Why does marketing exist?

Today I would like to riff on a quote I saw the other day on LinkedIn. In fact, I would like to blow it apart. Here it is:

“When you strip everything away, marketing is the business of creating memories. This is how we create value for organizations.”

This quote came from a very well-respected senior marketing executive and it shows why I believe marketing is so lost today. Let me explain why.

The marketing fizz

Have you ever noticed the colored pull tabs on a can of soda or beer? They add a little splash of fun and color to an otherwise common package. This humble innovation also represented one of my greatest marketing victories … and it had nothing to do with creating memories.

Many years ago, I was the director of marketing for a large business that provided packaging materials like aluminum for cans. Our customers were desperate to find new ways to differentiate their packaging without adding significant cost, and the idea of colorful pull tabs was always coming up in my research.

The problem was, our customers wanted short runs of many different colors. For example, Heinekin wanted colored tabs that matched national colors for a World Cup promotion. But short runs of messy colors were a NIGHTMARE for an efficient manufacturing organization. There was no way we could meet this customer need within our manufacturing process.

So I scoured the country for a partner that could coat our metal in small batches while meeting our quality standards. There was exactly one company in America that could do it. I took a huge risk and offered an exclusive contract to this toll-coater (my operations people were against it!) and I created a beautiful book of colorful samples for our customers.

My company — and only my company — could now provide any color the customers wanted, even in small batches.

By finding new market seams — profitable marketing niches. — I was able to triple the price of our normal product. The added incremental cost to the total package was very small, so the customers eagerly bought it…