Review Discussion of Chris Hackley 2013, Marketing in Context - Book Report/Review Example

Review Discussion of Chris Hackley , Marketing in Context Introduction The prime intent of this essay is to conduct a review discussion of the book “Marketing in Context” written by Professor Chris Hackley, particularly focusing on one of its chapters. Moreover, the readings presented in this book emphasising one particular chapter will also be compared with other readings for the purpose of determining the implications of the same on the modern marketing context and settings. Chris Hackley is a marketing Professor in Royal Holloway University in London. The author completed his Ph.D from Strathclyde University by specifically focusing on the topic of creative development process of management. Chris Hackley published over 100 books as well as articles related to the subject matters of marketing communication as well as marketing and psychology. In the book of “Marketing in Context”, Chris Hackley elaborated varied market related information for the readers that require to be considered with utmost importance. In this book, Chris Hackley addressed that marketing is generally structured by the everyday life experiences. This book holds utmost importance for the readers, as this reveals several information of marketing concept that found to be significant in this competitive landscape (Hackley, 2013). Apart from the above discussed objective, the essay also intends to explain the key themes of the book, conduct a critical analysis and also the comparison as well as contrast the key themes elaborated in one of the chapters of the book with other readings. It is projected that the evaluation as well as the comparison of the readings presented by varied authors would eventually aid in determining the implications of such readings on marketing scene and settings. Key Themes of the Book: Marketing in Context One of the key themes of the book “Marketing in Context” can be recognised as providing marketing related information to the readers particularly the students. Based on the readings of the book, large scale marketing does not mean that people often make buying decisions in accordance with their choices of any particular product and/or service. The best marketing practices mainly emphasis the psychology of the customers, as the marketing concept is mainly influenced by the ideas and the lifestyle of the individuals among others. In this regard, the other major themes of the book can be ascertained as setting the marketing concept, considering marketing as a communication tool as well as social policy and having the potential of attracting the customers in the context of refurbishing a particular brand (Hackley, 2013). Critical Review of the Book In the book of “Marketing in Context”, the author Chris Hackley presented various marketing conceptions and also elaborated the place of marketing in this modern world. Hackley explained about the current position of the markets and the benefits of spreading the idea of marketing. Based on the understanding of Hackley, scientific knowledge may or may not be applicable in marketing, but a certain proportion of science as well as technology fields are involved in the sphere of marketing (Svensson, 2001). The author also explained that marketing works as a communication medium between the organisations and the customers in national as well as international levels. In relation to the above context, it can be inferred that advanced technologies have eventually transformed the meaning as well as the purpose of communication and thus encouraged the appearance of innovative communication channel for marketing. This brought new opportunities as well as challenges for the marketers. Specially mentioning, the author in the book critically deciphered the notion of social media is and how it is related to marketing field. According to the author of the book, the notion of social marketing is deemed to be quite important, as it is regarded as a subdivision of marketing (Hackley, 2013). It can be affirmed from a broader understanding that the importance of marketing can be determined in the form of making mass media communication quite effective towards the attainment of predetermined targets (Valeech & Reza, 2013). More importantly, the author Chris Hackley addressed that marketing stands for creativity in the form of social and economic influence. The term ‘ideology’ in this context deciphers the notion of values and belief schemes. It can be ascertained that mass media is regarded as an important part of marketing, as this aids in generating greater awareness about a particular product and/or service into the minds of the customers. Mass media often involves television and advertising that certainly makes the marketing process much easy and faster, enabling the organisations to meet the consumers’ requirements at large (Klaehn, 2002). Based on the understanding of the author of the book, certain tools need to be considered as effective marketing symbols. These tools can be determined as television, advertising, videos and other media equipment. In this particular chapter, Chris Hackley mainly addressed the impacts of marketing specifically on the retail plan. Another valuable understanding, which can be gained from the book, is assessing the alcohol business prevalent in the UK, which impose significant impact on urban scenery and also changing the interior design of the grocery workshops (Steger, 2005). The author Chris Hackley addressed the concept of ideology particularly in the fields of marketing, media communication and space. In this context, it is to be affirmed that marketing itself is regarded as the basis of ideology. Moreover, apart from this, it has been also perceived that marketing is closely related with the marketers as well as management. There are set of ideas and settlements in marketing that have been copied in academic programs as well as in text books. The marketing concept depends on the satisfaction level of the consumers. It is worth mentioning that good marketing approach depends on varied elements of 4 P’s of marketing mix plan that entail price, product, promotion and place (Dijk, 2006). In the book “Marketing in Context,” the author presented the activities of the consumers while making effective buying decisions. Moreover, the author also mentioned about the culture of brand, which largely influences human and social interactions. According to the author, brand culture plays a decisive part in marketing any specific product and/or service. The author also provided the standpoint that brand culture is regarded as one of the main concepts in marketing, planning and management. A successful brand is often regarded as an obstacle in market entry for potential competitors, as brand name is the sign of a company, which helps the consumers to identify their preferred good brands. In this regard, it can be ascertained that it is the consumers who create immense business market competition in the respective business markets by making effective buying decisions, which eventually reveals the relationship existing between consumers and marketing (Arvidsson, 2005). Comparing and Contrasting the Key Themes The themes presented by the author Chris Hackley in the book “Marketing in Context” is expected to mainly influence the modern organisations who desire to market their respective products and/or services in new or already operating business markets. The primary purpose of the themes deciphered in the book is to provide accurate information relating to traditional as well as online marketing, benefits along with limitations linked with the same and determining the measures based on which successful marketing can be conducted. Specially mentioning, the key themes of the book can be compared and contrasted based on the concepts of brand name as well as brand value. Moreover, apart from these, the other factors based on which the key themes of the book can be compared include determining consumer process along with decision-making procedure, making effective strategic planning and analysing how marketing communication works (Fill &Jamieson, 2006). After conducting an in-depth analysis of the chapters of the book “Marketing in Context” written by Chris Hackley, it can be inferred that Chapter 7 of the book seems to be quite noteworthy. This can be justified with reference to the fact that this particular chapter of the book mainly provided a detailed understanding about the conceptions of conventional and contextual marketing. As per the viewpoints of the author, conventional marketing is also termed as traditional marketing, , which is referred to as the pushing process .This implies that in this type of marketing, marketers often push the materials to direct business market. On the other hand, contextual marketing is known as online marketing, wherein consumers do not show physical appearance in the respective markets and thus deal with the products and/or services based on browsing varied online sites. It is worth mentioning that advertisement and media are the examples of contextual and online marketing. In recent years, online marketing gained its momentum, as it is regarded as the easy way of marketing rather than the conventional marketing (Antoniadis et al., 2003). By critically analysing the major themes relevant to this particular chapter of the book, it can be argued that the contextual marketing approach is deemed to be much prevalent in this contemporary business setting and also widely embraced by the modern marketers. Moreover, the chapter of the book is duly considered to be one of the major elements of the book, as it provides the information about planning, implementation and control of marketing (Hackley, 2013). It will be vital to mention that for successful marketing, market practitioners need to make certain effective strategic planning concerning the varied elements of 4 P’s (Wilson & Gilligan, 2006). Thus, in this regard, it can be inferred that different marketing books provide distinct information that aid the modern marketers to visualize distinct marketing aspects in a dissimilar manner. It is worth mentioning that there lays the opportunity of comparing the readings presented by Chris Hackley in the book “Marketing in Context” with that of the viewpoints deciphered by Helmus et al. (2007) in their book “Enlisting Madison Avenue: The Marketing Approach to Earning Popular Support in Theaters of Operation.” While assessing or comparing the major themes that can be found to be addressed within these two particular readings, certain comparative analyses can be made. In this regard, one of the chapters in the book of “Marketing in Context” by Chris Hackley i.e. Chapter 1 can be taken into concern for comparing the same with that of the ideas presented by the authors Helmus et al. (2007). It has been earlier mentioned that Chapter 1 of the book “Marketing in Context” of Chris Hackley mainly represents the setting of marketing scene with due emphasis on the study relating to marketing and its varied important contexts. On the other hand, the book “Enlisting Madison Avenue: The Marketing Approach to Earning Popular Support in Theaters of Operation” of Helmus et al. (2007) highlighted the shaping construct of marketing with the inclusion of a specific research approach. In terms of comparison, it can be critically argued that in relation to Chapter 1, the readings of Chris Hackley can be found as quite general associated with marketing context, which can be applied in any setting. In contrast, the authors Helmus et al. (2007) specifically highlighted the possibility of reaping benefits from using the techniques of commercial marketing by the US armed as well as military forces. With comparing these two books in relation to Chapter 1, certain dissimilarities can be apparently observed that provided a better understanding about the different approaches can be made while making deliberate marketing efforts. It will be vital to mention that the authors Helmus et al. (2007) addressed in their book about varied marketing principles that can be effectively shaped and used in a particular setting. On the other hand, the author Chris Hackley focused on general settings or scenes, wherein varied marketing concepts can be applied. From the contrastive points, it can be affirmed that Hackley in his book elaborated two types of marketing such as traditional marketing and online marketing and on the other side, the authors Helmus et al. (2007) addressed the importance of marketing principles for shaping in any construct. Conclusion From the above analysis and discussion, it can be ascertained that the book “Marketing in Context” written by marketing Professor Chris Hackley mainly deciphers different information about marketing that can found to be much beneficial for the modern business corporations. Throughout the discussion, the major themes of the book have been discussed along with compared to the readings of other in order to determine the implications of the same in modern marketing context. In this similar context, the major themes incorporated within the book can be ascertained as representing the meaning of niche marketing and how successful marketing supports the modern marketers to attain superior competitive position as compared to chief business market competitors. Specially mentioning, the above stated book intends to explain what social media is and how it works as well as the importance of brand name and brand value. This book also deals with revealing the conceptions of conventional or traditional marketing as well as contextual or online marketing and their underlying differences. Based on the above discussion, it can be inferred that the contents of this book resemble certain positive impacts on the overall performance of marketing team attached with any business corporation. Furthermore, it can be affirmed from the above analysis that it can be stated that the themes of the book are found to be quite different from other books, as certain major marketing concepts have been covered. Justifiably, successful marketing depends on the elements of 4 P’s, which can be duly regarded as one of the major areas covered by this book. This, in conclusion, it can be inferred that the book “Marketing in Context” holds utmost importance in supporting the modern marketers to conduct effectual marketing practices in long term. References Arvidsson, A. (2005). Brands: A critical perspective. Journal of Consumer Culture, 5 (2), 235-258. Antoniadis, G. A., Whitwell, G., Bell, S. J., & Menguc, B. (2003). Extending the vision of social marketing through social capital theory. Marketing in the Context of Intricate Exchange and Market Failure, 3(3), 323-343. Dijk, V. A. T. (2006). Ideology and discourse analysis. Journal of Political Ideologies, 11(2), 115-140. Fill, C., & Jamieson, B. (2006). Marketing communications. Heriot Watt University, 1-29. Hackley, C. (2013). Marketing in context. Setting the Scene, 1-217. Helmus, C. T., Paul, C., & Glenn, R. (2007). The marketing approach to earning popular support in theories of operation. RAND Corporation. Klaehn, J. (2002). A critical review and assessment of Herman and Chomsky’s ‘propaganda model’. European Journal of Communication, 17(2), 147-182. Steger, B. M. (2005). Ideologies of globalization. Journal of Political Ideologies, 10(1), 11-30. Svensson, P. (2001). Setting the marketing scene: discourse and ideology in marketing practice. Department of Business Administration, 1-40. Valeech, S., & Reza, A. (2013). Critical success factors for incorporating social media marketing in IMC – reference to telecom companies. World Review of Business Research, 3(3), 115-129. Wilson, S. M. R., & Gilligan, C. (2006). Strategic marketing management. Planning, Implementation and Control, 1-853. Read More