Olivia: A recent study found that 83 percent of people trust recommendations from friends and family above all else. Jackson: Whoa, hold on. Eighty-three percent? That means my sister’s text message about a new brand of oat milk carries more weight than a multi-million-dollar ad campaign. That’s kind of terrifying if you’re a big company. Olivia: It’s terrifying, and it’s also the new reality. It’s the central question explored in the book we're diving into today, Marketing 4.0: Moving from Traditional to Digital, by the legendary Philip Kotler and his co-authors, Hermawan Kartajaya and Iwan Setiawan. Jackson: Legendary is the right word. Kotler is basically the Yoda of marketing. But what's really interesting here is that his co-authors are top-tier marketing minds from Indonesia. So this isn't just another perspective from a Chicago office; it's a genuinely global take on where the world is heading. Olivia: Exactly. And that global shift is the perfect place to start. The book argues that we're living through a massive, fundamental transfer of power. The old top-down world is crumbling, and something new is taking its place.

Jackson: Okay, a "transfer of power" sounds dramatic. What does that actually look like? Are we talking about a revolution in the shopping aisle? Olivia: In a way, yes. Kotler describes it as a move from a vertical, exclusive, and individual world to one that is horizontal, inclusive, and social. Let’s break that down. ‘Vertical to horizontal’ means power is no longer concentrated at the top. Jackson: That still feels a little academic. Give me a real-world example. Olivia: Think about the news. A few decades ago, if something major happened, everyone turned to a handful of TV networks like CNN. That’s a vertical structure. The information flowed from one source down to many. Today? People go to Twitter. They get breaking news from citizen journalists on the ground, ordinary people with a smartphone. The information flows horizontally, from peer to peer. The old gatekeepers have lost their authority. Jackson: I can see that. My feed is definitely my front page now. What about the ‘exclusive to inclusive’ part? Olivia: A great example is in global economics. For years, the G7—a small, exclusive club of the world's richest nations—called the shots. But when the 2008 financial crisis hit, they couldn't solve it alone. They had to bring in the G20, which includes emerging powers like China, India, and Indonesia. The exclusive club wasn't enough anymore; they needed an inclusive one to tackle a global problem. Jackson: That makes sense. The world is just too connected for small clubs to run everything. This must be where the social element comes in, what the book calls the 'f-factor'—friends, families, fans, and followers. Olivia: Precisely. This is the most critical shift for marketers. Your social circle has become the primary source of influence. It’s now more powerful than external marketing and, get this, even more powerful than your own personal preference. Jackson: Wait, more powerful than what I personally want? How does that work? Olivia: The book has this killer quote: "Random conversations about brands are now more credible than targeted advertising campaigns." Think about YouTube celebrities. A few years ago, a survey found that for teenagers, the top five most influential celebrities were all YouTubers. They were more popular and more trusted than mainstream Hollywood stars. These weren't actors anointed by big studios; they were people who built a horizontal connection with their audience. Jackson: Right, because it feels like a friendship, not a performance. You trust your friend’s recommendation. It’s wild to think that the entire architecture of influence has been rebuilt from the ground up in just a couple of decades. Olivia: It has. And because the architecture is different, the path a customer takes to find and fall in love with a brand has completely changed, too. The old maps are useless.

Jackson: Okay, so if the old marketing funnel is broken, what’s the new map look like? Olivia: Kotler and his team propose a new framework they call the Five A's. It’s a more fluid, dynamic path that reflects our connected reality. The stages are: Aware, Appeal, Ask, Act, and Advocate. Jackson: Aware, Appeal, Ask, Act, Advocate. Let's walk through that. Aware is when I first hear about a product, right? Olivia: Yes, you see an ad or a friend mentions it. Appeal is when you think, "Hmm, that's interesting. I like that." You narrow down your choices. Ask is the research phase—you're Googling reviews, asking friends, comparing prices. Act is the purchase itself. And Advocate is when you love it so much you tell everyone about it. Jackson: That seems straightforward enough. It’s like a more detailed version of the old models. Olivia: It seems that way, but here’s the mind-bending twist that makes it truly 'Marketing 4.0'. In this new path, the ultimate goal is advocacy, but sometimes the most powerful advocacy happens without the 'Act' stage. People can become a brand's biggest champion without ever buying the product. Jackson: Hold on, that doesn't make any sense. How can you be a true advocate for a car you've never driven or a hotel you've never stayed at? That’s not a customer; that’s just a fan. Olivia: But that's the new reality! The perfect case study is Tesla. For years, Tesla’s production couldn't keep up with demand. The cars were expensive and hard to get. Yet, they had this army of evangelists online. These were people who had never owned a Tesla, and maybe couldn't even afford one. Jackson: So why were they so passionate? Olivia: Because they weren't just buying into a car; they were buying into a mission. They were drawn to the innovative technology, the environmental vision, and the personality of Elon Musk. They would spend hours on forums defending the company, sharing news, and essentially acting as a volunteer marketing team. They skipped 'Act' and went straight to 'Advocate'. Jackson: Wow. So loyalty isn't just about repeat purchases anymore. It's about emotional and ideological alignment. Olivia: Exactly. And that's why the book introduces a new metric called the Brand Advocacy Ratio, or BAR. It measures how well a company converts people who are aware of the brand into people who actively advocate for it. In Tesla's case, their BAR was likely sky-high, even among non-customers. It proves that a brand can be a movement, not just a product.

Jackson: Okay, so if the ultimate goal is to create these passionate advocates, and the customer journey is this chaotic, social jungle gym, what's the actual playbook? How do you win in this new world? Olivia: The book lays out a trinity of modern marketing tactics. It all starts with the first, and most important, pillar: Human-Centric Marketing. In a world of bots and automation, customers are craving genuine human connection. Jackson: That sounds good, but "be human" can feel a bit fluffy. What does that mean in practice? Olivia: It means being authentic, empathetic, and even vulnerable. The most stunning example is the Domino's Pizza turnaround. Around 2009, Domino's was in trouble. Everyone knew their pizza was, to put it mildly, not great. It tasted like cardboard, and customers were saying so online. Jackson: I remember that! It was a running joke. Olivia: Instead of ignoring it or releasing a slick ad campaign with a new slogan, Domino's did something terrifyingly honest. They launched a campaign that featured real, brutal customer comments. They put "The crust tastes like cardboard" right on the screen. They admitted their product had failed. Then, they showed their chefs reinventing the recipe from scratch and took the new pizza back to their harshest critics. Jackson: That takes an incredible amount of guts. To publicly admit you're failing. Olivia: It was radical. But it worked. Sales soared. Why? Because they stopped acting like a faceless corporation and started acting like a human being who could admit a flaw, listen, and promise to do better. That vulnerability created a massive amount of attraction. Jackson: Okay, so be human. That's pillar one. What's next? Olivia: Pillar two is Content Marketing. Once you have their attention, you need to create curiosity. The old way was to shout your value proposition. The new way is to tell a story or provide something useful. Stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what they are interested in. Jackson: Like how? Olivia: Think about Airbnb. They could just run ads saying "Book cheap rooms." Instead, they create things like "The Local List." It's a guide to a city that shows you what locals actually do, their favorite hidden gems. They aren't selling you a room; they're selling you the experience of belonging in a new place. That content builds curiosity and trust long before you ever click "book." Jackson: That’s a great example. It provides value first. What’s the final piece of the trinity? Olivia: The third pillar is Omnichannel Marketing. You have to make the entire experience seamless, whether the customer is on their phone, on their laptop, or in your physical store. The channels have to work together, not compete. Jackson: I think everyone has felt the pain of that when a store's website says something is in stock, but you get there and it's not. Olivia: Exactly. Macy's is a great example of getting it right. They installed beacon technology in their stores. If you had the Macy's app, you could walk past a department and your phone might buzz with a reminder about something on your shopping list, or a special offer for that specific item. It seamlessly blended the digital and physical worlds to make the customer's life easier. That's how you secure commitment.

Jackson: So if I'm boiling this all down, the big message from Marketing 4.0 seems to be this: stop treating marketing as a megaphone to shout at people. Start treating it as a tool for having a real, honest, and helpful conversation with them, wherever they are. Olivia: That is the absolute heart of it. In an increasingly transparent digital world, authenticity is the only currency that matters. The book concludes by saying the ultimate goal of all this—being human, creating content, being omnichannel—is to create a "WOW" moment. Jackson: A 'WOW' moment? Olivia: It's that small, unexpected moment of delight that transforms a regular customer into a loyal, lifelong advocate. The book tells a quick story about Krispy Kreme. A customer had an exceptionally good experience, a 'WOW' moment, and shared it online. That one positive story ended up reaching five million people. That's the power of advocacy. Jackson: It's a powerful reminder that marketing isn't just a department anymore. It's the sum of every single interaction a person has with your brand. It’s the product, the service, the return policy, the tweet. It’s everything. Olivia: It is. And that leads to a great question for everyone listening. When was the last time a brand, big or small, truly gave you a 'WOW' moment? What did they do that was so unexpected and delightful that you wanted to tell someone about it? Jackson: We'd love to hear your stories. Share them with us on our social channels. It’s a great way to see these principles in action. Olivia: This is Aibrary, signing off.