Introduction
The development of humanity is often associated with economic and financial wellbeing, and until recently, both these concepts were integrally connected with the notion of marketing. More specifically, until the milestone work by Kotler and Levy (1967) appeared, marketing was viewed as a purely economic and business-related concept focused primarily on the ideas of production and profit-making. However, the more generalized vision of marketing expressed by Kotler and Levy (1967) and further supported by numerous other scholars like Vargo and Lusch (2004) and Lee (2005), has allowed viewing marketing as a wider societal concept applicable not only in business, but in entertainment, community development, political life, and other areas.
Marketing Management
Marketing Viewed by Kotler and Levy (1967)
In more detail, the work by Kotler and Levy (1967) is considered to be of crucial importance for marketing research as it actually turned the globally accepted visions of marketing upside down. If before marketing was viewed as a strategy that a company uses to produce, promote, and sell its goods, Kotler and Levy (1967) present the idea that “marketing is a pervasive societal activity that goes considerably beyond the selling of toothpaste, soap, and steel” (p. 10). In other words, Kotler and Levy (1967) do not reject the idea of a product as a central one for marketing, but widen the meaning of that idea to include not only “physical products” but also services, persons, organizations, and ideas (p. 12).
Hirshman (1983) v Vargo and Lusch (2004)
Later works, like, for instance, the ones by Hirshman (1983) or Vargo and Lusch (2004), consider Kotler and Levy’s (1967) ideas from different viewpoints. Hirshman (1983) argues that artists and ideologists do not fit into Kotler and Levy’s (1967) marketing approach due to the specificity of goods or services they offer. Thus, the discussed idea is rejected by Hirshman (1983, pp. 46 – 47).
At the same time, Vargo and Lusch (2004) support the approach formulated by Kotler and Levy (1967) and argue that the purely product-oriented vision of marketing is outdated and obsolete (pp. 2 – 3). According to Vargo and Lusch (2004, p. 14), the modern concept of marketing should include services along with goods and be applicable to political, social, and any other sphere of life, and the author of the current paper agrees with this service-centred point of view. Apart from the author’s personal considerations, such a position can be supported by the opinions of numerous reputable scholars.
Scholarly Support
Thus, McCole (2004) is one of the first scholars to consider the ideas by Kotler and Levy (1967). According to this author, the broad approach to marketing can improve not only the understanding of the concept but also have considerable positive implications for marketing education (p. 533). At the same time, continued debate over Kotler and Levy’s (1967) definition of marketing can, according to McCole (2004, p. 534), bring unnecessary confusion to this branch of education.
However, the consideration of the practical impacts of Kotler and Levy’s (1967) allows supporting with stronger arguments. Kavaratzis (2004) considers the subject of city marketing and city branding, acknowledging that the very existence of both is due to Kotler and Levy’s (1967) powerful impact on marketing perception (p. 60). Moreover, Kavaratzis (2004) argues that the notion of “product” can actually be widened to include various aspects of human activities. The example this author provides is the city image which, as Kavaratzis (2004, p. 63) notes, can become a source of profit and also a cause of various marketing issues.
Further on, Lee (2005) supports the “generic marketing approach” by Kotler and Levy (1967), providing examples from the area of arts (pp. 294 – 295). Similar to Kavaratzis (2004), Lee (2005) found a great contribution of the two above mentioned authors into the very emergence and development of the notion of arts marketing as a way of “sensitively serving and satisfying human needs” in all spheres, irrespective of their profitable or non-profitable character (p. 295).
Finally, Quelch & Jocz (2008) and Sun (2008) also support the ideas by Kotler and Levy (1967). The former argue that those ideas modified the perception of marketing and not only broadened it but also facilitated the acquisition of marketing skills and knowledge by artists, ideologists, and politicians (Quelch & Jocz, 2008, pp. 832 – 833). Sun (2008) goes even further and addresses the idea of “marketing of nations” (pp. 166, 180 – 181) in connection to the notions of political marketing in its three main aspects, i. e. election campaign marketing, permanent governing marketing, and international, or diplomacy, marketing types.
Conclusion
So, the above discussion reveals that the broadened approach to marketing presented by Kotler and Levy (1967) is a rather controversial topic, and different people are bound to have different opinions on it. However, scholarly evidence allows arguing that the application of marketing to business only is not a modern approach as far as politics, ideology, entertainment, and all other spheres of societal life are now being developed through marketing strategies. Therefore, the views expressed by Kotler and Levy (1967) and supported by Vargo and Lusch (2004) conform to the fullest extent to the picture of modern social development.
Reference
Hirschman, E. C. (1983), “Aesthetics, ideologies and the limits of the marketing concept”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 47 (Summer), pp. 45-55.
Kavaratzis, M. (2004), “From city marketing to city branding: Towards a theoretical framework for developing city brands”, Place Branding, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 58 – 73.
Kotler, P., & Levy, S. (1969), “Broadening the concept of marketing”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 33, pp. 10-15.
Lee, H. K. (2005), “When arts met marketing Arts marketing theory embedded in Romanticism”, International Journal of Cultural Policy, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 289 – 305.
McCole, P. (2004), “Refocusing marketing to reflect practice: The changing role of marketing for business”, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 22 No. 5, pp. 531-539.
Quelch, J. A. & Jocz, K. (2008), “Milestones in Marketing”, Business History Review, Vol. 82, pp. 827 –838.
Sun, H. H. (2008), “International political marketing: a case study of United States soft power and public diplomacy”, Journal of Public Affairs, Vol. 8, pp. 165–183.
Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2004), “Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 68, pp. 1-17.