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The Major Tasks of Marketing Management: Eight Different Types of Demand Situations Dictate Marketing Strategy
The Major Tasks of Marketing Management: Eight Different Types of Demand Situations Dictate Marketing Strategy
MARKiTING msm
by Philip Kotler
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he popular image of the mar- a profit constraint, satisficing, the cur- (unwholesome demand), are also impor-
keter is that he is a profes- rent or desired level of supply, or some tant. The set of demand situations is
sional whose joh is to create other type of analysis. fairly exhaustive and the order fairly
and maintain demand for The current demand level may be continuous.
something. Unfortunately, below, equal to, or above the desired Each demand situation gives rise to a
this is too limited a view of the range of demand level. Four specific demand specific marketing task. Negative
marketing challenges he faces. In fact, it states make up underdemand: negative demand results in attempts to disabuse
covers only two of eight important and demand, no demand, latent demand, and it; no demand, in attempts to create it;
distinct marketing tasks. Each task calls faltering demand. Two specific demand latent demand, in attempts to develop it;
for a special type of problem-solving states make up adequate demand: irregu- and so on.
behavior and a specific blend of market- lar demand and full demand. Finally, All of these tasks require a manageri-
ing concepts. two demand states make up overde- al approach consisting of analysis, plan-
Marketing management may be mand: overfull demand and unwhole- ning, implementation, organization, and
viewed generically as the problem of some demand. control. Furthermore, they all utilize the
regulating the level, timing, and charac- These eight demand states are distin- two basic steps of marketing strategy
ter of demand for one or more products guished primarily with respect to the development: defining the target mar-
of an organization. The organization is level of current demand in relation to kets and formulating a marketing mix
assumed to form an idea of a desired desired demand; although two additional out of the elements of product, price,
level of demand based on profit maxi- factors, the timing of demand (irregular promotion, and place.
mization, sales maximization subject to demand) and the character of demand In these respects, all of marketing
management has a unity, a core theory.
At the same time, the eight tasks are not
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egative demand might be defined
1973, identifies eight different marketing tasks, each arising out of a as a state in which all or most of
unique state of demand. Kotler is the S.C. Johnson and Son Distin- the important segments of the
guished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg Graduate potential market dislike the product and,
School of Management, Northwestern University. in fact, might conceivably pay a price to
avoid it.
Negative demand, far from being a
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effects of consumption. Satisfying for new marketing propositions for relat- ery often an organization might
those needs may hurt a lot of people's ing the product to its potential market. be satisfied with the average
interests. Remarketing calls for a thorough level of demand but quite dissat-
Thus, it is not sufficient for a devel- reconsideration of the target market, isfied with its temporal pattern. Some
opmental marketer to say that his new product features, and current marketing seasons are marked by demand surging
product is justified because there is real program. The question of the appropri- far beyond the supply capacity of the
need for it. He may have to show that ate target market is faced, for example, organization, and other seasons are
the need is salutary and the product will by a grand old hotel in Southern Califor- marked by a wasteful underuse of the
nia whose clientele was formerly aristo- organization's supply capacity.
not lead to more social harm than pri-
vate good. cratic and is now moving toward the Irregular demand is defined as a state
comfortable middle class. Still the hotel in which the current timing pattern of
Faltering Demand continues to try to attract its old clien- demand is marked by seasonal or
tele and to base its services and prices volatile fluctuations that depart from the
A
ll kinds of products, services,
places, organizations, and ideas on this target market—an approach that timing pattern of supply.
eventually experience declining neither attracts them back nor succeeds Many examples of irregular demand
or faltering demand. Faltering demand in building up the new clientele to its can be cited. In mass transit, much of
is a state in which the demand for a true potential. the equipment is idle during the off-
product is less that its former level and The task of revising product features hours and in insufficient supply during
where further decline is expected in the is faced by Amtrak, the corporation the peak hours. Hotels in Miami Beach
absence of remedial efforts to revise the charged with revitalizing railway pas- are insufficiently booked during the off-
target market, product, and/or market- senger travel. Amtrak's initial tempta- seasons and overbooked during the peak
ing efforts. tion was to carry on a massive advertis- seasons. Museums are undervisited dur-
For example, the natural fur industry ing campaign to get people to try the ing the weekdays and overcrowded dur-
is in deep trouble today as demand trains again. However, this would have ing the weekends. Hospital operating
declines in the face of the trend toward been fatal because it would have shown facilities are overbooked at the begin-
more casual living, the emergence of people how really bad trains and train ning of the week and underutilized
artificial furs, and the attacks of ecolo- service have become. toward the end of the week to meet
gists who see the fur industry as preying It is a marketing axiom that the physician preferences.
on endangered species. fastest way to kill a bad product is to A less common version of the irregu-
Railway travel has been a service in advertise it. This accelerates the rate of lar demand situation is where supply
steady decline for a number of years, negative word-of-mouth that finally puts also is variable and, in fact, fluctuates in
and it is badly in need of imaginative the death knell on the product. Amtrak a perverse way in relation to demand.
remarketing. Many grand hotels have wisely decided that mass advertising Legal aid is more available to the poor
seen their clientele thin out in the face should come after product improvement. in the summer (because of law students
of competition from bright new hotels A sharp distinction must be drawn on vacations) but more in demand in the
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will be readily reshaped through simple ometimes the demand for a product everyone's demand but rather the
switches in incentives or promotion; in substantially begins to outpace the demand coming from certain segments
other cases, the reshaping may be supply. Known as overfull demand, of the market. These segments or cus-
achieved only after years of patient it is defined as a state in which demand tomer classes may be considered rela-
effort to alter habits and desires, if at all. exceeds the level at which the marketer tively unprofitable in themselves or
feels able or motivated to supply it. It is undesirable in terms of their impact on
Full Demand essentially the reverse of faltering other valued segments of the market. The
must have a thick skin because he is not eating nutritionally poor foods. Environ- arouse unpleasant feelings in the poten-
going to be popular with certain groups. mental groups have been trying to unseli tial or actual users of the product.
Some of the steps will appear unfair the idea of being careless with the envi- In addition to these psychological
ways to ration a product. Some of the ronment as if it were inexhaustible. steps, the marketer also attempts to load
groups who are discriminated against Many manufacturers engage in cam- the other marketing variables against the
may have just cause for complaint, paigns to unseli competitors' products use of the product. He tries to increase
Demarketing may be highly justified in or brands, such as a natural gas compa- the real or perceived price. He tries to
some situations and ethically dubious in ny trying to unseli electric heating or a reduce the product's availability through
others. compact car manufacturer trying to reducing or destroying channels of dis-
unseli large, gas-eating automobiles. tribution. He tries to find an alternative
Unwholesome Demand Whereas innovation is largely the product that is wholesome.
here are many products for which attempt to add new things to the cultural Clearly, unselling is one of the most
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have revolved around the so-called
"vice" products: alcohol, cigarettes, and At the same time, every effort to whose basic interest and skill lies
hard drugs. Various temperance groups unseli something may also be viewed as in regulating the level, timing,
mounted such an intense campaign that an effort to sell something else. Those and character of demand for a product,
they succeeded in gaining the passage of who attempt to unseli cigarette smoking service, place, or idea. He faces up to
the 18th Amendment banning the manu- are attempting to sell health; those who eight different types of demand situa-
facture of alcoholic beverages, attempt to unseli large families are try- tions and plans accordingly.
Antismoking groups managed to put ing to sell small families; those who If demand is negative, it must be dis-
enough pressure on the Surgeon Gener- attempt to unseli the competitor's prod- abused (conversional marketing); if
al's office to get a law passed requiring uct are trying to increase the sales of nonexistent, it must be created (stimula-
cigarette manufacturers to add to each their own product. tional marketing); if latent, it must be
package the statement, "Warning: The In fact, it is usually easier to sell developed (developmental marketing);
Surgeon General Has Determined That something else. For example, instead of if faltering, it must be revitalized
Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous To trying to unseli young people on drugs, (remarketing); if irregular, it must be
Your Health," They also sponsored the marketer can try to sell them on synchronized (synchromarketing); if
many effective TV commercials aimed another way of achieving whatever they full, it must be maintained (maintenance
at "unselling" the smoker. Later, they are seeking through drugs. marketing); if overfull, it must be
managed to get a law passed prohibiting Efforts to turn off demand can prof- reduced (demarketing); and if unwhole-
cigarette advertising on television. itably draw on certain concepts and the- some, it must be destroyed (countermar-
Antidrug crusaders have sponsored ories in psychology. In general, the keting).
advertising aimed at unselling the youth effort is largely one of deconditioning or Each demand situation calls for a
on the idea of drug usage. habit extinction theory. Learning and particular set of psychological concepts
Peace groups for years tried to unseli reinforcement theory are suggestive in and marketing strategies and may give
the Vietnam War, Population control this connection. The marketer is trying rise to task specialization. Managerial
groups have been trying to unseli the to associate disgust, fear, disagreeable- marketing, rather than a singular effort
idea of large families. Nutrition groups ness, or shame with the use of the to build or maintain sales, is a complex
have been trying to unseli the idea of unwholesome object. He is trying to game with many scripts, liW