Authentic Marketing

CHAPTER 4The Evolution of Marketing: Moving from Manipulation to Authenticity

With technology and humanity colliding and melding, it is creating an opportunity for marketing communications to reach its most evolved, most authentic form yet. We have been moving in this direction with the dramatic shifts created by digital communications, social media, and the Internet. Adding moral purpose to the equation has finally tipped the scales, enabling marketing to become more authentic and achieve what is considered to be the Holy Grail for brands—establishing trust and true engagement.

Before we get into the new rules of authentic marketing, let’s take a quick look back at the evolution of marketing communications. This discipline, advertising in particular because that’s how it all started, is most known for tactics of interruption and manipulation. It was creative and persuasive at best and contrived and deceptive at worst. Over the past few decades, innovations in business and technology have been gradually pushing marketing to a better place, changing it from company-centric and sales-driven to customer-centric and relationship-driven. Those major shifts have set the stage for moving from manipulation to a more authentic form of marketing.

Production Era

During this time (approximately 1860–1920), companies pushed products at people, believing that if they developed a quality product, it would sell itself. “If you build it, they will come” was the mindset in this industrial ...