In the last issue of Ode magazine came a series of articles with the tagline, “How marketing could save the world.” In one piece about the power of marketing, uber-marketer Seth Godin proclaims, “Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese people have died recently because of bad marketing.”

Gasp.

But hold on a minute. There’s a method to the madness. Godin talks about the responsibility, or even better, the imperative of marketers to tell better stories. Marketing, he asserts, is about spreading ideas. And spreading ideas can be done through telling better stories. Not more positive stories, not spun stories, but better stories. Stories that matter and that make a difference in our lives, in the landscape of our world. Transformative stories that provide us with knowledge and move us to action.

As a marketer, I tend to agree with Godin.  How many of us prefer Coke over Pepsi? Or Nike over Adidas? You think these are all simply personal choices and preferences? Maybe. But we can’t deny the power of marketing. Hell, I’ve tried a product or two because I liked the commercial or the packaging, i.e., the story sold to me. And who among us hasn’t sung the praises of a miracle product to our friends and family members? When you believe in what you’re selling, it’s not that hard.

And therein lies the point. If we as consumers are drawn in by the story, or moved by the promise of merchandise, what amazing things are we capable of when marketers tell us better stories?

What if, instead of being bombarded by ads to buy this or try that, we were told stories about real ideas to help others, improve the environment, or invest our money in finding solutions to disease, hunger, and poverty? I know we’ve all seen commercials that address these issues before. But are these telling us better stories or providing us with inspiring, passionate ideas? Are we absolutely convinced to take the action that the commercial or billboard or brochure tells us to? Do we believe that we can make a real difference?

Obviously, some of us do because these ads wouldn’t run if they weren’t effective. But imagine if we all were convinced.

As marketers of consumer products utilize more and more sophisticated means to track our preferences, our buying habits, and what moves us to spend more money, it will be that much easier to get us to take action. Let’s hope that between all of these stories, some better ones, some with inspired ideas, find their way through.

Desiree Aquino