These consumers who make up more than 50% of the U.S. population are buying brands that demonstrate meaning and that are consistent with the customer’s values of integrity, social responsibility, and sustainability. The same research also shows this shift is occurring globally and will continue to dictate how brands connect with and market to their target audiences.

“This shift pushes the envelope of the old marketing paradigm of maximizing sales and profitability at any cost," according to Shalini Bahl, Ph.D., an affiliated expert at the Isenberg School of Management and founder of The Reminding Project. "It also presents an opportunity for creating competitive advantage for companies willing to align their values and marketing strategy with those of the consumers.”

Bahl’s current research focuses on mindfulness in consumer behavior, international business, and marketing. She most recently published an article in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing on the transformative potential of mindfulness for consumers, society and the environment. Bahl spoke with CMO Tech News about the deep reaching implications that Mindful Marketing (MM) has for business, consumers, and society. She illustrates how MM is transforming the marketing mix, consumer expectations, and how brands position their organization, products and services.

CMOTech: What is Mindful Marketing and Why is it Important?

Bahl: There are many trends--environmental, consumer and technological among others--that are compelling marketers to review their marketing practices… For example, affordable technology has made information easily available to consumers, making them increasingly powerful and unpredictable These consumers are relying more on other online consumers for shopping advice.

Research by Trendstream/ Lightspeed Research shows that “consumers trust strangers in their social network more than they trust experts” (Kotler et al 2011). The dramatic shift in the marketplace is compelling many companies to respond to these changes and earn the trust of consumers. However, change is not easy.

Mindfulness is one way to help people rewire their brain for sustainable change. Many organizations like Google, Aetna, LinkedIn, and even the U.S. Army are offering mindfulness classes to promote emotional intelligence and stress management strategies. Similarly, mindfulness can offer marketing professionals skills to be adaptive to change.

Mindful marketing offers a framework to re-examine the consequences of marketing practices on all stakeholders and develop solutions that enhance the well being of all impacted by marketing. Mindful Marketing can be defined an ongoing practice of making marketing decisions with awareness that arises from paying attention to internal and external data points, with acceptance (non-judgment, compassion and curiosity).

CMOTech: What are the Important Characteristics of MM?

Bahl: There are five key characteristics. Before describing those I want to point out that MM absolutely recognizes fundamental marketplace realities such as Impermanence, meaning everything is continuously changing; Interconnectedness of all things; and Cause and Effect, meaning every effect has a cause and condition. The characteristics of MM, with some examples, are:

• It is intentional instead of habitual.
• MM includes all stakeholders affected and not just shareholders. For example, when Keurig came up with single cup coffee makers, it was improving consumer experience and convenience but what it didn’t think through, which the founder now regrets, is its impact on the environment. In 2015 they sold 9 billion single-serve plastic coffee pods—or K-Cups, which were not recyclable. This has drawn the criticism of many environmentalists and consumers that made the hashtag #killthekcup go viral on Twitter.
• MM embraces disagreements and different perspectives. Most individuals and teams that I work with in organizations are uncomfortable with disagreements. A mindful approach, however, see disagreements as an opportunity to look at a problem from different perspectives.
• It solves the root cause of problems; it does not just address symptoms.
• MM uses individual and collective emotional intelligence, not just rational mind and market research. In addition to collecting data on external variables, MM encourages marketers to pay attention to their internal data points including their thoughts, body sensations and emotions, which all provide useful information about whether they are proceeding in the right direction and encourages creativity.

MM is a continuous process of compassionate inquiry… that creates space around each decision so the marketer can choose what is most skillful rather than act out of habit or what is most comfortable and familiar.

CMOTech: Describe the Elements of a Mindful Marketing Plan?

Bahl: Mindful marketing is a process of bringing attention with non-judgment, compassion and curiosity to all marketing decisions. It is the opposite of engaging in marketing activities on autopilot. In order to provide a useful framework, marketing professionals could consider bringing mindful attention to the following questions:

• Why: Intentions and purpose of the project, task, etc.
• Who: Affected stakeholders
• What do we know: (a) Multiple perspectives of different stakeholders (b) Our assumptions and beliefs (c) Resources
• How: Consider multiple options to solve the marketing question keeping in mind the consequences on all stakeholders
• Internal data points--check in with the mind (thoughts and narratives), heart (emotions and feelings evoked by the process and outcome), and body (physical cues).

CMOTech: How is Transformative Consumer Research and Marketing (TCRM) Different from Standard Marketing Research?

Bahl: TCRM grew within marketing academia out of a need felt by some researchers who believe consumer research has the capacity to enhance quality of life of all beings impacted by marketing [not just] a small set of consumers and shareholders. A fundamental way in which transformative consumer research differs from the standard approach is its focus on finding solutions to consumer problems rather than just seeking to influence behavior and get consumers to buy more to yield maximal distribution and profitability.

It employs a trans-disciplinary approach, collaboration with multiple stakeholders, and uses a variety of methods to gather information. Ultimately, it allows marketers to gain multiple perspectives and deeper insight… A TCRM approach aims to collect and employ data through collaboration in order to design and develop a product or project that will benefit many more stakeholders beyond the target market and business owners.

CMOTech: How Does this Approach Benefit Stakeholders?

Bahl: As a result of this conscious approach to marketing, we can expect more innovation in products, pricing, promotions and distribution channels that will benefit more stakeholders in many ways. For example, Patagonia invests in innovation of fabric and design of clothes to make them last while using the least environmental resources. They also advertise to its customers to not buy their jackets if they don’t need one. They also offer repair and recycling of used clothes.

They are not only being thoughtful in their own design, distribution and disposal of waste but also encouraging consumers to live an examined life. With just this one company we can see the many stakeholders they are impacting--consumers, environment, suppliers (who partner with them to make responsible fabrics etc), and employees.

A MM approach considers the consequences of its actions on all stakeholders not because it is the right thing to do but because it is the only thing to do if we want to continue to exist in a healthy and sustainable manner in the long run. For example, if we continue to sell addictive beverages with high sugar content, we are adding to the obesity problem, which affects all of us--healthcare costs associated with obesity were $147 billion is a social cost we all have to bear.

Further, business paid $6.38 billion for obesity-related costs such as absenteeism (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2015). Moreover, with more consumers becoming conscious and informed and policy makers becoming aware of sugar drinks as a growing cause of obesity, there is growing pressure on companies to be more responsible about the development and sale of their products.

To see a comparison of benefits between traditional and mindful marketing please see the table below:

CMOTech: How Do you Evaluate the Success of a MM Campaign?

Bahl: One fundamental way success will be measured differently in MM is looking at the collective impact on all stakeholders and not just maximizing shareholder value. For example, Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario views social responsibility and sustainability as valuable assets because consumers value companies that are ethical. Even though investing in innovations like a plant-based wetsuit instead of using petroleum based materials are costly, they do it because it is consistent to their mission of building the best product with least environmental harm. But they also get a big ROI in customer loyalty.

Marcario summarizes the measure for success beyond profits very nicely when she says, “If you’re making decisions based on meeting your earnings-per-share number and not about the long-term health of your company, its employees, the environment, and the community you’re operating in, then you’re probably making a decision that isn’t good for the long term.”

CMOTech: What Final Thoughts do you Have for our Marketers Reading This?

Bahl: A mindful approach to business is not for the lazy or faint of heart. It involves questioning our assumptions about how things have always been done. In asking the difficult questions we create the opportunity to discover new solutions, which we can initially be costly and time consuming. But if we have the wisdom to see the bigger picture in the long run, we will know with absolute clarity, what is the right thing to do and it will be worth it.

BrandAsset Valuator Resources

• John Gerzema
• BAV Summary Graphic
• BAV Fundamentals
• Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human SpiritMindfulness. Philip Kotler et al 2011
• Video Resources with Professor Philip Kotler on marketing mix, social marketing, and innovation.