market’ing vs marketing

if you’ve ever been to Mexico City, there’s a high chance you’ve visited at least one official mercado,
and an even higher chance of having stumbled, quite literally, into heaps of unofficial ones.

you’ll see food stalls, improvised barbershops, tattoo shops and regular shops in makeshift tents, aggressively selling their products and services.

you’ll see 6 year olds selling candy to 5 year olds, right next to an abuelita making tlacoyos while her son’s polishing a policeman ego shoes…

anything you could possibly want, but probably don’t need, can be found a blanket or two away.

as a marketer, I love outdoor markets,
the smells, the haggling, the energy…
I love people watching.
(unless I’m with my partner, in which case I’m busy watching the wallet)

markets have a way of cutting through pretense and getting down to the bare bones of human psychology…
you have what I want (money)
I have what you want (product)
let’s trade…

“good quality, unique, hand made!”
“best price in the market!”
“buy two, get one free!”
“no wait, come back, I’ll make you a special offer”

if this sounds awfully similar to the ads you see online, that’s because… it is.

market-ing is no different to marketing.

we may have traded markets for websites, brands for vendors and clicks for conversations, but eager eyeballs are still eyeballs, whether you’re looking at a carefully designed ad on Facebook or a perfectly cut, juicy watermelon at a fruit stall.

how are incessant pop-ups different to market vendors belting out their discounts?

how are the learn more’s, click me’s and buy now’s, different to the people shouting over each other to get your attention in a bazaar?

for someone to buy, someone else needs to sell.
for someone to buy, product information needs to be made available, somehow.
it’s a collective agreement we’ve had since the beginning of trade.

so why does it feel like it’s too much all of the sudden?

is advertising really getting increasingly more aggressive? or is the marketplace expanding?

has capitalism rotten us to our core? or is technology making these practices more obvious?

is behavioral retargeting an invasion of privacy or a necessary evil?

was Jack really unable to hold on to the door? or was Rose purposefully floating away?

the whole premise behind these brain pickings was to share my (sometimes passionate) opinions, not so that you inherit my conclusions wholesale, but rather so that you think, perhaps more critically, about the future of technology and how it impacts our buying behavior.

most days, I believe the marketing bubble is about to burst, but today? today I’m happy I got some black friday shopping done.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

today is day 333 of the year, there are 32 days remaining of 2022.