Consumer (People), Technology and Marketing in the 21st Century

MANG6262: Marketing in the 21^st Century has relayed key themes that sets the basis for critical and reflective thinking. While there were various themes that were discussed over the course of 6 weeks, the author has presented a critical discourse on Consumer and Technology to exemplify contemporary marketing issues. This final post serves to address these two themes and how it implicates Marketing in the 21^st Century. Upon addressing this, the author hopes to conclude the module by a critical reflection and how it will impact him as a marketing practitioner.

From the narrative of prosumption, the term coined by Toffler (1980 cited Ritzer et al., 2012) has seen itself rising from the discourse of the traditional dichotomy of production and consumption. While we reflect on the development of this narrative, it strikes a thought provoking question on its acceptance in the marketing discipline. Though it was believed to be a primordial term that has gained much scholarly attention today (Ritzer et al., 2012), the inertia on the acceptance of this terminology was still evident. As we strive to identify the reasons behind this inertia, Molesworth (2016) believes that this may validate academic research. He further reiterates that this may not entirely be a new theme that emerged as the critical discourse has always been within critical consumer research. Perhaps, there may be some validity in his idea of possibly dropping the term consumer altogether and focusing on people instead (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Facebook comment on post on Prosumption by Molesworth (2016)

Marketing being a multi-disciplinary subject allows Anthropology, “study of human societies and cultures and their development” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016) to find its way in marketing. From the development of this discipline, Ethnography eventually find its way in marketing research till the term “Netnography” was finally developed by Kozinets (2002). This may very well be the turning point in marketing research where the rise in the Web and social media permits the adoption of netnography in really understanding people (consumers). As Kozinets (2002, p.61) argue, recognizing the importance of online communities and the need to understand and identify “tastes, desires, relevant symbol systems, and decision making influences of particular consumers and consumer groups” are the two main reasons behind the development of this marketing research methodology. While this corroborates with the ideology behind prosumption, it seems that the inertia of dropping the term consumers all at once may be evident.

This extends the argument to technology, where Ritzer et al. (2012) believe that the development of technology as part of social change (technological determinism) has warrant scholarly attention to prosumption. As we have discussed, the risk of technological determinism is a double edged sword that may implicate Marketing in the 21^st Century. Belk’s (2014) argument on digital changes such as dematerialization and re-embodiment have shed light on how technology determines the dynamic of marketing (or is it?). While the need to understand how the extended self in the digital world is vital, it is as important to divulge ourselves in the very nature of technology. This begs the question of whether technology has transformed marketing or vice versa. For instance, when dematerialization occurs, does technology inform marketing of its implications? (see example on Bruce Willis’ attempt to allow inheritance of his Apple iTunes music collection) Or when multiple identities are being presented in the digital sphere, how does marketing extract the very nature of consumers? These rhetoric permits a deeper and critical discourse beyond contemporary marketing issues being presented as buzzwords of digital marketing, marketing analytics or big data etc.

Ultimately, the two themes being discussed here were just a snippet of MANG6262: Marketing in the 21^st Century. As we started out the journey by mapping the key themes involved, consumer and technology seem to strike the author the most as he believes that it’s central to the marketing discipline. The idea behind the assessment through blogging seem dubious to the author initially. However, as we immerse ourselves within the themes, it was a realization that blogging is merely a medium that allows critical and reflective narration of the knowledge we cultivate. In that, appreciation of the knowledge was beyond the assessment of this module. The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Digital Marketing purports to instill an interaction between network of online learners from all over the world. Instead, the MOOC allowed us to appreciate face-to-face (F2F) interaction more in a lecture theatre setting as there are several drawbacks behind the technology. Despite this, the themes discussed were definitely relevant and did play a role in our thought processes in presenting our arguments in the blogs. This was also supplemented by the interaction on the Facebook group where the diversity of culture allowed us to have a more coherent view. With the delivery of this module, it develops confidence in stepping into the dynamics of marketing, how it is constantly evolving. Despite marketing theories being laid out for many years now, there are clearly more room for critical, innovative, creative and reflective narration behind those theories.

References:

Belk, R.W., 2014. Extended Self in a Digital World. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(3), pp.477–500. Available at: http://jcr.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/3/477.abstract.

Kozinets, R. V, 2002. The field behind the screen : Using netnography for marketing research in online communities. Journal of Marketing Research, 39(1), pp.62–72. Available at: http://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jmkr.39.1.61.18935.

Molesworth, M., 2016. Facebook Comment on post on Prosumption. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/347325115434584/permalink/655713244595768/?comment_id=655941111239648&notif_t=group_comment&notif_id=1478862380362982.

Oxford Dictionaries, 2016. Definition of Anthropology. Oxford Dictionaries. Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/anthropology.

Ritzer, G., Dean, P. & Jurgenson, N., 2012. The Coming of Age of the Prosumer. American Behavioral Scientist, 56(4), pp.379–398. Available at: http://abs.sagepub.com/content/56/4/379.short.

Technological Determinism: Love it, Hate it.

The pervasiveness of technology in the 21^st century has allowed the risk of technological determinism that has been embedded in most of us as we live in the digital age. In that, we fail to realize the wider implication that has bestowed upon us. This resonates along with how Thackara (2006) believes that there is no room for naiveté where we know new technologies have unforeseen outcomes. This presents an argument towards how technology may act as a double edged sword that most of us may be blinded to. The nature of this argument does not suggest the rejection of technology, but instead taking a step back to divulge in the very nature of technology.

The narrative behind extended self in the digital world presented by Belk (2014) exemplifies how technology drives digital consumption, ultimately impacting the nature of one self and nature of possessions. Dematerialization of possessions was one of the five changes in the digital world that he presented in his article. For instance, traditionally how we used to own music by buying CDs at the record store, while today, they are electronically downloaded (purchased) or even streamed through providers such as Spotify through a freemium model. This raises the question of ownership of such digital consumption objects (DCO) where they are merely binary which act as an intangible possession to oneself. This issue was brought to light by Bruce Willis’ attempt to allow his daughters to inherit his music collection on Apple’s iTunes (Child, 2012). Here, we are able to unlock the very nature of technology, in a sense that digital ownership may be questionable. This resonates along with other digital possessions that we may have such as photos, videos, messages etc. that may be stored in the cloud where we simply negate the wider implication that it may have.

The extension of this argument could be brought to the rise in the use of social media, where Belk (2014) presents this as part of Re-embodiment; the second change in the digital world. While traditionally, our identities only exist offline, the digital age has induced a challenge in maintaining multiple identities. From a personal experience, the author grew up in a conservative Muslim family, where restrictions of relationships are strictly adhered to. Therefore, (not so conservative) photos being posted online was kept private from family members until he decided to “clear” his pasts and share an “acceptable” persona to his family members and relatives. This was in parallel to how Odom et al. (2011 cited Belk, 2014) described one of the teenage informant’s reaction to his mother’s response to his photos and messages posted online. In that, we create multiple identities that serve different audiences. Belk (2014) argues the illusion of control of our multiple online identities extends the feeling of those identities being apart of us.

While it may seem trivial, the implication of this may be extended to our careers as well. It was reported that 60% of hiring managers screen their candidates online to ensure the “right” qualification of the job (Cain, 2016). This does not suggest that we should just privatize our presence online, but instead ensuring that our personas are maintained “clean”. This begs the question of authenticity of our true self, where Hood (2012 cited Belk, 2014, p.483) describes the “authorship of actions requires the illusion of a unified sense of self”. He further reiterates that this illusion brings us to please ourselves rather than the situation. In a sense, multiple identities are merely an illusion that we create to satisfy ourselves rather than please possible hiring managers. This raises ambiguity in such that we are blurring the lines between our offline and online personas as well. Again, this exemplifies the nature of technology in a way that we do not question how, in any way, would simply having a social media profile, could implicate our lives.

While evidently the nature of this argument may be skewed, the purpose of this narrative does not suggest the rejection of technology. There is certainly enough evidence to support the celebratory discourse of technology. For instance, on Saturday morning, in Southampton, United Kingdom (U.K.), at about 1000hrs, the author attended a wedding that was held in Singapore at 1800hrs from over 10,000km away. The author presented himself at the wedding through FaceTime and congratulate the newlyweds on their blissful marriage (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: The author’s presence in a wedding held in Singapore from Southampton, UK, through FaceTime

With the development of technology, it makes it possible for one to be at two places at once. It was only once upon a time in a science fiction movie (or novel) where this may seem impossible. But today, such developments may seem frivolous to us. While this may only be one in a million of evidences of the celebratory discourse of technology, the above critical discourse of the risk of technological determinism hope to question the true nature of technology.

References:

Belk, R.W., 2014. Extended Self in a Digital World. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(3), pp.477–500. Available at: http://jcr.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/3/477.abstract.

Cain, Á., 2016. 60% of hiring managers look up candidates online — here’s how to make sure your Facebook profile doesn’t cost you a job. Business Insider. Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-sure-your-social-media-accounts-dont-cost-you-a-job.

Child, B., 2012. Bruce Willis to fight Apple over right to leave iTunes library in will. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/sep/03/bruce-willis-apple-itunes-library.

Thackara, J., 2006. In the Bubble: Designing a Complex World, MIT Press. Available at: https://books.google.com.sg/books?hl=en&lr=&id=yuM68Q8WJUIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=in+the+Bubble:+designing+in+a+complex+world&ots=G4vISI6v11&sig=xufkCYC8SIEEOXJL-6F8pSngDEo#v=onepage&q=in the Bubble%3A designing in a complex world&f=false.

Prologue.

Welcome back fellow digital explorers.

Upon exploring the evolution of marketing for the past two years in Singapore, I have landed in UK, Southampton to further immerse in the depth of marketing knowledge.

The past two years have been a fruitful journey with a focus on digital and analytics, including a six month stint with Nielsen Singapore and a dissertation titled “Bridging the data skill gap: An exploratory study of the (marketing) analytical talent in Singapore”.

Various themes of marketing were explored from research to communications to corporate social responsibility (CSR), just to name a few. The knowledge and experience gained from immersing in these themes struck a valuable realisation that the evolution of marketing  is inevitable. This was one of the key motivation that landed me here in Southampton.

“Marketing in the 21st Century” is the stepping stone for this leg of this journey. As I embark on exploring contemporary marketing issues, this blog serves not only to explore the retrospective of contemporary marketing but also prospectives of these issues. More specifically, the themes will revolve around consumers and technology that is believed to be the heart of marketing. While it is vital to acknowledge the delusional divide between theory and practice, relevant theoretical perspective serves as a perceptual lens that will ultimately create a basis of argumentation on some of these issues. Therefore, please do not hesitate to share your ideas on some of these issues as they will be deeply appreciated.

On that note, stay tuned to this space for an intellectual exchange of contemporary marketing issues!