Both as philosophies and practical guidelines on `how to do business', marketing and brandinghave expanded dramatically beyond the range for which they were intended at the outset. Even today, vacation marketers are adopting the works of marketing scholars. For example, place and destination branding is becoming an increasingly important dimension of the management of destinations and places. Furthermore, tourism actors are increasingly turning to marketing in their quests for competitive advantages and points of differentiation. However, especially in regard to vacation marketing, it seems that we are emphasizing the dimensions of branding and marketing that relate to the marketers' one-way communication, e.g., building brand awareness and creating unique, strong, and favorable brand associations. However, marketing and branding seem far more complex (or simple?) as they are both concerned about (1) the experiences with the brand (e.g., experiences at the destination) and (2) communication and advertising. The purpose of this article is to discuss contemporary marketing and branding as well as the (mis) match of such applications of marketing and branding with the central tenets of these two philosophies of business.
More
than 50 years ago (i.e., around the 1950s),
people like McKitterick, Borch, and Keith argued that
the core of marketing could be characterized by the
central tenets explicated by the marketing concept.The
marketing concept holds that the key to achieving
its organizational goals consists of the company being
more effective than competitors in creating, delivering,
and communicating customer value to its chosen target
markets.
It
is no coincidence that the above definition is reproduced
from one of the best-known marketing books that exists.
In other words, the marketing concept has had such
a profound effect on the way we `think' that it has
become extremely difficult to find a marketing book
that does not include a definition like the one above. |
