Can the Principles of Marketing push Humanity forward?

by Vinitha Venkatraman

Communications Strategist, Social Impact, Entrepreneur

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*This picture was taken during a consultation with the Senior Team and branches of FPA India

A student of psychology, the human mind fascinates me immensely. When I studied advertising, I closely encountered how brands strategically work on the mind to convert human beings into consumers. The close link between psychology & advertising dawned upon me as I embarked upon adulthood at 18. I graduated, worked in a niche field at the time called ‘experimental marketing’ with the Timesgroup, felt pride and prestige while walking into the office with the Timesgroup ID, loved my job until I was completely bored in 3 years.

A master’s program in marketing seemed to be the next best career move. Here, beyond the strategic work of brands converting human beings to consumers, I learnt how this was done at a massive scale. I learnt the various principles that would keep the consumers hooked to being a consumer for life irrespective of whether s/he changed geographies, professions, their role in society and so on. I also saw the rise of capitalism, the dynamics of economics & learnt about power. It was fascinating. Little did I know that whatever I was ‘consuming’ would become the foundation of what I do today. Back then, I was trained to think that it’ll get me a promotion and a better package.

Somewhere along this journey, through no specific intervention of mine, destiny drove me into the social impact sector and put me in a position where I would work on changing the minds of human beings; this time not to become consumers but to adopt responsible behaviors that would result in improved health for them!

BAAM! The jigsaw seemed to suddenly come together!

The next 4 years in the National HIV control program was like yet another masters degree but a practical one! My deep understanding of psychology & the principles of advertising to change human behavior helped me apply my personal learnings to the existing ‘SBCC’ framework like never before. The results were nothing short of phenomenal.

Now, I was restless. I wanted to experiment with causes beyond HIV. I wanted to break out of the boundary of Bombay.

Here is where my masters in Marketing would lead me to a world I never knew of. Research, Critical Analysis, Networking & Planning led me to (a) Understand that New Delhi was the focal point for India‘s Development work and (b) Mumbai will soon rise to become India‘s Philanthropic capital. The CSR law (2013) and my consulting journey started to take baby steps in 2013. The exposure to practice areas like Health, Education, Skilling & Employment, Women Empowerment, Water, Environment; and a deep understanding of organizations & programs defined the tapestry of the next decade.

Aditya Natraj in an interview once said, “It is a personal irritant that leads to a private dream.” It frustrates me to see industries, companies & brands in the private sector grow exponentially while practice areas organizations & programs in the non-profit sector continue to take baby steps.

Why? Because as a sector we have not applied the fundamentals of advertising & the principles of marketing wholly. I take this as a personal responsibility. To lift the veil before our eyes and make us see that it is the application of these principles that will reduce the effects of capitalism and accelerate the impact that the sector is trying to create.

‘Accelerate’ is the key here! No, this is not just an academic statement, we believe in action!

As a strategic communication partner to the social impact sector, our vision is to see a day when a marketing guru like ‘Kotler’ and an advertising wiz like ‘Ogilvy’ look down upon us with pride to see their principles being used to push humanity forward… To evoke… An emotion, A dream, A reform!