Jonah Sachs: author and communicator profile

Jonah Sachs and Marketing

Marketing in the 21st century calls for a different attitude and set of tools than ever before, largely because of the Internet and social media. Social media is a relatively new term that includes web and mobile-based technologies that allow communication to be more of an interactive dialog between individuals, communities, and organizations (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Without a huge increase in Internet users, of course, there would be no real basis for robust social networking. We now live in a computerized, Internet based, society based on the paradigm of globalism. Grouped together, social media are known as social network sites and they have changed the way marketing works, consumer behavior is applied, and even how elections are decided. What makes SNSs so unique is not so much that they allow individuals to meet people, chat boards have been up and running for several decades, but that they enable users to both articulate and envision their social networks. This often results in connections that would not otherwise have been made, but also the chance to interact with people and concepts that would normally be outside the bounds of one's ability (e.g. politicians, movie and rock stars, etc.) (Haythornthwaite, 2005).

For author Jonah Sachs, the combination of a group of more savvy stakeholders and technology requires a new approach to marketing. With the millions and millions of messages besieging us daily, his view, the Story Wars, is a call to arms for marketers and a way to be heard within the clutter of contemporary culture. Indeed, one of the issues that Sachs thinks is critical is that role that marketing has in shaping society and cultural roles and models. What is most impressive, though, about Sachs' argument, is that he is a true globalist and renaissance thinker -- changes in the paradigm of marketing require that we learn a bit about psychology (Freud and Jung), about mythology (Joseph Campbell and George Lucas), religion and spirituality (Moses and Krishna), and clearly, the idea of brand development (the Marlboro Man). (Sachs, Winning, 2012).

Sachs shows us, with some humor, that for the past century, marketing has been directed at telling us how inadequate we are: how we look, dress, act, eat, smell, and think. but, if we buy Product X, then all our problems seemingly evaporate overnight. Instead of this outmoded way of thinking, though, Sachs tells us that the way we can overcome objections and really get the message through to a consumer base that must turn off most advertising or go mad with the message is to use a concept called: Freaks Cheats and Familiars (Sachs, Winning, p. 108).

Freaks are characters who play off the human concept of focusing on certain other humans -- the most unusual humans we can find in our environment (Like trench coated animals, Moopheus and Leo the pig ala Morpheus and Neo-from the Matrix) (Sachs, pp. Winning, 183-4). Cheats are characters who challenge social norms -- the break the rules. We wonder if they will succeed or be punished (e.g. Ferris Buhler or Neo-trying to change a society run by machines) (Sachs, Winning, p. 183). Finally, Familiars are people or concepts to whom we can easily relate. Because we want to relate, this becomes powerful both consciously and subconsciously. For instance, the idea behind the Man Your Man Could Smell Like helps us relate to perspiration, to wanting to be sexy, and even to the idea of using scent as an aphrodisiac (Sachs, Winning, p. 195).