Reverse Psychology Marketing

DISCLAIMER- This book is not about engaging in the blame-and-praise game for the so-called winners and losers of the current business environment. Something deeper and more substantial is afoot in business today, which is changing the familiar management script. The tables have been turned on the fortunes of many long-established firms. The authors believe that a majority of the firms that are in trouble, and those that have failed recently, have done so because they have been let down by their own marketing. Traditional marketing is now being turned on its head. The ideas of marketing and branding strategy that passed for conventional wisdom before do not hold true today. A small but growing number of innovative firms have adopted radically new and differentiated approaches based upon reverse psychology marketing, reflecting a clear and unmistakable change in the global culture. In this era of globalization and the Internet the consumer is behaving in a radically different way and is no longer susceptible to the timeworn ploys of push marketing. The present times call for a new game - one that strays from the prescriptions that traditional marketing theory holds dear, indeed that sometimes works in a way that is counter to it (what the authors call 'anti-marketing') and that lays focus on network-building and 'pulling the customer' above all else. Many experienced hands in corporate boardrooms are oblivious to these shifting sands and evolving trends, and are paying the price as a result. This book, supplementing ideas and insights with numerous engaging and topical anecdotes, will show you how to understand and connect with this change. 'Don't run after customers, let them discover you instead...' Shops without signs, brands with no advertising, tourist resorts that actively shun publicity, 'slow food' restaurants, and plain-looking models are but a few of the present-day developments that can bemuse observers who learned their marketing from the MBA 'bibles'. Today there are firms that don't claim to satisfy their customers, adopt a 'take it or leave it' attitude, and still attract a following. Others act as 'nanny marketers' dictating what customers can or can't have and still have buyers come in droves. This book shows why these developments are taking place and why they are proving to be successful. It points out the flaws and fallacies of conventional marketing thinking and how that has led to the self-destructive practice of over-marketing. It highlights the present marketing zeitgeist and how brands like Coach, Samsung, BAPE, Tchibo, Red Bull, and Pout have understood it better. In many industries the middle market is hollowing out creating a 'Wal-Mart and Ferrari' type of situation. The book offers prescriptions and insights to cope with the changing business dynamics to establish authenticity and a dedicated customer network. In keeping with the spirit of this book, the authors have not sought outside endorsements.