Marketing has entered new era

Stepping into a new "Marketing 3.0" era of sustainable development, entrepreneurs need to go beyond consumer value and involve other stakeholders in the supply chain and overall business environment, a forum was told.

Sohn Chongsrichan, chief business adviser and executive director of inspiration for Y&R Thailand, said this new era of marketing sustainability would be different from the previous "Marketing 1.0 and 2.0" eras developed 50 years ago, when companies focused on products and consumers respectively.

"To achieve sustainable growth, we need to become a 'value-centric' organisation by [becoming] responsible for the delivery of 'human value'," Sohn said. "In this new marketing era, business entrepreneurs need to be concerned with a 'triple bottom line', which is profit, people, and planet."

Sohn spoke at a forum titled "Sustainable Marketing: Marketing 3.0" held yesterday by Krungthep Thurakit newspaper in cooperation with Siam Cement Group (SCG).

He said marketing communications had been transformed dramatically from one-way communications in the product-centric era to two-way dialogue in the consumer-centric era.

"In this present 'value-centric' era, we need to apply a new term of communications called 'trialogue' so that all dialogues will be handled between product owner, consumer, and other stakeholders in the business process," Sohn said.

"Consumers and all stakeholders themselves need to know and understand what we are doing regarding sustainable development. They also have to believe in the company and its meaningful commitment for them and the society," he said.

Kachorndej Sangsuphan, president of SCG Distribution, said the company had looked beyond trading products or the environment alone.

"We have reshuffled our total supply chain for sustainable development," he said.

Kachorndej said the group in cooperation with the Office of the Vocational Education Commission had launched an educational programme for truck drivers and technicians.

"Once we have good products, other value-added services, such as good technicians, will make end-users happy. In addition to excellent product development and being customer-centric, we have focused on improving quality of life of our suppliers and service providers," he said.

Kachorndej said entrepreneurs needed to be concerned about the business costs created by the roll-out of sustainable-marketing campaigns and whether they would be accepted by consumers.

He added that sustainable marketing needed good support from leaders of the organisation. It also required clear direction.

Kachorndej said SCG's "human value marketing" strategy focused on three major topics: understanding consumer needs; innovation and sustainable development; and co-creation to promote total business solutions through collaboration with employees and consumers.

"We have more than 30,000 employees, half of whom are young people aged below 35. Our challenge is how to encourage the BlackBerry generation to explore their planet [rather than being] individualistic," Kachorndej said.

Premier Group chief executive Vichien Phongsathorn said marketing meant the way business organisations delivered value to consumers.

"As a business, we need to understand the consumers and their needs. We also need to understand human nature, such as human instinct, security, culture, and enjoyment," Vichien said.

He gave the example of the company's launch of Taro fish snack, which is in line with the company's policy on developing products that are highly nutritious and healthy for consumers.

Vichien said the success indicators for "Marketing 1.0 and 2.0 era" were to survive and win market share.

"Meanwhile, the success indicator for the 'Marketing 3.0' era is to be trustworthy and the brand most admired by the consumers.

"Business, marketer, and consumers have to move together towards sustainable growth and development," he said.