Essay --

‘Some years ago everyone lived perfectly fine without a smart phone or tablet, but now people suddenly ‘need’ to have one!’ Most people will have heard someone say this or something similar before. And it seems to be true at first sight, smart phones and tablet are now more a normal good than a luxury good. The implication is that marketing artificially creates needs. In this essay we will discuss the question if marketing really does. We will discuss this question from the point of view of a producer or product designer. It will appear there is another side to the story. But what exactly are needs? ‘Needs are the basic human requirements for air, good, water, clothing and shelter. Humans also have strong needs for recreation, education, and entertainment.’ (Kotler & Keller, 2012) Since needs are basic human requirements, they are in the nature of mankind. Therefore they cannot be created by marketers. But why do people think marketing does create needs? Because they confuse needs with wants. Needs are not specific objects. The specific objects are wants, and they can satisfy the need. (Kotler & Keller, 2012) The needs already exist, marketing develops products that fulfill those needs. (Meredith, 2008) But people may not be aware of their needs, and therefore think that marketing has created a new need, but what marketing has actually done, is uncovering the need, by providing a product that satisfied the need. The need already existed, and marketers found a product that responds to it. Identifying needs and providing a product that sat isfies the needs is the main business of marketing, that is why marketing is used. Business is basically identifying and serving customer’s needs at a profit. (Meredith, When Leaders Don't Lead, ... ...d society do. So if you ever hear someone complain about needs that are created by marketers, those people just didn’t know they had that need. Bibliography (n.d.). Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2012). A framework form marketing management (5th ed.). Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Meredith, B. (2002, February). Awesomely Disquieting. NZ Business, 16(1), 47. Meredith, B. (2005, December). When Leaders Don't Lead. NZ Business, 19(11), 70. Meredith, B. (2008, September). (How) marketing has changed. NZ Business, 22(8), 102. Pereira Heat, M. T., & Chatzidakis, A. (2012). 'Blame it on marketing': consumer's views on unsustainable competition. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 36, 661. Vidal Diaz, d. R. (1998). A single consumer or different types of consumers: An analysis of social types according to their customer habits. Brithish Food Journal, 100(7), 326.