“When you start with what’s at stake for the buyer you earn the right for their attention” – Jake Sorofman

The world we live in characterized by permanent change and nowhere does it impact more than on marketing. The world of marketing has moved beyond the simple definition of a discipline that connects a business to its customer for the purpose of promoting and selling its product, brand or service. The traditional 4 P’s of marketing product, price, promotion and place have now been expanded to include factors such as people, positioning and packaging. Added to this has been the explosion of social media as a key factor in determining both the placement of the product and its promotion.

While the role of marketing will remain that of identifying target markets, understanding consumer behavior and advertising the value of the product to the consumer the excitement of this new environment represents a challenge to marketing professionals. Fragmentation of both markets and media has made decisions on the marketing mix infinitely more complex. Strategic decisions have to be made on the quick yet be more rigorous.

This new environment may call upon the discipline to play an even greater role in product design since marketing is the point of contact for a business with its customer. Identifying their changing needs, given the rapid obsolescence of products, is a key role that marketing should definitely aspire to play.

Guiding Principles:

At Srishti we believe that great marketing always starts with product design that connects to a deeply felt need. Almost all successful brands have their genesis in deep investigation into the needs of the consumer. Design students therefore have to have a more than working knowledge of marketing environments and an ability to grasp essentials the of marketing strategy, and its implementation.

An understanding of marketing fundamentals coupled with diligence in product design enables a seamless flow from the product to the marketing promotion. Product design therefore will be more grounded on the needs of the consumer.