Marketing Management: The Big Picture

HOW THIS PROJECT CAME TO BE

MARKETING HAS RUINED MY LIFE.

It began shortly after my graduation from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago. I took a job in client service with the Leo Burnett Company, then a premier advertising agency in the world, working as Assistant Account Executive on a variety of packaged-goods accounts ranging from candy bars to cat food. Not long after my start date, I began to notice small changes in what had previously been routine behaviors for me. Most notably, what was once a quick trip to the grocery store each Saturday morning swelled into a three-hour marathon during which I studiously reviewed the pricing, packaging, and promotional tactics of the products lining the aisles of my local supermarket.

My friends and roommates quickly learned to refuse my invitations to join me “to pick up a few things at the store.” At home things were no better; my TV viewing habits had taken a turn for the worse. The notion of a “commercial break” disappeared. Instead of turning away from the television to chat with friends or family during the ads, I insisted on turning up the volume and scrutinizing each execution with rapt attention (often jumping for the VCR to tape a spot of particular interest). I was soon politely but firmly excluded from any social events involving sports or drama on TV. In just a few months, my experience of two rather mundane activities, grocery shopping and watching television, had been permanently transformed by ...