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2008-10-26 BACK
Our Next President is a Product?
Our Next President is a Product? This article originally appeared in the Texarkana Gazette on October 26, 2008 Dr. Robert Owen, Associate Professor of Marketing, Texas A&M-Texarkana College of Business What do John McCain and Barack Obama have in common with an automobile? Well, from my perspective as a marketer, they're merely products on the market, no different from automobiles that get promoted on billboards and TV. I sometimes wonder, however, if people put more thought into selecting their next automobile than they put into selecting the next president, representative to Congress, or county officials. In the marketing courses that I teach at the university, we spend the first day thinking about how anything can be marketed as long as it can be classified as a product. A lot of people have the idea that we can only market physical things. If something is being promoted, but it isn't a physical thing and you don't pay money for it, then how can it be a product? To understand how ideas, places, and people get "marketed" just the same as physical things, we have to start with the concept of a product. Take an automobile. It is a physical thing that could be shaped like a zippy sports car, like a muscle-bound pick-up truck, like a luxury sedan, or like a kid-hauling SUV. This product can be designed and built to have the physical features of any of these alternatives. Automobiles are distributed via a network of dealerships. Some automobiles are pricey, some downright cheesy. And to let people know what each marketer has for sale, automobiles are promoted on billboard advertising, TV commercials, and through the guidance of showroom salespeople. The end result for the marketer who got it all right is an exchange in which the seller gets $20,000 and the buyer gets a physical thing that makes him/her feel safe, that gets him/her to work on time, and that projects an appropriate image of status for the next several years. So can we design and build a political candidate just the same as we do with automobiles? How does a marketer, say, price a political candidate, how does the buyer pay, and what is being exchanged? Just as an auto maker tries to design a car with features that will appeal to the greatest number of people, different political candidates also are chosen and prepped to meet the needs of the greatest number of people. You and I probably don’t completely agree on what we like about different kinds of cars and we probably don't completely agree about what we like about each of the folks on each presidential ticket. Just like two makers of cars, each presidential ticket is trying to come up with some combination of features that will appeal to the most number of people. The car maker and the president maker have to try to design a product that has the biggest combination of features that both you and I and lots of other people like. But if an American voter likes the features of one ticket better than the other, how is a purchase made -- and what is being exchanged? When you buy a car, you make a cash payment in exchange not so much for the physical thing, but for the promise of safety, reliability, and status that this thing is expected to provide for the next several years. It works exactly the same when you cast a vote for a political candidate: you give the candidate your vote in exchange for the promises that the political candidate made with regard to health care policy, foreign policy, the economy, and such. If the car fails over time to meet your expectations for safety, reliability, or status, you probably won't replace it with another car of the same make. If the political candidate fails over time to meet your expectations, you probably won't cast a vote to keep that person in office, and might even decide not to cast votes for other members of the political party. If your local representative to Congress isn't responsive to your personal needs or concerns, the end result is the same as if the local dealership isn't responsive to your needs: you won't make a repeat purchase. If instead you have never had any bad experiences personally, perhaps you would be hesitant to consider promotions asking you to switch brands or to switch parties. As we near election day, consider each candidate for every office with the same amount of thought that you would put into buying a new car. If you only bought the car because you like the new car smell, what happens after the smell wears off in a few months? If you stay with or you switch from the brand that you currently drive, does that decision necessarily give you a more or less reliable car for the next few years? Dr. Bob Owen is Associate Professor of Marketing at Texas A&M University-Texarkana.
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Our Next President is a Product?
Our Next President is a Product? This article originally appeared in the Texarkana Gazette on October 26, 2008 Dr. Robert Owen, Associate Professor of Marketing, Texas A&M-Texarkana College of Business What do John McCain and Barack Obama have in common with an automobile? Well, from my perspective as a marketer, they're merely products on the market, no different from automobiles that get promoted on billboards and TV. I sometimes wonder, however, if people put more thought into selecting their next automobile than they put into selecting the next president, representative to Congress, or county officials. In the marketing courses that I teach at the university, we spend the first day thinking about how anything can be marketed as long as it can be classified as a product. A lot of people have the idea that we can only market physical things. If something is being promoted, but it isn't a physical thing and you don't pay money for it, then how can it be a product? To understand how ideas, places, and people get "marketed" just the same as physical things, we have to start with the concept of a product. Take an automobile. It is a physical thing that could be shaped like a zippy sports car, like a muscle-bound pick-up truck, like a luxury sedan, or like a kid-hauling SUV. This product can be designed and built to have the physical features of any of these alternatives. Automobiles are distributed via a network of dealerships. Some automobiles are pricey, some downright cheesy. And to let people know what each marketer has for sale, automobiles are promoted on billboard advertising, TV commercials, and through the guidance of showroom salespeople. The end result for the marketer who got it all right is an exchange in which the seller gets $20,000 and the buyer gets a physical thing that makes him/her feel safe, that gets him/her to work on time, and that projects an appropriate image of status for the next several years. So can we design and build a political candidate just the same as we do with automobiles? How does a marketer, say, price a political candidate, how does the buyer pay, and what is being exchanged? Just as an auto maker tries to design a car with features that will appeal to the greatest number of people, different political candidates also are chosen and prepped to meet the needs of the greatest number of people. You and I probably don’t completely agree on what we like about different kinds of cars and we probably don't completely agree about what we like about each of the folks on each presidential ticket. Just like two makers of cars, each presidential ticket is trying to come up with some combination of features that will appeal to the most number of people. The car maker and the president maker have to try to design a product that has the biggest combination of features that both you and I and lots of other people like. But if an American voter likes the features of one ticket better than the other, how is a purchase made -- and what is being exchanged? When you buy a car, you make a cash payment in exchange not so much for the physical thing, but for the promise of safety, reliability, and status that this thing is expected to provide for the next several years. It works exactly the same when you cast a vote for a political candidate: you give the candidate your vote in exchange for the promises that the political candidate made with regard to health care policy, foreign policy, the economy, and such. If the car fails over time to meet your expectations for safety, reliability, or status, you probably won't replace it with another car of the same make. If the political candidate fails over time to meet your expectations, you probably won't cast a vote to keep that person in office, and might even decide not to cast votes for other members of the political party. If your local representative to Congress isn't responsive to your personal needs or concerns, the end result is the same as if the local dealership isn't responsive to your needs: you won't make a repeat purchase. If instead you have never had any bad experiences personally, perhaps you would be hesitant to consider promotions asking you to switch brands or to switch parties. As we near election day, consider each candidate for every office with the same amount of thought that you would put into buying a new car. If you only bought the car because you like the new car smell, what happens after the smell wears off in a few months? If you stay with or you switch from the brand that you currently drive, does that decision necessarily give you a more or less reliable car for the next few years? Dr. Bob Owen is Associate Professor of Marketing at Texas A&M University-Texarkana.
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