Postmodern marketing

Last updated January 31, 2024

Postmodern marketing is a term derived from postmodern philosophical movements where there are cultural tendencies of inherent suspicion towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodern marketing takes this same philosophical perspective and applies it to the way advertising initiatives are handled in the current post-World War II era. Postmodern marketing is approaching or has passed through a new era in advertising, branding, and strategic brand thinking.^[1] Postmodern marketing is inherently focused on customized experiences where broad market generalizations are no-longer applied or implemented on behalf of branded communications.^[2] Instead, the technique requires marketers to remove "new aged adlandia" trends and developments to focus on how the consumer prefers to be messaged to.

Origins
Strategies
Integrated marketing campaigns
Individualism
Brand image
Three categories of postmodern marketing
The idea of change, new and complex
Sub-discipline of consumer research
Marketing practices and research methodologies
Modern marketing approach vs. postmodern marketing approach
Myths
Conditions
See also
References

As a result, the ad aged "art and science" debate around creative, media, marketing and branding are put to an end. With a postmodern marketing approach a one-to-one communication is created between real humans, controlling real mouses, real computers, real keyboards and real mobile telephones.

Origins

The development of postmodern marketing is built on the foundations of modern marketing (with analysis, planning, implementation and control deeply rooted in its process).^[2] Postmodern marketing however, acts more of a collection of approaches in the need to stay nimble, reactive and able to engage and shift with consumers from a non-definitive point of view. Postmodern marketing saw great acceptance in the early 1990s with the emerging developments of the Splinternet and marketers realization that "traditional" strategic practices like Porters five forces, the Wheel of Retailing, and the Boston Matrix had become outdated and not able to keep up with or report on consumer media habits, creative tone, and umbrella branding techniques.^[2] As a result, postmodern marketing was born.

Strategies

In the context of marketing strategy, postmodern marketing refers to the cultural, societal, and strategic evolution of marketing practices ^[3] The introduction of postmodern marketing strategies has major implications for traditional marketing techniques. Because postmodern marketing requires a deep understanding of a brand's target audience, the targeting strategy must change.^[4]

Integrated marketing campaigns

A cornerstone of postmodern marketing is the integrated marketing campaign. Integrated marketing campaigns combine multiple channels of marketing materials such as email, print displays, social media and sales promotions to maintain a consistent message across the entire campaign. This marketing strategy is effective in postmodern marketing because it maximizes the abilities of each department. Integrated marketing campaigns are most effective in postmodern marketing because of the widespread use of social media. Digital advertising through social media and email is the most effective tool to reach postmodern consumers.^[5]

Individualism

Traditional marketing has seen a stronger focus on the individual.^[4] Marketing materials become individualized under postmodern marketing strategies due to the mass adoption of the Internet. The individual consumer becomes most important to postmodern marketers because of the consumer's increasing dependence on the Internet for their exposure of marketing materials. In a postmodern society, the Internet is a prime marketing tool because it is the platform where consumers receive branded content. This feature of the Internet allows marketers to individualize and personalize branded content to consumers.^[3]

Brand image

Postmodern marketing requires a strong brand image and concept. Individual consumers respond to experiences attached to the product or brand. Postmodern marketers attach life experiences to their products. Before post modern marketing, a consumer would buy a product because it is considered to be high quality and is a reasonable price. Under postmodern marketing, that same consumer would buy the same product because it assigns a favorable narrative to their lifestyle. Postmodern marketers use narrative strategies to target the postmodern consumer. Postmodern marketers assign narratives to the product. Consumers assign those narratives to their own lives, using the brand and product narrative to create a self-image.^[6]

Three categories of postmodern marketing

Although the exact origins of the term is unknown, scholarly reports date the defining of the movement to the early 1990s by the "European Journal of Marketing" author Stephen Brown.^[7] According to his findings, postmodern marketing is made up of three distinct categories (1) the idea of change, new, and complex, (2) sub-discipline of consumer research, and (3) marketing practices and research methodologies. Furthermore, as Brown implies, one who approaches marketing from postmodern style should in many ways reject attempts to impost order and working in silos. Instead markers should work collectively from with "artistic" attributes of intuition, creativity, spontaneity, speculation, emotion and involvement.^[2]

The idea of change, new and complex

The idea of change is a deeply rooted philosophy when studying postmodern marketing. When planning and strategizing within the "new now" or the "new new now" of media, technical services and creative styling a practitioner within the space must be comfortable with new and more complex systems and created worlds, platform and messaging structures. Fundamentally grounded on dramatic political and economic pressures the changing landscape illustrated the need to be nimble, direct and personalized communication and a high concern for personally identifiable information.^[8]

Sub-discipline of consumer research

To adjust with shifts in consumer consumption habits, postmodern marketing has created new disciplines to better sample, survey and poll target consumer group to better align with habit, preference and beliefs. Many call this shift a "naturalistic" or interpretive" approach, which mainly emerged from the control of non-renewable resources.

Marketing practices and research methodologies

Outcomes of redefined consumer research studies are newly defined approaches to marketing and media disciplines. Although some of these disciplines may be out dated, they illustrate core differences between postmodern marketing and modern marketing methodologies.^[2]

These approaches to marketing suggest that the role of a brand manager, digital agency, creative, media planner, account director, etc. is only defined by the company's culture that they in. Hence, a postmodern marketer is one who approaches marketing and advertising campaigns with a "thinker marker" mentality. Where they pull in and emphasize the need for creative relevance, companion media, collateral activation, social engagement, and most importantly have the means to pull it all together. Many believe that a postmodern marketing approach creates greater efficiencies, order, opportunity and a chance to gain real world insights from the perspective of the consumer. As a result, postmodern marketing like postmodernality stands as a transitory phase in 21st centuryvertising and has ushered in an era of styles and nimble techniques.

Modern marketing approach vs. postmodern marketing approach

Modern Marketing Approach	Postmodern Marketing Approach
Single World or Flat Ecosystem	Multi-Purpose World or Dimensional Ecosystem
Fixed	Nimble
Traditional	New Media
One-to-Many	One-to-One
Static	Interactive or Immersive
Brand Endorsed/Created Marketing	Consumer Endorsed/Created Marketing
Broad Generalization	Individual Customization

Myths

Postmodern marketing is not the same as "non-traditional" or digital marketing. It is instead made up only of new aged media engagements brought about by the developments like that of the iPad.

Social media belongs to the young. According to Sean Carton writer of ClickZ, the idea of social media belonging to only the young is, "Baloney". With the accelerated growth of account activation amongst the 55+ age cohort according to leading marketing research firms like Forrester, eMarketer, comScore and Nielsen, the idea of social media belonging to only the young Republicans is an inaccurate statement of fact.^[9]

Conditions

According to many scholastic journals, postmodern marketing hinges on and has aided to the development of many changes to the current marketing model. Some of the more renowned conditions that postmodern marketing is known to influence and disrupt are :^[10]

Hyper reality: Relating to simulations or simulated experiences. Tourist attractions, amusement parks and "subculture" vacation destinations are known for their ability in creating hyper-real "immersive worlds".
Fragmentation: Adheres to many marketing disciplines. These being media space, consumer attention, consumption habits, and communication/messaging strategies.
Reversals of production and consumption: A condition that occurs when the roles of consumer and marketer change. This is when consumers become "brand ambassadors" for a company and voice concern, opinion and align their beliefs with that of the brand through a number of traditional and non-traditional media channels.
Decentering of the subject: Occurs when a brand personifies the product or service being marketed. As a result, the promoted item become a "Hero" or a new-age savior.
Paradoxical juxtaposition: The ultimate state of postmodern marketing. This condition allows consumers and brand managers to act in the moment and adjust to changing landscapes, tone, pressure, and emotional cues. As a result, they are able to represent a different self-image and avoid moments of conformity to single, set brand guidelines, perceived reputations and roles.
Loss of commitment: An outcome of many postmodern marketing experiences can result in loss of commitment amongst brand ambassadors and loyalists. This is usually driven from the inability for brand managers to adhere to or recreate the level of consumer engagement needed retain the same level of consumer interest and interaction.

Related Research Articles

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The marketing mix is the set of controllable elements or variables that a company uses to influence and meet the needs of its target customers in the most effective and efficient way possible. These variables are often grouped into four key components, often referred to as the "Four Ps of Marketing."

Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way that a virus spreads from one person to another. It can be delivered by word of mouth, or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet and mobile networks.

Marketing communications refers to the use of different marketing channels and tools in combination. Marketing communication channels focus on how businesses communicate a message to its desired market, or the market in general. It is also in charge of the internal communications of the organization. Marketing communication tools include advertising, personal selling, direct marketing, sponsorship, communication, public relations, social media, customer journey and promotion.

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In marketing, promotion refers to any type of marketing communication used to inform target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue, persuasively. It helps marketers to create a distinctive place in customers' mind, it can be either a cognitive or emotional route. The aim of promotion is to increase brand awareness, create interest, generate sales or create brand loyalty. It is one of the basic elements of the market mix, which includes the four Ps, i.e., product, price, place, and promotion.

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A touchpoint can be defined as any way consumers can interact with a business organization, whether it be person-to-person, through a website, an app or any form of communication. When consumers come in contact with these touchpoints it gives them the opportunity to compare their prior perceptions of the business and form an opinion.

Brand awareness is the extent to which customers are able to recall or recognize a brand under different conditions. Brand awareness is one of two dimensions from brand knowledge, an associative network memory model. Brand awareness is a key consideration in consumer behavior, advertising management, and brand management. The consumer's ability to recognize or recall a brand is central to purchasing decision-making. Purchasing cannot proceed unless a consumer is first aware of a product category and a brand within that category. Awareness does not necessarily mean that the consumer must be able to recall a specific brand name, but they must be able to recall enough distinguishing features for purchasing to proceed. Creating brand awareness is the main step in advertising a new product or bringing back the older brand in light.

A target market, also known as serviceable obtainable market (SOM), is a group of customers within a business's serviceable available market at which a business aims its marketing efforts and resources. A target market is a subset of the total market for a product or service.

Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online. It is often used by businesses in order to achieve the following goals: attract attention and generate leads, expand their customer base, generate or increase online sales, increase brand awareness or credibility, and engage an online community of users. Content marketing attracts new customers by creating and sharing valuable free content as well as by helping companies create sustainable brand loyalty, providing valuable information to consumers, and creating a willingness to purchase products from the company in the future.

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers. Most social media platforms have built-in data analytics tools, enabling companies to track the progress, success, and engagement of social media marketing campaigns. Companies address a range of stakeholders through social media marketing, including current and potential customers, current and potential employees, journalists, bloggers, and the general public. On a strategic level, social media marketing includes the management of a marketing campaign, governance, setting the scope and the establishment of a firm's desired social media "culture" and "tone".

Consumer culture theory (CCT) is the study of consumption from a social and cultural point of view, as opposed to an economic or psychological one.

Word-of-mouth marketing differs from naturally occurring word of mouth, in that it is actively influenced or encouraged by organizations. While it is difficult to truly control WOM, research has shown that there are three generic avenues to 'manage' WOM for the purpose of WOMM:

Postmodern communication is used to describe the communication and messaging format, styles, guides, technologies and media used in a postmodernist world. Due to its non-traditional means; postmodern communication is also referred to as the information society. Driven by the need to reach influential audiences and to cut through a cluttered promotional marketplace, brands are reaching out to new communication methods to deliver their advertising message. Furthermore, many marketing practitioners are cited as saying that in order to create successful marketing strategies in the twenty-first century, "more creative thinking allied to an integrated approach to all communication activities are needed".

References

↑ Marson, David J. (2011). The Black Well Encyclopedia of Management. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. p. 226. ISBN 978-0-631-23317-6.
1 2 3 4 5 Brown, Steven (1993). "Postmodern Marketing?". European Journal of Marketing. European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 27 Iss: 4. 27 (4): 19–34. doi:10.1108/03090569310038094. ISSN 0309-0566.
1 2 Simmons, Geoff (2008). "Marketing to postmodern consumers: introducing the internet chameleon". European Journal of Marketing. 42 (3/4): 299–310. doi:10.1108/03090560810852940.
1 2 Proctor, T (2002). "Communication in postmodern integrated marketing". Corporate Communications. 7 (3): 144–154. doi:10.1108/13563280210436754.
↑ Hazlett, Kirk (2013-07-26). "Marketing in the Round: How to Develop an Integrated Marketing Campaign in the Digital Era". Journal of Consumer Marketing. 30 (5): 462–463. doi:10.1108/jcm-01-2013-0402. ISSN 0736-3761.
↑ Fuat Firat, A (1997). "From segmentation to fragmentation: Markets and marketing strategy in the postmodern era". European Journal of Marketing.
↑ "Post-Modern Marketing". FastCompany.com. 2006-09-19. Archived from the original on 2010-12-21. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
↑ Tyler, Stephen J. (1987). The Unspeakable: Discourse, Dialogue, and Rhetoric in the Postmodern World (Rhetoric of Human Sciences) . Madison, Wisconsin: Univ of Wisconsin Pr. ISBN 978-0-299-11274-5.
↑ "Postmodern Marketing Myths: Busted". ClickZ.com. 2010-06-07. Archived from the original on 2010-08-03. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
↑ Fuat, Firat (1993). "Marketing In Postmodern World". European Journal of Marketing. 29 (1): 40–56. doi:10.1108/03090569510075334. ISSN 0309-0566.

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[dmarson-pg226-1] Marson, David J. (2011). The Black Well Encyclopedia of Management. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. p. 226. ISBN 978-0-631-23317-6.

[sbrown-pg19-2] 1 2 3 4 5 Brown, Steven (1993). "Postmodern Marketing?". European Journal of Marketing. European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 27 Iss: 4. 27 (4): 19–34. doi:10.1108/03090569310038094. ISSN 0309-0566.

[:1-3] 1 2 Simmons, Geoff (2008). "Marketing to postmodern consumers: introducing the internet chameleon". European Journal of Marketing. 42 (3/4): 299–310. doi:10.1108/03090560810852940.

[:0-4] 1 2 Proctor, T (2002). "Communication in postmodern integrated marketing". Corporate Communications. 7 (3): 144–154. doi:10.1108/13563280210436754.

[5] Hazlett, Kirk (2013-07-26). "Marketing in the Round: How to Develop an Integrated Marketing Campaign in the Digital Era". Journal of Consumer Marketing. 30 (5): 462–463. doi:10.1108/jcm-01-2013-0402. ISSN 0736-3761.

[6] Fuat Firat, A (1997). "From segmentation to fragmentation: Markets and marketing strategy in the postmodern era". European Journal of Marketing.

[7] "Post-Modern Marketing". FastCompany.com. 2006-09-19. Archived from the original on 2010-12-21. Retrieved 2011-10-20.

[styler-8] Tyler, Stephen J. (1987). The Unspeakable: Discourse, Dialogue, and Rhetoric in the Postmodern World (Rhetoric of Human Sciences) . Madison, Wisconsin: Univ of Wisconsin Pr. ISBN 978-0-299-11274-5.

[9] "Postmodern Marketing Myths: Busted". ClickZ.com. 2010-06-07. Archived from the original on 2010-08-03. Retrieved 2011-11-21.

[ffuat-pg40-10] Fuat, Firat (1993). "Marketing In Postmodern World". European Journal of Marketing. 29 (1): 40–56. doi:10.1108/03090569510075334. ISSN 0309-0566.

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