Explosive☆Delusions

I thought I was going to a "university in the big city of Tokyo," but I ended up taking a single-track train from Kokubunji for just one stop. I spent my first and second years, the so-called liberal arts curriculum, on a campus tucked away in a corner of Kodaira City. Even though I had entered the Faculty of Commerce, the lectures were mostly general education, so I tended to skip them. My daily routine was just hanging out and chatting endlessly with tennis club members in the cafeteria.

The cafeteria curry... though I should note this is at Keio (Mita), where I'm currently based.

 

Amidst this, the first person to teach me "marketing" in my life was Professor Koichi Tanai (I believe it was "Commercial Theory II"). Rumors that it was an easy course to pass drew a large enrollment, but since it was the first class of the day and attendance was rarely taken, the room was sparsely filled. I was certainly not a particularly enthusiastic student either, but the words I heard from the back of that large lecture hall still linger in the back of my mind.

Buddhism has a teaching called "Do not indulge in delusion" (莫妄想). Here, "delusion" refers to the mind judging and discriminating the external world. It's a teaching to avoid being trapped by such thoughts and feelings, to prevent the mind from becoming lost and falling into anxiety or attachment. However, the foundation of marketing is "delusion." It's the power to think freely about all sorts of things. For example, when I'm bored, "Crow—black—glue—roll—string—water trade—Ginza..." I can keep associating endlessly because my mind is flexible. You guys have rigid minds, so your associations stop right away, don't they? You need to fantasize more. Fantasize.

I'm not entirely confident since this is from a poor student's memory, but I believe the gist was something like this. He also said, "There are various theories on pricing. But as a well-known business leader once said, 'The price that pops into your mind after a sleepless night of agonizing is the right one.' So, it's hard to know which approach is truly correct, isn't it?"

 

When I recently revisited "Marketing" (Koichi Tanai / Nikkei Publishing / now out of print), which was designated as a textbook or reference book back then, I saw that chapters like "Marketing as a Science" and "Understanding the Market" devoted considerable pages to scientific and objective approaches. Of course, these are important elements of marketing. But on the other hand, during that first encounter, "It's a human endeavor" and "It is and isn't a science."

It was also in Professor Tanai's class that I first learned the name of Professor Philip Kotler. Recently, in an article for Dentsu Inc. News titled " The Major Shift Towards Marketing Focus Now Required of Japanese Companies," Professor Kotler stated: "Management is marketing itself" and "Marketing is what connects customers and companies." The reason such seemingly obvious truths must be reemphasized is likely because many still perceive "marketing" as merely promotion, research, a mechanism to control consumers, or an outdated approach being revived through big data.

Who labeled "marketing" as such a boring thing? Well, blaming someone won't help, so at least I want to keep challenging myself with true marketing. And when I do, I'll definitely indulge in delusions, delusions. I'll throw myself into delusions with every fiber of my being.

Now then, next time, let's introduce the new product launching on November 18th: "Butterina from Heaven."

Enjoy!