Download Demarketing the Country

DEMARKETING THE COUNTRY
RENATO S. ESGUERRA
Marketing managers - and entrepreneurs in general - think of their job as creating, building and
managing customer demand for their products and services, at a level that brings the highest profits
possible to the firm.
To reach that maximum level of profits, marketing managers focus on two groups. They try to
attract new customers who enter into transactions with the firm, and they try to retain current customers,
who have lasting relationship with the firm.
To bring in new customers, and keep the old ones coming back, marketers learn to use
integrated marketing communications. They recognize the need to integrate and coordinate multiple
communication tools and channels - advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling,
telephone, direct mail, the Internet - to deliver a clear, consistent, compelling and positive message to the
customers. And in almost cases, the marketer’s implicit assumption is, more is better.
However, precisely because the marketer’s objective is to maximize profits, he or she also needs
to know about demarketing, or marketing to reduce or shift demand.
Why should reducing demand ever be desirable? Because sometimes the level or the timing of
demand may be such that satisfying it does not help the firm achieve its profit or other objectives. The
classic example is that of an operator of a toll road who advises motorists to avoid taking that road at
certain times, to reduce traffic congestion. Other text book examples might be power companies, who
have trouble meeting demand during peak usage periods, or certain national parks in the United States
that are overcrowded in the summer: in such situations, the firms concerned endeavor to discourage
demand, or shift it to different hours of the day or seasons of the year. Demarketing is, or should be, by
design -- because more is not always better.
Unfortunately, in recent weeks and months a number of developments have had the effect of
demarketing the Philippines.
The aim and purposes of these developments may not have been specifically to reduce customer
interest in what the Philippines has to offer. But the unfortunate likelihood is that certain types of
customers would agree that their interest in their country has waned considerably.
First, potential investors. These “customers” seek, by way of a Philippine “product,” a safe and
profitable haven for their money, one that generates attractive, or at least reasonable returns on
investment. But political instability, military red alerts, and a peso falling in value will spook the investor
and tempt him to look for more favorable havens elsewhere.
Second, potential tourists. These “customers” seek, by way of a Philippine “product,” a hospitable
welcome and a pleasurable worry-free getaway. But no visitor will want to come and spend money here
with travel advisories and street marches that snarl up traffic weighing on his mind.
Third, our own countrymen. When the newspaper headlines highlight the deplorable behavior of
some of the nation’s legislators, which ignore the letter and intent of the Constitution, challenge the rule of
law and constitute a brazen display of political power, how can we look to the future with hope and
confidence?
Investors, tourists, citizens - all may be considered customers of the Philippines. The tragic fact is
that the people most responsible for the growing customer perceptions of instability, strife and
lawlessness may not be aware that their actions have brought down customer demand to historic lows.
What shall we do with those whose self-serving behavior continues to demarket the country
disastrously? The marketing professionals among us should devise creative ways to demarket these
troublemakers, and eliminate any value or appeal they may have among their constituencies.
Renato S. Esguerra is a professorial lecturer, Marketing Management department, College of Business
and Economics, De La Salle University.
These article are contributed by the CBE Faculty in the column of Business Focus of Manila Bulletin
published November 14, 2003.