opportunity 144 of 150 There is a growing trend of questioning the ethics in marketing, the values that underpin brands, and the businesses that promote them. I understand this, as I am one of the people asking the questions. Marketing can be highly ethical, and there are very real opportunities to build a competitive advantage […]

opportunity 144 of 150 There is a growing trend of questioning the ethics in marketing, the values that underpin brands, and the businesses that promote them. I understand this, as I am one of the people asking the questions. Marketing can be highly ethical, and there are very real opportunities to build a competitive advantage around values and the adherence to them. However it seems that both ethics and values are frequently in short supply. Marketing is, all too often, about taking – taking the customer’s money, and taking their time and trust to sell them something they may or may not need, and which may or may not deliver value. Good marketing, however, is increasingly about ‘giving’ and asking for nothing in return. This notion is nowhere better exemplified than in the ‘Apple Paradox’. Sales in an Apple store are driven by service and not by asking for the…