Transformation of marketing communications: analog, digital and phygital environment

Rayter Kseniya Alekseevna ORCID: 0000-0003-2810-3493 Senior Lecturer; Humanitarian Institute; Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University Head of Marketing and Advertising Department; ART-Glas Management Company LLC 195220, Russia, city, Saint Petersburg, ave. Civil, 28 ksenia.rayter@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

The tendency to take consumer interests into account was clearly marked in the middle of the last century by the introduction of the term "customer orientation" by Peter Drucker. The pursuit of maximum communication efficiency and customer satisfaction has led to the evolution of marketing approaches aimed at creating a seamless and personalized customer experience.

The portrait of the modern consumer is undergoing significant changes. The lifestyle, interests and preferences of both the target audience and the entrepreneurs themselves are being transformed from an analog to a digital and digital environment. Digital is a new paradigm of consumption that combines online and offline tools ^[1].

The need for companies to transform their interaction with their target audience and adapt existing and constantly emerging technologies and technological products has led to fragmentation of marketing communication theories. Due to the practical demand for the use of technologies and technological products by companies, and the lag in the description of marketing communication theories that could be applied by companies at that time, the problem of inefficiency of marketing communications arises.

Technological transformation arose even before the appearance of the first theories on customer-oriented marketing, and throughout this time the theories of marketing communications (MC) were formulated based on the technological environment and the practical experience of companies. Companies, depending on their internal factors (size, industry affiliation, etc.), use different approaches and tools to be more customer-oriented. The influence of external factors of the modern turbulent environment exerted on companies (in particular B2B SMEs) slows down the process of strategic planning of MC, forcing companies to apply exclusively the principles of operational management ^[2]. Taken together, this does not provide a synergistic effect of marketing communications in terms of their effectiveness.

Thus, several problems can be identified in the field of modern marketing communications: the time gap between the use of technological products by companies and the formulation of marketing communication theories; the inefficiency of marketing communications and the fragmentation of the MC theories used by companies.

Purpose, objectives and methodology

The convergence of technologies is permeating marketing communications. Digital technologies are the best way to ensure the speed of interaction, however, not all companies have mastered digital communications to the same extent. The reason is that companies are focusing on other conceptual approaches; or they don't understand where to get the synergy of marketing tools to improve interaction.

In addition, customers of many companies still prefer to make purchases and communicate using traditional methods. As a result, companies whose target audience does not belong to the Y and Z generations need to use not only digital technologies to ensure a customer-oriented approach.

Analog technologies in marketing communications are used less and less by companies due to the opinion about their low efficiency and the peak use of digital technologies in the MC. Digital technologies have not yet been widely used in business due to the low awareness of entrepreneurs about such opportunities.

The purpose of the study is to identify the impact of the technological environment on marketing communications. As part of this goal, the most significant technologies and technological products from the point of view of a customer-oriented approach to marketing over the past 75 years have been systematized.

The data obtained was synthesized and presented as a timeline (Table 1) containing customer-oriented marketing theories, technologies, and technological products from 1950 to 2025. The upper part of the timeline shows the time of application of marketing communications in the analog, digital and digital environment. At the bottom of the timeline, Kotler's marketing concepts are presented: marketing 1.0 (product-oriented), marketing 2.0 (customer-oriented), marketing 3.0 (value-oriented), marketing 4.0 (digital), marketing 5.0 (technological), marketing 6.0 (metamarketing).

Results

Marketing communications originated in an analog environment in the middle of the 20th century. One of the founders of marketing, F. Kotler, defined the complex of marketing communications as advertising, sales promotion, publicity and personal sales. A limited set of channels, physical interaction with the target audience, and mass-market strategies rapidly transformed in the middle of the last century into more personalized and trusting relationships.

In 1991, the World Wide Web (www) became available to the public. The Internet has given rise to the digitalization of marketing communications. MCS in the digital environment are determined by the turbulence of the environment, trends in the development of the advertising market ^[3] and the needs of modern society. The choice of marketing tools by a company is determined primarily by the target audience and the points of contact with it.

The first mention of the term "digital" in the scientific literature can be considered 2007 ^[4], this year should also be considered as the beginning of the formation of the digital environment. Digitalization of the company's marketing communications is a more advanced form of omnichannel management ^[5]. Omnichannel marketing is a consistent communication algorithm for finding and engaging potential customers, retaining and stimulating loyal ones ^[6]. In addition, omnichannel implies, unlike the IMC concept, personalization and the formation of a unified customer experience ^[7].

Nevertheless, the digital environment is not a mechanical combination of analog and digital environments, but an extension of the MC application environment due to technological increment. Technological increment primarily refers to such digital promotion technologies as augmented reality, virtual reality and integrated (mixed) reality ^[8]. Thus, today there are simultaneously analog, digital and digital environments. It is worth noting once again that the digital and digital environments have emerged due to the convergence of technologies.

Table 1. Transformation of marketing communications: analog, digital and digital media.

Compiled by the author personally on the basis of sources 4, 9-23.

Along with the development of the MC application environment, it is worth considering the transformation of marketing communications through Kotler marketing concepts. Kotler's marketing concepts represent the stages of marketing development, reflecting the changes caused by the technological environment and society in the business landscape. It is worth noting that the Kotler marketing stages do not contradict or replace each other, and each subsequent stage serves as an addition to the previous one.

The first stage of marketing (1.0) was product-oriented marketing, or product-oriented marketing. Marketing 1.0 was actively used until 1960. Already in those years, technologies began to appear, which in the future would serve as an impetus for the development of modern marketing stages and MC theories.

In the 1950s, technologies such as natural language processing, artificial intelligence (AI), neural networks, and machine learning were born. Also in 1954, P. Drucker's theory of customer orientation was published ^[9]. This was the driver of the development of a customer-oriented approach in further theories of marketing communications.

Customer-oriented marketing (2.0), or consumer-oriented marketing, describes marketing from the 1960s to the 1990s. In these years, the MK continues to be used exclusively in an analog environment. Client-oriented theories such as J. R.R. Tolkien's 4P theory are emerging. McCarthy, which includes the product, cost, distribution location, and promotion. In 1967, F. Kotler's first book "Marketing management" was published ^[10], in which he formulates an expanded marketing concept.

Relationship marketing developed in the 1970s and 1980s. Cyrus K. describes the concept of service marketing, focusing on the role of interaction between the consumer and the company ^[11]. Jackson B. introduces the term Relationship Marketing, referring to the benefits of maintaining relationships with existing consumers rather than finding new customers ^[12]. Berry L. introduces the term "partnership marketing" (MPO), defining it as the process of attracting, maintaining and strengthening relationships with a client ^[13].

Impression marketing was used as a strategy to attract customers even before the timeline, but the term was first used in 1984 by J. R.R. Tolkien. Scully at the presentation of the new Apple IIc laptop computer. Impression marketing is aimed at creating an emotional connection with the consumer.

In 1978, the history of e-mail marketing began, thanks to the sending of letters advertising a new product to 400 recipients via the ARPANET, which was already open at that time. ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) is the first computer network based on packet switching principles. APRANET is the prototype of the Internet.

VR technologies, databases, sensor technologies, e-commerce, and quantum computing were also discovered in those years. Among the most significant technological products for customer-oriented marketing were the Shakey robot, the first voice assistant, the ELIZA chatbot, and a mobile phone.

1990-2010 refers to value-oriented marketing (3.0), or marketing aimed at a person's personality. Marketing 3.0 combines intellectual (1.0), emotional (2.0) and spiritual (3.0) components to serve customers ^[14]. It is worth noting that the marketing 3.0 period is 20 years, unlike marketing 2.0, which was 30 years. Thus, it becomes obvious that with the growth of technology and the development of marketing practices, the periods of relevance of marketing concepts are shortened.

Over the years of marketing 3.0, such MC theories as convergent marketing, BMI, one-to-one marketing, content marketing, trust marketing, predictive marketing, video marketing, social media marketing (SMM), neuromarketing and NBA marketing have been described and widely applied in practice.

Convergent marketing goes beyond integrated marketing communications and a multi-channel approach, focusing on integrating the channels themselves to increase efficiency and personalize customer interactions. One-to-one marketing, or one-to-one marketing, is an individual marketing strategy that allows you to create a portrait of a customer at a detailed level and interact with each customer personally. This became possible largely due to the advent of the Internet and digital footprints, and later this approach to MK was improved thanks to social networks, Cookies and big data.

Integrated marketing communications were first described by D.E. Schultz, S.I. Tannenbaum and R.F. Lauterborn in their book "The New Marketing Paradigm" ^[15]. Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a strategy aimed at consistency of all marketing messages and communication channels. IMCS ensure a unified, consistent perception of the brand by the customer, regardless of the channels through which the consumer interacts with the company.

In 1999, S. S. describes the concept of trust marketing, the essence of which is the continuous involvement of consumers who have previously agreed to it in the company's activities through two-way interaction ^[16]. Predictive marketing originated thanks to Lewis M., who described in his book "Moneyball" how predictive analytics is changing the approach to decision-making ^[17]. This theory was further developed by Siegel E. ^[18], Artun O. and Levin D. ^[19].

Video marketing and social media marketing also appeared and rapidly gained popularity, first among people and then companies, thanks to the development of technology in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. At that time, technologies such as No-code, AR technologies, QR code, the Internet of Things, Wi-Fi, mobile Internet, cloud technologies and blockchain also appeared. Among the technological products, in addition to social networks (the first social network Friendster, the first video hosting YouTube, the first Russian social network VKontakte), the first smartphone, the first interactive banner, CRM systems, Wikipedia and cryptocurrency appeared.

In 2002, Ail Smidts coined the term "neuromarketing," which is an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of neuroscience and marketing. Neuromarketing helps us understand the subconscious decision-making mechanisms of consumers and optimize strategies for interacting with them. Neuromarketing has also taken a place in the customer-oriented approach to MC through the development of technologies (for example, eye-tracking, biometric sensors, etc.).

NBA marketing (Next-best-action marketing) is the marketing of the next best solution, in which marketing specialists, based on analytical data, predict all the next actions of each customer individually. Like most MC theories, NBA marketing originated in a practical field. The predictors of the emergence of NBA marketing were the evolution of work with databases, CRM systems, and later, with Big Data.

In 2010, marketing 3.0 was replaced by marketing 4.0 - digital marketing and marketing in the digital world ^[20]. The era of marketing 4.0 was only 10 years old, which also indicates the acceleration of the transformation of marketing communications.

During these years, technologies such as ESIA (Unified Identification and Authentication System), CDP (customer data platform), and 5G communications were discovered. The first voice assistant was also introduced – Siri, a service for creating and watching short TikTok videos, NFT (non-fungible token), the first quantum computer for commercial use.

It was ESIA and distributed databases that created the basis of omnichannel, which led to the formation of omnichannel marketing. Omnichannel is an approach to customer interaction that involves providing a seamless and consistent experience, regardless of which communication channel they use (website, mobile app, social media, physical store, etc.). Omnichannel is an important tool for implementing IMC and, in turn, is impossible without customer orientation. The client should easily switch between channels without losing context or experiencing inconvenience.

The 2010s are also the era of the emergence of influencer marketing. In fact, influencer marketing was used even before the advent of the Internet, when celebrities were opinion leaders, but it was the Internet and the social networks that appeared in the previous decade that led to the rapid development of influencer marketing. Despite the fact that the sphere of social networks in Russia has undergone significant changes and restrictions in recent years, today, influencer marketing is one of the main tools of communication between companies and consumers.

Such MC theories as robotic marketing ^[21] and marketing with artificial intelligence (AIM – artificial intelligence marketing) ^[22] have also been developed. It is worth noting that artificial intelligence and the use of robots in marketing communications found application only more than 60 years after the discovery of these technologies.

In 2020, marketing 4.0 will be replaced by technology marketing (5.0), or next-generation technology marketing. This leap in technology used in the MC is largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing, switching to remote and hybrid modes of operation, contactless purchases - consumers were forced to quickly adapt to the new reality. Many companies were not ready to transform their MC, which led to a digital divide in MC between consumers and companies.

Technologies that already existed at that time (AI, NLP, sensor technology, robotics, AR/VR, IoT and blockchain) gained value in creating a customer experience. Over the next four years, companies rapidly transformed their MC, integrating digital and digital technologies into their marketing communications strategies.

In 2022, two AI-based programs were released, Chat GPT and Midjourney, which led to the appearance of thousands of others. The trend towards the use of AI by both companies and consumers is growing rapidly. AI programs accelerate content generation, data processing, and allow you to collect and personalize consumer preferences in real time.

Google's introduction of Cookieless targeting technology reflects another trend of the 5.0 marketing era, user privacy and data privacy. On the one hand, this will lead to an increase in the use of predictive marketing and influencer marketing. On the other hand, the absence of cookies will encourage companies to build more trusting and personalized relationships with consumers.

In 2024, marketing 5.0, having existed for less than five years, transformed into metamarketing (6.0), or marketing using an interactive and immersive approach to shaping customer experience. ^[23] The era of marketing 6.0 is just beginning, but its appearance was expected. It is the rapid development of consumer and company applications of technologies such as IoT (Internet of Things), AI, spatial computing, augmented reality (augmented and virtual reality) and blockchain in recent years that has led to the emergence of metamarketing.

The term "meta" suggests another level of measurement of the MC application environment, that is, the level of evolution of the synthesis of technologies, tools and conditions of their use (physical and digital). Thus, digital is the environment for using technologies in the MC, meta is the level of their integration, and immersiveness is the nature of interaction with the consumer.

The modern consumer is becoming more sophisticated, requiring companies to interact on a multisensory, spatial and meta-level. At the same time, consumers still value communication in an analog environment. As a result, in the era of marketing 6.0, companies are forced to combine all known MC concepts and technologies in their strategies for the most effective interaction with consumers, being present simultaneously in all environments.

Conclusions

Changes in the technological environment over the past 75 years have repeatedly transformed marketing communications, giving rise to new theories and concepts of marketing. But at the same time, customer orientation was a key element of MK's development.

Without a customer-oriented approach, MC's lose their meaning, since customer satisfaction, understanding their preferences and motives, and improving the customer experience are the keys to building long-term and trusting relationships with consumers.

Over the period under review, marketing communications have become widespread in all business areas. However, the lack of a unified marketing strategy due to the fragmented nature of the marketing communication theories used by companies often leads to inefficiency in the use of marketing in business. Based on the considered timeline, the following conclusions can be formulated:

1. Analog, digital, and digital environments exist simultaneously, complementing each other in creating customer experiences and consumer interactions with companies. The emergence of a digital environment does not negate the interaction of companies with consumers in an analog or digital environment.

2. Kotler's marketing concepts do not exclude each other, and each subsequent concept serves as a complement and extension of the previous one. It is important to note that the application time of each subsequent concept was halved, which indicates the acceleration of digitalization and digitalization of the MC.

3. The technological gap between consumers and companies. Consumers adapt faster to technological challenges, especially younger generations (Y, Z and alpha), while companies do not have time to implement the necessary technologies and technological products for better interaction with Central Asia.

4. The time gap between the described theories of MC and those applied in practice. Most of the technologies used in MC practice today appeared in the last century. However, companies could not use them or did so intuitively due to the lack of scientific research on the implementation of these technologies in the strategy of MC companies.

5. Fragmented theories of marketing communications. The lack of a customer-oriented MC theory described that responds to technological changes.

The theories of the MC of the 21st century describe individual tools and strategies for communication and interaction with the consumer. Despite the fact that all the considered MC theories strive to satisfy consumers, nevertheless, none of the listed concepts fully ensures two-way interaction with the client. In addition, the digital environment accelerates the process of interaction between the consumer and the company, allowing it to be done online or offline in real time.

As a result, there is a need to integrate the most significant theories of marketing communications, based on a customer-oriented approach. The conditions for the formation of a BMI in the digital environment have now been formed. This is evidenced by the technological environment, the willingness of consumers and companies to a new experience of interaction. The next step is to build a BMI concept in a digital environment.

Such a concept can be the concept of integrated marketing communications in a digital environment: FIMC is an equal interaction between a consumer and a company, that is, the integration of marketing communications for two-way interaction in a digital environment.

Thus, FIMC should include two-way peer-to-peer interaction with the consumer in real time, a two-way reaction, the consumer's ability to be the first to contact the company, and the consumer's ability to independently choose the medium of interaction (analog, digital, and digital) with the company. The FIMC concept should take into account all the technologies and technological products discussed in this article, which the company can choose depending on its internal and external factors. Based on the above, this concept will be a customer-oriented concept that allows for the most effective interaction with consumers simultaneously in analog, digital and digital environments.

It is planned to further study integrated marketing communications in the digital environment and develop a detailed description of the FIMC concept in future publications.