Consumer-oriented marketing means that the company should view and organize its marketing activities from the consumer’s point of view. It should work hard to sense, serve, and satisfy the needs of a defined group of customers—both now and in the future. The good marketing companies that we’ve discussed throughout this text have had this in common: an all-consuming passion for delivering superior value to carefully chosen customers. Only by seeing the world through its customers’ eyes can the company build sustainable and profitable customer relationships.

According to the principle of customer value marketing, the company should put most of its resources into customer value–building marketing investments. Many things marketers do—one-shot sales promotions, cosmetic product changes, direct-response advertising—may raise sales in the short run but add less value than would actual improvements in the product’s quality, features, or convenience. Enlightened marketing calls for building long-run consumer engagement, loyalty, and relationships by continually improving the value consumers receive from the firm’s market offering. By creating value for consumers, the ­company can capture value from consumers in return.

The principle of innovative marketing requires that the company continuously seek real product and marketing improvements. The company that overlooks new and better ways to do things will eventually lose customers to another company that has found a better way.

Innovative marketers never stop looking for new and better ways to create customer value. For example, fast and dependable delivery is highly important to online shoppers. So Amazon delighted customers by being the first to innovate with free shipping on orders over $50. But Amazon didn’t stop there. It next introduced Amazon Prime, by which customers could receive their packages within only two days for no extra charge or in one day for a small additional fee. Still not satisfied, Amazon innovated with Amazon Prime Now, which offers super-fast same-day delivery—or even one-hour delivery—on tens of thousands of items in major metropolitan areas. In its never-ending quest to shorten delivery times, Amazon has even invested heavily in research on drones, driverless vehicles, and robots. This and a seemingly endless list of other innovations over the years—from Recommendations for You, Customer Reviews, and 1-Click Ordering features to the Amazon Marketplace, Kindle e-readers, and Amazon Cloud services—have helped Amazon to enhance the shopping customer experience and dominate online retailing.

Sense-of-mission marketing means that the company should define its mission in broad social terms rather than narrow product terms. When a company defines a social mission, employees feel better about their work and have a clearer sense of direction. Brands linked with broader missions can serve the best long-run interests of both the brand and consumers.

For example, successful home furnishings retailer IKEA has a deeply ingrained sense of mission—called The IKEA Way—to create a better everyday life for people by “offering well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.” Johnson & Johnson’s flagship Johnson’s Baby brand dedicates itself to a mission of understanding babies and the special nurturing they require, then uses that knowledge to provide parents with safe and effective baby-care products. The company’s recently launched “Our Promise” advertising and social media campaign—which will include some 40 videos featuring and shared by Johnson’s Baby brand employees—assures parents that “It’s a responsibility we take seriously as we continue to apply our knowledge and research to bring you safe, innovative products that live up to our pure, mild, and gentle promise.” The first “Our Promise” video states that “We are moms and dads just like you. We’ll always listen and be here for you. Promise.” Sense-of-mission marketing has made Johnson’s Baby the world’s leading baby-care brand, with a nearly 25 percent worldwide market share.22

Some companies define their overall corporate missions in broad societal terms. For example, under its buy-one-give-one model, shoe maker TOMS seeks both profits and to make the world a better place. Thus, at TOMS, “doing good” and “doing well” go hand in hand. To achieve its social-change mission, TOMS has to make money. At the same time, the brand’s social mission gives customers a powerful reason to buy.

However, having a double bottom line of values and profits isn’t easy. Over the years, brands such as Ben & Jerry’s, Timberland, The Body Shop, and Burt’s Bees—all known and respected for putting “principles before profits”—have at times struggled with less-than-stellar financial returns. In recent years, however, a new generation of social entrepreneurs has emerged, well-trained business managers who know that to do good, they must first do well in terms of profitable business operations.

Moreover, today, socially responsible business is no longer the sole province of small, socially conscious entrepreneurs. Many large, established companies and brands—from Walmart and Nike to Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and CVS Health—have adopted substantial social and environmental responsibility missions. Rather than being at odds with revenues and profits, purpose-driven missions can drive them. For example, sense-of-­mission marketing and doing what’s right for customers has helped transform CVS into the nation’s largest health-care company (see Real Marketing 20.2).

Following the principle of societal marketing, a company makes marketing decisions by considering consumers’ wants, the company’s requirements, consumers’ long-run interests, and society’s long-run interests. Companies should be aware that neglecting consumer and societal long-run interests is a disservice to consumers and society. Alert companies view societal problems as opportunities.

Sustainable marketing calls for products that are not only pleasing but also beneficial. The difference is shown in Figure 20.4. Products can be classified according to their degree of immediate consumer satisfaction and long-run consumer benefit.

Figure 20.4

Societal Classification of Products

Deficient products, such as bad-tasting and ineffective medicine, have neither immediate appeal nor long-run benefits. Pleasing products give high immediate satisfaction but may hurt consumers in the long run. Examples include cigarettes and junk food. Salutary products have low immediate appeal but may benefit consumers in the long run, for instance, bicycle helmets or some insurance products. Desirable products give both high immediate satisfaction and high long-run benefits, such as a tasty and nutritious breakfast food.

Companies should try to turn all of their products into desirable products. The challenge posed by pleasing products is that they sell very well but may end up hurting the consumer. The product opportunity, therefore, is to add long-run benefits without reducing the product’s pleasing qualities. The challenge posed by salutary products is to add some pleasing qualities so that they will become more desirable in consumers’ minds.

Consider method, the “people against dirty” brand of household and personal cleaning products. Many effective household cleaning products contain chemicals or even toxic ingredients that can be harmful to people and the environment. But method products are formulated with naturally derived, biodegradable ingredients, nontoxic ingredients. “We prefer ingredients that come from plants, not chemical plants,” says the brand. Method also uses recycled and recyclable packaging, and it works with suppliers to reduce the carbon intensity of producing its products. Method uses renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and solar trees to help power its Chicago manufacturing facility. In all, “method cleaners put the hurt on dirt without doing harm to people, creatures, or the planet,” says the company. As method cofounder and “chief greenskeeper” puts it: “Beautiful design and environmental responsibility are equally important when creating a product and we shouldn’t have to trade functionality for sustainability.”