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Quantum Marketing
Mastering the New Marketing Mindset for Tomorrow’s Consumers
Raja Rajamannar • HarperCollins Leadership © 2021 • 240 pages

Marketing / Marketing Strategy

Take-Aways
• Technological, sociological and systemic changes transforming marketing will usher in a “Fifth
Paradigm.”
• Artificial intelligence (AI) will disrupt marketing more than any other factor.
• Cellular networks; augmented and virtual reality; smart speakers; the Internet of Things (IoT);
wearables; blockchain; and 3D printing will profoundly influence marketing.
• Certain sciences are new drivers in marketing.
• Advertising as we know it will come to an end.
• Marketing will shift toward a multisensory approach; life marketing; an emphasis on affinity rather than
loyalty; and marketing to machines.
• Trust will become a major competitive advantage for brands.
• Marketers should focus on service.
• Marketing will become more complex as it increasingly connects to business results.
• Marketers must develop new expertise, skills and mind-sets.

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 Recommendation
Technology foments tectonic shifts in the landscape of marketing – and marketers must evolve. Marketing
expert Raja Rajamannar offers an aerial view of the profound changes underway and glances at marketing’s
probable future. Speaking to executives in enterprise organizations, Rajamannar provides high-level
strategies for exploiting emerging technologies, engaging with consumers in an overwhelming information
environment, and developing your professional capabilities.

Summary

Technological, sociological and systemic changes will transform marketing in

coming years and usher in a Fifth Paradigm.

Marketing has functioned under four paradigms: First, a product-centric paradigm based on the premise of
rationality; second, an emotion-based paradigm corresponding to the new technology of television; third,
data-based marketing that arrived with the internet; and finally the always-on Fourth Paradigm, fueled by
the smartphone and social media. The Fourth Paradigm turned the art of marketing into science.

“The last five years have seen more change in marketing than the previous 50. And the
next five years will outpace all of them put together.”

Marketing stands poised for a transformation to a Fifth Paradigm – Quantum Marketing. Three major areas
of influence usher in this change. First, an array of new technologies – artificial intelligence (AI); augmented
and virtual reality; 5G; the Internet of Things (IoT); 3D printing; smart speakers; wearables; robotics and
drones; and blockchain – generate immense quantities of data and create opportunities for new kinds of
marketing. The second and third factors – changes in society and systemic shifts in marketing – drive a
redefinition of the concept of loyalty while bringing trust and purpose to the fore. They also disrupt familiar
elements of marketing such as advertising and agencies. Under the Fifth Paradigm, the world of marketing
will become more complex and present new opportunities for creativity and innovation.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will disrupt marketing more than any other factor.

In the Fifth Paradigm, data will become the primary commodity. Mobile phones and sensors embedded
in consumers’ smart products and wearables will increasingly deliver an overwhelming volume of data.
Companies’ competitive advantage will depend on marketers’ skill in analyzing data and acting on it in real-
time. But marketers must protect consumer privacy. As tech companies phase out browser cookies – Google
pledged to do so by around 2024 – marketers must innovate fresh ways to track and target consumers
online.

“AI in the Fifth Paradigm will be the Large Hadron Collider of data, producing controlled
explosions with radical results.”

AI will transform marketing as it empowers marketers to discover patterns in massive amounts of data. AI
will grant marketers insights into promotions and pricing, and allow them to target customers with hyper-

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 relevant, personalized messages and products. AI can power chatbots and virtual assistants, aid in media
buying and content creation, and compute return on investment (ROI) for campaigns and promotions.

Cellular networks; augmented and virtual reality; smart speakers; the Internet
of Things (IoT); wearables; blockchain; and 3D printing will profoundly influence
marketing.

The Fifth Paradigm will witness an onslaught of new technologies, creating challenges and opportunities for
marketers. Superfast 5G cellular networks will connect to a multitude of devices, with low latency – that is,
low delay in communications across the network. Hence, 5G represents an enabling technology for other
advances and underpins the delivery of real-time, personalized marketing messages based on real-time
analytics. Augmented reality (AR) – the layering of digital information over maps or images – will spawn
new ways to interact with and engage consumers.

“For the consumer, the Fifth Paradigm will be a labyrinth of content, messaging,
imaging, new devices and automation, all happening at new levels of intensity and
complexity.”

Virtual reality (VR), still a nascent technology, will give consumers immersive, interactive purchasing
experiences – with dramatic impacts on merchandising and entertainment. Smart speakers usher in a shift
to voice commerce, with implications for branding and consumer engagement. The Internet of Things (IoT)
will gather data and serve advertising via connected devices in real-time. Wearables will enable deep insights
into individual consumers’ lives. And 3D printing will impact the distribution aspects of marketing and
enlarge possibilities for customization.

Certain sciences are new drivers in marketing.

Psychology, sociology, anthropology and mathematics have always informed marketing, but now the
sciences of behavioral economics; neuroscience; the science of anonymity; and sensorial science provide new
insights and tools. Behavioral economists seek to understand how psychological and social factors influence
economic choices. Marketers can use their findings to predict consumer behavior more accurately, leading to
more optimal promotions and campaigns.

“Too many marketing executives are stuck in a narrow view of what marketing can do
and how it can drive the business.”

Neuroscientists study how people perceive and respond to marketing messages. The science of anonymity
illuminates how being anonymous changes peoples’ behavior, including as consumers. Understanding
aspects of psychology and the nonrational factors in consumer behavior help marketers understand how
consumers make decisions amid a torrent of marketing messages. Sensorial science helps marketers engage
consumers’ five senses.

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 Advertising as we know it will come to an end.

The sheer volume of information bombarding people today drives nails into the coffin of advertising. People
can no longer process the amount of messaging they encounter daily. Seeking escape from advertising, they
turn – in droves – to ad blockers. And many choose to pay for ad-free services such as YouTube Premium.
Marketers need to find new ways to reach consumers. The traditional strategy of word of mouth, updated for
the Fifth Paradigm, becomes “Quantum Experiential Marketing” (QEM).

“The brand that innovates and executes QEM flawlessly will find itself protected behind a
‘moat’ of not-easily-duplicated advantages.”

QEM means turning people into brand advocates by offering them compelling experiences – physical
and digital – that lead them to share their experiences with others. Airbnb and Mastercard exemplify the
potential of offering brag-worthy experiences to build brands and businesses. For example, Mastercard
transformed its Priceless advertising campaign into an experiential platform to offer curated experiences
available nowhere else. This program helped Mastercard rise from the 87th-ranked brand in the world to a
top-10 brand in a few years.

Marketing will shift toward multisensory marketing; life marketing; an emphasis on

affinity rather than loyalty; and marketing to machines.

To cut through information clutter, marketers will appeal to consumers’ five senses by adopting
multisensory marketing. Messages expressed through music, rhythm, touch, taste, smell, and nonverbal
visuals can bypass the thinking brain and reach the primal brain – where feelings drive decision-making.
This applies to B2B marketing and consumer marketing. Life marketing means viewing consumption
as it happens in the holistic context of consumers’ lives. Dove soap, for example, is growing in a highly
competitive category by redefining its purpose in the light of insights into girls’ experience of beauty.

“Nike has found that when they added scents to its stores, purchase intent among
customers increased by up to 80%.”

Brand marketers should no longer expect loyalty from consumers. Instead, marketers must build affinity
– a connective bond. Do this by understanding the building blocks of loyalty and factoring these into
promotions and campaigns; using real-time, contextual communication; and giving consumers delightful
experiences. Marketers already learned to market to machines, such as through search engine optimization.
Consumers increasingly use smart speakers and IoT to help them make purchasing decisions.

Trust will become a major competitive advantage for brands.

Many people view marketing as dishonest activity – a reputation marketers created by engaging in
questionable practices such as deceptive packaging, making false claims and a lack of pricing transparency.
A model that leaves consumers feeling cheated or deceived is not sustainable.

“Only 34% of consumers trust the brands they buy.”

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 Marketers should build trust by engaging in ethical practices and ensuring truth in their communications.
This trust will provide a significant competitive advantage. Marketers should examine their ethics
regarding data and should use it aggressively but never exploitatively. They should respect consumer
privacy, and promote diversity and inclusion. Brands that embrace integrity will benefit from positive
“brand karma.”

Marketers should focus on service.

Companies face various types of risk, including reputational, financial, legal, and risks stemming from
intellectual property and consumer privacy. Crises will inevitably occur, so marketers need to prepare.
Marketers should conduct risk management – such as preparing risk heat maps and creating crisis
management plans – or hire a professional to do so. When a crisis strikes, marketers should shift their focus
away from selling toward service. This builds trust, and customers remember this shift after a crisis passes.

“Crisis is not the time to be opportunistic.”

Communications are critical during a crisis. Marketers should prioritize internal communications and
keep executives, the management committee and the entire workforce informed. External communications
should follow a clear strategy, including, if appropriate, calling on influencers to support the brand. The
company should take responsibility for any errors and take an assertive stance, while striking an appropriate
tone. In no case should the brand go dark.

Marketing will become more complex as it increasingly connects to business results.

Traditionally, the strengths of marketers lay in design, aesthetics, and the classical pillars of product, price,
place, and promotion. But as technology overtakes the field, technological competencies rise to the fore.
Traditional marketers tend to lack tech savvy; their contemporary counterparts often disdain marketing
fundamentals. Marketers split between those focusing on brand building and those emphasizing operational
and performance marketing.

Many chief executives and chief financial officers no longer view marketing as an essential function and
demand proof of a positive effect on business. Brand marketers risk marginalization unless they can prove
the business value of their work. Performance metrics can easily show their value to the business, but an
organization’s long-term health requires attention to the brand.

“CMOs need to move the marketing function into the mainstream of their companies,
focusing on moving the brand, business and competitive edge forward.”

In this context, the mission of marketing must broaden and become more complex. Marketers need to
expand their role to embrace new priorities: building brands; managing brand reputation; contributing
to business growth; and constructing platforms that sustain the company’s competitive advantage. Every
company needs to build these pillars, and marketers offer the capabilities and strengths to do just that.

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 Marketers must develop new expertise, skills and mind-sets.

To meet the challenges of the Fifth Paradigm, marketers need to expand their expertise to function creatively
and analytically. They need to understand the scientific and technological aspects of marketing and its
artistic component. Marketers still require expertise in building brands, differentiating them in consumers’
minds and stewarding their reputation. And they still need to grasp the foundations of classical marketing.

But marketers must understand emerging areas of marketing and the sciences offering new tools. Because
technology disrupted the traditional purchase process and sales funnel, marketers must learn the dynamics
of new purchasing channels.

“Marketing cannot be run by pure common sense. It takes a fine blend of the art and
science of marketing.”

Marketers need to understand their organization’s business model at a deep level and to demonstrate how
marketing drives business outcomes. They must provide visionary, empathetic leadership. The qualities of
curiosity and agility will serve marketers well in the Fifth Paradigm.

About the Author

Mastercard’s chief marketing and communications officer Raja Rajamannar is president of its health care
division.

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