21.Century is known as technology era or hi-tech era. Everything advances rapidly and we are catching the fantasies of sci-fi movie. However, I prefer to say, it is marketing era because whatever you do, without marketing you cannot be known.
You can easily see ads everywhere. On the street, on your phone, all products you see, on TV, Youtube and all other platforms. It is not the only one. It is also a part of our life.
Think about that… We consume everything and we let us to be consumed. On one hand everything got easier. We can choose hotel, hostel, house to rent, friends, experiences, flight tickets, jobs to apply, car to buy, partner to date, classes, food to eat only with our thumb. Literally, everything you want to do can be done with that thumb. However, there are many choices. To decide, we need to be attracted just like male animals who try to attract female. The all products seem the same and functionally there is no difference. Only difference is how they attract you and take a place in your subconscious.
You probably heard the following sentence dozen of times:
‘In the past…….. was better’.
I heard this a lot recently. Products were better, performances were better, songs, movies, books, art, politics…
I think it is all about marketing. When it was the time that there are not much choices, we were considering quality more. The best product was the strongest one. Therefore, many old electronics or consumer products can still survive. Nowadays, it is not about it anymore. From company side, it is all about sales. This is the reason why many electronic products are assured to survive only two years although they could do more. There is even science for it includes reliability tests. It is not coincidence that your products are broken after guarantee is expired.
Easy comes, easy go…
Technology made everything easy. We have many choices so it makes us to give away easy. Because we know there won’t be scarcity. In every sense it is horrible. Environmental sense, economical sense, social sense… We have adapted consumption, exploitation and wasting. The worst part of it is we are not only adapting but also we are being products.
This adaptation made marketing even more important. Although many experts explains the importance of marketing as a creating value and distinguish the product because there is high competition. I see this as a vital part of wasting and consumption culture.
Before I wrote an article about social consumption. Consumption is everywhere. As a job seeker, I felt this even more. Companies try to make their self interesting with misleading popular words, interviews are mostly fake that you are having a psychological war to convince other person without showing stress. There is always mutually smile but everybody knows that there are much more behind.
If you see for academic positions, it is also another story. More citation is important, not the quality of the work. Therefore, we are producing countless papers and many good works are drown among others until they are noticed by luck.
Nobody wants to work anymore because people are looking for easy money. They are changing shape all the time to find the best way to attract people. All tiktok, youtube, instagram are the same. Winners are never the best but they are always the one who have more interaction.
Tinder profiles are the same. It is all about what kind of image you can give.
Books are the same. Being a best seller is more important than being literally good. So, better analysis of consumer behavior can make you better writer.
How about politics? Nobody listen the promises. Most of us choose the one who sounds better to us, who uses more effective keywords.
Art… Isn’t it the same? Just check NFTs and see what people see as an art. The quality of art piece is measured by money it makes. If I was an artist, it would definitely kill me.
Movies are the same. For example, “Don’t look up!”. It has nothing deep, nothing interesting and no art- Because it is based on data what people like to watch and have good marketing face with famous artists.
The most hyped man Elon Musk’s business are also the same. It is all about shape. What makes him special is that he knows and understand new generation more than anyone. So, his marketing is the best and makes him ahead in the space and automotive sectors. Otherwise, there were already many brilliant entrepreneurs who tried the similar things much before him.
I think that also the past was better regarding quality and effort of works. This era, everything can be replaced. That’s why better marketing always win.
