Is Marketing a New Religion?
I'll admit it. Sometimes I find Seth Godin kind of preachy. Indeed it seems that, for him, marketing is preaching, or "evangelizing," as it's more commonly called in the church of the customer. "It's about spreading ideas that you believe in, sharing ideas you're passionate about... and doing it with authenticity." Or so goes the Gospel of Godin.
He's not alone. Back in November, Hugh MacLeod of Gapingvoid published an updated Hughtrain Manifesto, which he kicks off with the proclamation that, "The market for something to believe in is infinite." That the act of marketing is not too different from the Acts of the Apostles becomes more clear towards the end of the Manifesto where we read: "A well-executed marketing campaign is an act of love." And if the point weren't fine enough, we are then told, "Choosing to have a 'smarter conversation' with the market is not a marketing decision; it's a moral decision."
I understand the allure of faith to marketers. On the one hand, people want to feel good about themselves and what they are doing and, since marketing often has an air of disrepute about it, defining it in terms of authenticity and honesty bestows upon it the glow of existential righteousness. On the other hand, if we want to be honest with ourselves as marketers, we must concede that we want people to have a pre-rational devotion to our products and services. In other words, faith in our products and services is the holy grail.
Of course, as good marketers, we're just responding to what consumers want. Part of our sense of self-worth as humans comes from seeing our convictions mirrored in the communities and organizations we associate with. Since many of those associations are economic, people increasingly hope to find themselves reflected in the phantasmagoria of the marketplace. Accordingly, as one blogger put it, many long-established brands "are under threat because they don't believe in the stuff we believe in, indeed they often don't believe in anything."
Maybe it's because I was brought up with a God vs. Mammon mindset, but the rhetoric of faith in the mouths of marketers rubs me the wrong way. I guess I'm more comfortable with marketing based on knowledge - I know what this can do; I know what you need; etc. - than one based on faith. This might make me a bad marketer. But does it make me a bad person, too?
