South-Western College Publishing/The New York Times Guides

Sample Article

Chapter 1 The Field of Marketing

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Marketing is the underlying logic and force of our consumer-driven economy. Most everything you wear, eat, read, watch, listen to, drive in, ride on, try and buy is marketed. Arguably, marketing occurs any time one party (person or organization) strives to exchange something of value to another party. Marketing also extends beyond goods and services. Getting you to buy a particular brand of soap essentially is no different than getting you to donate blood. Throughout the past century marketing has depended on the mass media, especially TV, to disseminate its promotional messages. With the advent of interactive media such as the World Wide Web, however, things seem destined to change. Saul Hansell explores marketing's use of the Web in "Marketers Ponder How to Sell Soap Without the Operas."

Regardless of the medium, cynics have said that marketing “makes people buy things they do not need, with money they do not have, to impress people they do not like.” Materialism and greed are not the only charges: lung cancer from smoking famous brands of cigarettes, alcoholism, obesity and anorexia -- all at one time or another have been blamed on marketing. Marketers, however, are aware that there has to be a balance between corporate profits and the social welfare.

The question is where to draw the line. Mary B.W. Tabor illustrates in "Schools Making Easy Money by Helping Market Research" that there are no easy answers.

Evolution

Hansell, S. (1998, August 24). Marketers Ponder How to Sell Soap Without the Operas. [On-line] The New York Times on the Web. Available: http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/08/biztech/articles/24advertising.html

"But now that the Internet has become the first medium to actually reduce the viewership of television -- and World Wide Web surfers have shown little interest in serial storytelling -- Procter is trying to figure out how to sell soap without soap operas."

Critical Thinking Questions
1. How could Web sites, so-called “banner” advertisements and other online marketing vehicles achieve the same emotional effects as do today's high-powered television advertisements?

2. While hailed as a "one-to-one" communication medium, how -- if at all -- could the Web be used effectively as a mass-marketing medium?

3. Since Internet users tend to watch less television, how could this effect influence marketing efforts and expenditures?

4. How can Web sites market low-involvement goods, like dishwashing liquid, diapers and soap, without using marketing's sacred trio of product differentiation, brand recognition and unique selling proposition?

Story-specific Questions
1. Who attended the Procter and Gamble conference? Why? What were their goals?
2. How are most Web sites used to market consumer products?
3. Briefly explain at least three common forms of online advertising?

Short Application Assignments
1. In teams or individually, answer the story-specific questions and keep your answers to 25-75 words for each question.

2. In teams of three to five persons each, or as a whole class, discuss your responses to the critical thinking questions.

3. Prepare a one-page memo report to your instructor or supervisor in which you summarize this article. Keep your memo to 200-250 words. Click here to see a model one-page report.

4. Write an executive summary of 200-250 words. As an administrative assistant to a busy executive, you are expected to summarize selected articles and present important points. Click here to see a model executive summary.

5. Summarize this article in 100-125 words for your company's newsletter. Click here to see a model newsletter article.

6. In teams of three to five persons each, or as a whole class, discuss how a Web site ideally should be designed to market a "low-involvement" commodity. Your instructor or supervisor may assign you a specific commodity. You also may be asked to report your results in a five-minute presentation or in a one-page memo.

Building Research Skills
1. Individually or in teams, draft a Web-marketing strategy for a specific company or product. Your instructor or supervisor may give you a sample company or product. Your instructor or supervisor also may ask you to submit a three- to five-page marketing strategy or post a Web page, along with a letter of transmittal explaining the project.

2. Individually or in teams, analyze three consumer-product Web sites. Your instructor or supervisor may give you a sample company or product; you also may be asked to submit a three- to five-page paper or post a Web page summarizing your findings. Here are some areas to consider in your analysis: How does each site market its product or products? Are the sites used for "one-to-one" communication or for mass communication? As a consumer, which aspects of the site appeal to you and which ones do not appeal to you?

3. Using at least three other references (for example, books, research-journal articles, newspaper or magazine stories, or credible Web sites), write an 800- to 1,000-word essay that addresses two of the critical thinking questions offered earlier. Assume that your essay will be used as an internal reference for a corporation's marketing plan.

4. Using at least three other references (for example, books, research-journal articles, newspaper or magazine stories, or credible Web sites), post an 800- to 1,000-word Web page that addresses at least two of the earlier critical thinking questions. Assume that your page will be posted in the marketing section of a corporate intranet.

Ethical considerations

Tabor, M. B. W. (1999, April 5). Schools Making Easy Money by Helping Market Research. [On-line] The New York Times on the Web. Available: http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/040599educ-partners.html

"While there is nothing new about partnerships between schools looking for money and businesses looking to corner the youth market, companies like Noggin have taken the relationship to a new level, using children as captive, if willing, subjects of market research during the school day."

Critical Thinking Questions
1. How -- if at all -- should schools and organizations decide between profiting from the privacy rights of their students, employees or citizens, as opposed to protecting those rights?

2. What are some ways in which schools and organizations are profiting from information about their students, employees or citizens? Why do you condone or not condone the specific examples you name?

3. What are some ways in which schools and organizations are profiting by providing marketers with access to a "captive audience" of students, employees or citizens? Why do you condone or not condone the specific examples you name?

4. What are the arguments for and against the idea of marketers working with schools and organizations?

Story-specific Questions
1. What were the specific arrangements between Wachtung School and Noggin?
2. What are three other examples of arrangements between schools and marketers?

Short Application Assignments
1. In teams or individually, answer the story-specific questions and keep your answers to 25-75 words for each question.

2. In teams of three to five persons each, or as a whole class, discuss your responses to the critical thinking questions.

3. Prepare a one-page memo report to your instructor or supervisor in which you summarize this article. Keep your memo to 200-250 words. Click here to see a model one-page report.

5. Summarize this article in 100-125 words for your company's newsletter. Click here to see a model newsletter article.

6. In teams of three to five persons each, or as a whole class, discuss your school’s or organization's dealings with corporate marketing. Your instructor or supervisor may assign you a specific corporation. You also may be asked to report your results in a five-minute presentation or in a one-page memo.

Building Research Skills
1. Individually or in teams, draft a marketing partnership policy for your school or organization that addresses privacy and captive-audience concerns. Your instructor or supervisor may give you a sample school or organization. You also may be asked to submit a three- to five-page policy handbook or post a Web page, along with a letter of transmittal explaining the project.

2. Individually or in teams, analyze a school’s or organization’s marketing partnerships. Your instructor or supervisor may give you a sample school or organization. You also may be asked to submit a three- to five-page paper or post a Web page summarizing your findings. Here are some areas to consider in your analysis: How many different ways is privacy breached or captive audiences marketed to? Who is doing that marketing? As a school or organization member, what seems fair to you and what does not seem fair to you?

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