Marketing Strategy for dummies or should I say consumers

[h.g.Whiz]

Do some marketing gurus really view utilizing knowledge of consumer behavior when developing their marketing strategy to be more of an art than a science?

and

Why do some marketing experts assume that only children are vulnerable and require that they be protected because they are not sophisticated consumers meaning that they have little experience or knowledge about how marketers operate as if the rest of the consumers that do get targeted have any significant amount of marketing knowledge ?

[h.g.Whiz]

My source is Irwin/McGraw Consumer Behavior : Building Marketing Strategy

[icerat]

Do some marketing gurus really view utilizing knowledge of consumer behavior when developing their marketing strategy to be more of an art than a science?

An art is simply something where the science is so complex we don't understand it yet! :)

With marketing that is changing.

Why do some marketing experts assume that only children are vulnerable and require that they be protected because they are not sophisticated consumers meaning that they have little experience or knowledge about how marketers operate as if the rest of the consumers that do get targeted have any significant amount of marketing knowledge ?

In many ways that's a political/philosopical issue rather than marketing per se. At want point do you consider consumers to be responsible for their own decision making and behaviour - and it's consequences.

Different people draw the line at different places.

[marting]

The white papers at FICO.COM give much insight into the credit industry's evolution. There is a great deal there about how utilization factors into risk of default and also the attempts to identify subgroups that are more vulnerable to things such as job loss from those that have more marginal credit scores but are good risks. These white papers, which are marketing tools targetting banks, are useful at understanding how this is likely to change in the current environment.

[oggiesnr]

Do some marketing gurus really view utilizing knowledge of consumer behavior when developing their marketing strategy to be more of an art than a science?

and

Why do some marketing experts assume that only children are vulnerable and require that they be protected because they are not sophisticated consumers meaning that they have little experience or knowledge about how marketers operate as if the rest of the consumers that do get targeted have any significant amount of marketing knowledge ?

Answer to question 1 - marketing is guesswork combined with what worked last time, either for you or a rival.

Answer to question 2 - it's governments who demand the protection. Waste of time as children (in my experience) are a hell of a lot better at sorting out the wheat from the chaff than us oldies. It's our "sophistication" that make us vulnerable.

Steve