Marketing 6.0 The Future is Immersive Reviewed

As far as non-fiction books go, Marketing 6.0 by Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya, and Iwan Setiawan was an easy book to read. The authors made complex and fuzzy topics very digestible in 10 chapters over 3 main parts. While I advise marketeers to buy this book, the format, content and design of the story telling widens its appeal. Anybody with an entrepreneurial interest in content marketing involving the digital realm should read this book.

Marketing 6.0 reviewed

The book starts out with some background in covering prior editions by Philip Kotler. Marketing 3.0, Marketing 4.0, and Marketing 5.0 get a mention. My first impression of this was screaming free advertising. As I progressed into the book, it become clear that the intent was to refer the reader to insights offered in these books. They focus on the move to customer-centric content marketing, AI supported marketing strategies, and the rise of tailored multichannel and omnichannel marketing for the digital age.

This background ties into the central theme of Marketing 6.0, which focuses on the fast-growing industry around the immersive experience in extended reality, a.k.a. XR, and the metaverse.

The book’s part 1 comprises 4 chapters and goes into detail around the marketing strategies leading up to metamarketing for immersive platforms. It summarizes the arguments for immersive marketing, aka. metamarketing, and recommends a structuring of your approach to it. Part 1 also provides excellent context to aid your planning sessions. As an example, it provides good industry context, such as the penetration of e-commerce retail sales. The US Department of Commerce reported 15% of all retail sales were e-commerce based in 2022, with euromonitor advising the global figure did not exceed 30% in any country for the same period.

The introduction moves into Marketing 6.0 and sets out recommended structures, along with insights ranging from planning to its implementation. The authors repackaged the 4 Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) for metamarketing in the metaverse and XR platforms. It advocates a kind of holistic approach, where it’s not all just digital. I found these insights to be very useful and presented in a very applicable manner to the topics at hand. This includes advice for the future with chapters around Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Part 2 spans over 3 chapters, and builds on the content introduced in part 1. The exploration focuses on the marketing 6.0 tech enabler, and the definitive immersive experience. The detail gives the reader insights on the application of the XR and metaverse technologies, which are developing past their gaming and entertainment origins. It also offers development suggestions such as these technology mediums becoming a new form of social media. This is an interesting point, as the decentralized nature of web3.0 could harness the features of XR and the metaverse, making it a real possibility from a technological standpoint.

Part 3 runs over the final 3 chapters and focuses on metamarketing delivery. It explores the expansion of multisensory marketing, which extends past sight and hearing harnessed by the digital marketing age. The deeper nature of the immersive experience via XR and metaverse allows for some utilization of the remaining 3 senses. It also explores the intelligence around spatial marketing, where, for example, location and time of day can tailor the customer experience in ways not possible before.

The final chapter closes out with insights that advocate experimentation with next generation engagement. Gen Z, and now Gen Alpha, were born into the digital age, where the immersive experience is an inherent feature of living. Tapping into the time spent online as children and teenagers presents a longer term view on metamarketing, and how brands can connect with the next generation as these technologies mature with the immersive experience.

We have digitized our society over a generation that no longer views technology with suspicion. The feasibility of marketing to a fast maturing target audience in fast maturing technology frameworks is no longer a theory. It has arrived as a general shift in society’s paradigm of existence, which now extends to active digital participation. This book harnesses this fact and shows you how to make your entry into an area that will grow hard and fast into the future.

By John Mulhall @johnmlhll | john@maolte.ie is a writer with Irish Tech News for over 7 years and also a Founder, Writer, and Engineer with Maolte Technical Solutions Limited. You can learn more about John and his IT services company at https://maolte.ie.

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