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societal marketing concept. In the developed economy, increased number of marketers is now moving toward the societal marketing concept from the marketing concept. Partnering has evolved from mass marketing to STP marketing. Meanwhile, Pine & Gilmore (1999) explain that the essence of economic value comes
from different sources of market offerings as the stage of economic development changes over time. Vargo & Lusch (2004, p.2) summarize the evolution of marketing as “moving from a goods-dominant view, in which tangible output and discrete transactions were central, to a service-dominant view, in which intangibility, exchange processes, and relationships are central.” Typical market offerings in these days are bundles of goods, services, and experiences. Marketers in STPM separately ll the communication and distribution gaps by managing integrated marketing communications through information channels and distribution functions through distribution channels. In the digital era, such gaps are often lled by managing integrated online
and of ine channels together. To increase motivation for transactions, engagement in consumptions, and experiential values, today’s marketers often rely on entertainments along with services, sales promotions, and selling.
Even if the trends in marketing changes over time, the three basic tasks remain the same for marketers. They in uence consumers on three types of choices: product choices, brand choices, and future choices of products and brands. Such marketing tasks are complex for
two reasons. Consumers are heterogeneous and marketing goals are multidimensional. Typical western style of dealing with the complexities is simplifying the problem and nding the most ef cient solutions. The STPM focuses on one or few clearly de ned simple goals, such as short-term pro ts. Marketers choose the most tting consumers for transactions, discriminate those from others, and achieve the maximal ef ciency by marketing differentiated offers that t the needs
of the target consumers. In the digital age, consumer relationship is more carefully managed based on the customer lifetime value (CLV). Recently, marketing practitioners and scholars are proposing new ideas
for updating STPM to adapt to the new requests from today’s consumers and publics (e.g., Gilbreath 2010, Sisodia et al. 2007, and Spence, 2009).
Consumers actively seek for happiness in transac- tions and consumptions
As Kotler et al. (2010, p.6) suggest, consumers are no longer just passive markets who make choices among the few alternatives offered by marketers;
consumers, in nowadays, are smart in several ways. To begin with, they are empowered by the access to rich sources of information and to the ef cient channel of communications, and marketers are making transactions with the most powerful consumers in the marketing history. These consumers can play the role of boundary persons for marketers and in uence their marketing from marketing offering to transactions. Second, consumers are older than ever and highly experienced. They are interested in the quality of life and happiness. With richer life experience, they prefer stable relationships with partnering rms who respect them and treat them well. Third, the proportion of the rst time buyers is decreasing and the portion of repeat buyers is increasing. They rely on their past transactions and consumption experiences in making choices of market offerings. The quality of their relationship with partnering marketers becomes a crucial factor in making such choices. Fourth, with their growing roles in the economy, female consumers’ power has become even more important. Therefore, the importance of female consumers has signi cantly grown for marketers. Brennan (2009) notes that today’s marketers nd dif culties understanding women consumers who are not just consumers but female. Last of all, consumers use their left and right brains in balance. They are more responsive to emotional experiences. They are looking
for pleasant surprises, emotional services, and pleasant marketing experiences. In summary, consumers in Marketing 3.0, as whole human beings, actively seek for happiness in their transactions and consumptions, and want to have warm long-term relationships with partnering marketers.
Publics ask marketers to contribute to social values
Today’s publics are critical to rms that solely pursue self-oriented goals. They ask rms to be more society- friendly and ethical. Under the neoclassical economy paradigm, rms and individuals make choices among available alternatives in order to maximize self-oriented values. Bagozzi (Varey 2010, p.113) states that “the neoclassical homoeconomicus does not account for altruism, commitment to ethical values, concern for
the group and public interest, and a variety of non- instrumental behavior.” Lack of altruistic behavior of rms and individuals in the neoclassical paradigm has been complemented by traditional social norms or religious beliefs. However, as such in uences weakened over time, the drawbacks of sel sh behavior of rms has become prominent.
Figure 1 summarizes the characteristics and keywords of consumers, publics, and competitors in the age of Marketing 3.0. Consumers and publics are asking rms
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