Page 139 - MYM 2015

A disk jockey of a radio program got a call from a young lady. She requested the song “Love Me Tender.” Then, she talked about an episode she experienced a few days ago. She went to a small shoe-repair shop
to take care of her recently purchased shoes. She wanted to x a decoration fallen off from the shoes. There were a man and wife working in the shop.
She immediately noticed that both of them could not talk nor hear. She had to communicate with them by writing. While the shoe repairman was working on the shoes, the young lady was resting on a couch hearing the music coming from an old radio. After the man nished his repair service, his wife shined the shoes. When the shoe shining job was over, she gave the shoes back to the young lady. However, her husband appeared to be upset. It turned out that he was upset because her wife did not put the shoes in a paper bag. The young lady liked the service very much. When she was coming out of the shop, she could hear “Love Me Tender” from the radio. She requested the song to thank the hearing-impaired couple for their wonderful services that touched her heart.
According to Sisodia et al. (2007, p.99), “heart is
not a word that has been often heard in B-school.
But, heart—a symbol of empathy, love, nurturing, caring, giving—has recently made a quantum leap and landed smack dab in the middle of mainstream business consciousness.” Kim (2012) notes that the rst among ten key consumer trends in 2012 in Korea is deliver true hearts. Schultz (1997, p.138) states that “Starbucks cannot ourish and win consumers’ hearts without the passionate devotion of their employees.” Only can the hearts of marketers and employees earn the hearts of consumers.
Heart remains an ambiguous word. In this article,
we de ne heart as the emotional self. Hahn (2012b) proposed a “four hearts hypothesis.” It states that there are four basic dimensions of hearts: love, passion, authenticity, and spirit. Table 5 shows the dimensions of hearts and the roles of each dimension.
* (-) means that it is negatively associated with other characteristics.
Dimension
Concepts included
Roles
Love/Care
Love, care, empathy, warmth, affection, nurturing, giving, hatred (-)*
To love and to be loved bring happiness Makes people seek others-oriented values
Passion
Enthusiasm, will, desire, devotion, ambition, motivation
Touches consumers’ hearts
Improves the effectiveness of marketing efforts
Authenticity
Conscience, truthfulness, integrity, honesty, earnestness, transparency, shame (-)
Build trust leading to lasting relationships Enhance ethical thinking
Spirit
Soulfulness, spiritual Commitment, spiritual mission-orientation, spiritual value-orientation
Leads to purpose-driven marketing Commitment toward spiritual values Make marketers happy
Table 5. Four Dimensions of Hearts and Their Roles
In this real story, the service quality and a pleasant surprise of hearing music on a couch must have been impressive to the lady. Most of all, it is the couple’s hearts that enabled delivering happiness
to the young lady. They poured their hearts in their services that generate gratitude. Again, at the center of this marketing, there is the marketer’s heart.
Heart: A Key Construct in True Partnership Marketing
The marketers’ heart is at the core of generating grati cation and gratitude. By generating grati cation
or gratitude, consumers experience happy moments that they can remember for a long time. From this experience, marketers can earn consumers as partners. Also, by continuously delivering such happiness, the true partnership between consumers and marketers are reinforced.
The concept of love includes care, affection, empathy, warmth, nurturing, and giving. It makes people seek other oriented values. Love itself is an important source of happiness. The second dimension represents passion including concepts such as enthusiasm, will, desire, ambition, and motivation. Passion can improve the effectiveness of marketing efforts. Consumers are often touched by the marketer’s passionate activities. The third dimension is authenticity. It includes concepts of conscience, truthfulness, integrity, honesty, earnestness, and transparency. The authenticity builds trust, which makes the relationships last. It also enhances ethical and fair marketing. The last dimension is spirit, which includes soulfulness, spiritual commitment, spiritual mission-orientation, and metaphysical value-orientation. The spirit leads to purpose-driven marketing. It enhances the organization to be mission oriented and committed to spiritual values. Also, marketers themselves can be happier when they execute spiritually driven activities.
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