the <captured> market share. Available troops are pulled into the annual sales conference as if on <alarm signal> . Extreme care is taken for the morale of the units, fraternization with the <enemy> is not allowed. And the most glorious people suddenly find themselves in the ranks of the <punitive battalion> .

The idea of ​​transferring strategic and tactical methods of warfare to business is not new. It is believed that Socrates was the first to express such an idea, and I dare say that it was born much earlier.

Guerrilla Marketing

We recommend that every marketer read Norman Dixon's invaluable treatise on military disasters, The Psychology of Military Incompetence (Norman Dixon,). From it you can learn, for example, that the term "groupthink" was introduced into scientific circulation after the Bay of Pigs finally buried the American hopes for a successful invasion of Cuba. Any reasonable outside observer who had the opportunity to assess the developing situation would have concluded that the planned landing was doomed to failure. Nevertheless, the staff generals, led by US President John Kennedy, were so imbued with vague feelings that infected everyone and everything that they eventually believed in the impossible. In a milder form, this example explains why committees, as a rule and contrary to popular belief, more often than individuals make radical decisions, the consequences of which are both triumphant victories and catastrophic defeats.