The Men Who Made Us Fat

I watched the final episode of the programme "The Men Who Made Us Fat" on BBC2 last night and did get very frustrated about the continual criticism of marketing throughout it. Whilst in principle I can agree with the contention that the food industry is concerned with making money for shareholders (it is their primary responsibility, after all), I do not entirely agree that is all down to marketing that people buy the high fat foods, and as ever that is using the word marketing for promotion rather than the broader aspects it should cover.

It does seem potentially short sighted of the food companies to produce products which can cause obesity and therefore reduce the life of their customers, however. Surely they should want to help the customers to live longer and therefore make more money from them over a long period of time. But is it really the fault of marketing that people want to buy quick and simple to prepare, tasty food at low prices even if it is very processed? Isn't the marketing response one of providing that to meet the lifestyles people lead rather than convincing people it is what they need?


The problem comes with the potentially misleading labelling which suggest things may be healthy when they are not particularly so, but again, if people want to see that something has fruit in it and it does why not state that? If everything else is on the label is it not the customer's fault for not reading it and seeing the reality? I am a believer in freedom of choice provided the customer is well informed rather than the regulation which was being suggested by the programme, but that does rely on educating customers as to what things really mean and that is where I do think the food producers and retailers are failing. 


But it isn't all the fault of marketing!


For the moment the programme can be viewed here - BBC iPlayer

The Apprentice 2009 - Final

That was a true marketing task - I got worried right at the start when Sir Alan said the two remaining candidates had to produce a marketing campaign, once again he was referring to a promotion campaign. After that, however, it became obvious that this was a true marketing programme. The candidates had to start off with a target market in mind, consider how to position their box of chocolates for that target. They had to consider the price to sell it at and then produce the promotional campaign (Sir Alan's marketing campaign) considering the place where they would sell the product. Both Yasmina and Kate produced great campaigns, although it certainly seemed that Kate had the better product, but well done to Yasmina on being hired.

So who is going to tell Sir Alan what marketing is all about?

As a side point, throughout five series of The Apprentice, I have not seen any real evidence of Sir Alan considering online marketing techniques (there was a brief shot showing that Yasmina had considered a website on the poster for Cocoa Electric in the final) so maybe I should try and enrol him on the CIM e-Marketing Award so he can learn more!

Marketing Suite

One thing I see regularly at property development sites is a sign indicating where the "marketing suite" is. I am often tempted to go in and ask them about their marketing strategies and the mix they are using - so far I have resisted as it would be unfair on the sales administrators who work in these suites.

I wonder who they are trying to fool by avoiding the word "sales" in the description. I am pretty sure that all that happens is that the public know it is a sales office, but then add the word marketing as an alternative to sales, leaving the impression that it is still somewhere to be avoided if they want to avoid being pressured. This is another misuse of the word marketing which adds to the negative perceptions of the profession in the eyes of those who aren't fully aware. At the same time it does nothing to overcome the negatives of selling which could be partly resolved through better practices, but largely needs a change in culture for which this is not the right place!!

This is an example of a typical sign seen in Leeds at the development in Granary Wharf.

The Apprentice

Having been meaning to write something here for ages I now have to write about a crime against marketing which I saw last week on the BBC series The Apprentice. When the losing team were in the boardroom they were questioned about their expenditure, a major part of which was their "marketing". This was picked up by Sir Alan Sugar who made much play of them overspending on marketing. The problem is it wasn't on marketing, it was on promotion - this being just one small part of marketing rather than the totality it was portrayed as.

It is this misconception of marketing which I find really frustrating and is one Sir Alan has made before in previous series. I suspect the understanding Sir Alan has of the word marketing relates to advertising and promotion rather than the much wider remit it should cover. I am sure however, that he is actually a pretty good marketer - anyone who has amassed a fortune of over £800m has to be pretty good at identifying customer needs and satisfying them profitably (Amstrad emailer maybe being an exception where he got things wrong). I just wish he would use the correct word and not keep perpetuating the common myth that all marketers do is advertising.

You can find more information about the series The Apprentice at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/