The art of marketing — for good | Raja Rajamannar

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Art of Marketing — For Good | Raja Rajamannar on TED Talks Daily

Episode Details:

• Title: The Art of Marketing — For Good
• Host/Author: TED
• Guest: Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing Officer at MasterCard
• Release Date: January 16, 2025

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Introduction to Marketing's Evolving Role

In this enlightening episode of TED Talks Daily, host Elise Hu introduces a compelling conversation between Whitney Pennington Rogers and Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing Officer at MasterCard. The discussion delves into the transformative nature of marketing in today’s competitive landscape, emphasizing its dual role in driving business growth and fostering societal good.

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Foundations of Marketing: Beyond Traditional Boundaries (02:24 - 04:08)

Raja Rajamannar begins by redefining the fundamental purposes of marketing within a company:

1. Brand Manifestation: Marketing embodies a company’s values, focusing on brand building, nurturing, and protection.
2. Business Advancement: Beyond creativity, marketing must tangibly contribute to business growth.
3. Competitive Differentiation: In a saturated market, marketing establishes platforms that set a brand apart.

Raja introduces a pivotal perspective: marketing should not only fuel growth but also serve societal good. He articulates, “Marketing is not just a force for growth, but it is also a force for good” (04:08). This philosophy shifts the traditional view, integrating corporate responsibility with strategic marketing initiatives.

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Quantum Marketing: A Modern Framework (04:08 - 05:45)

Whitney Pennington Rogers inquires about Raja’s book, Quantum Marketing, prompting Raja to elaborate on its core concepts:

Quantum Marketing challenges age-old marketing principles established over six decades ago, a time devoid of social media, mobile technology, and artificial intelligence. Raja questions the timelessness of these principles, asserting that many are now **“completely ineffective” and “counterproductive” in the current context (05:45).

He defines quantum marketing as:

• Challenging Traditional Foundations: Reevaluating every aspect of marketing’s core principles.
• Reimagining for the Present: Adapting strategies to align with contemporary technological and societal shifts.
• Future-Proofing: Identifying enduring principles that remain relevant regardless of environmental changes.

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Purpose-Driven Marketing: Driving Profit Through Good (05:45 - 07:17)

The conversation shifts to the significance of purpose in marketing. Raja emphasizes that a company’s purpose should transcend mere profit:

“When you’re trying to do something genuinely good for the society, genuinely good for the planet, you earn the kind of trust from consumers, which is absolutely invaluable” (06:05).

Key insights include:

• Purpose as a North Star: Guiding company objectives beyond product promotion.
• Trust as a Differentiator: Building societal good leads to consumer trust, which in turn drives profitability.
• Long-Term Success: Companies focused on broader purposes often achieve sustainable growth compared to those solely profit-driven.

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Implementing Purpose: Real-World Examples (07:17 - 13:39)

Raja shares impactful initiatives MasterCard has undertaken to embody their purpose:

1. True Name Card for Transgender Individuals (07:23 - 10:03):

   • Challenge: Transgender individuals often face issues with payment cards reflecting their true identities, leading to discrimination and inconvenience.
   • Solution: MasterCard introduced the True Name Card, allowing users to display their chosen name regardless of legal documentation.
   • Impact: Launched in over 28 countries, the initiative received overwhelming positive feedback, enhancing user independence and trust.

   “We started with solving a real problem and being purposeful about it, which sort of makes a huge amount of difference.” (07:23)

2. Accessible Cards for the Visually Impaired (10:03 - 13:39):

   • Inspiration: Personal experience with his blind grandmother inspired Raja to create accessible payment solutions.
   • Solution: A tactile notch system was developed:
     • Shapes: Different notches indicate card type (credit, debit, gift) and orientation.
     • Functionality: Simplifies card usage for visually impaired users, promoting independence.
   • Success: Adopted in over 35 countries, receiving heartfelt testimonials from users and caregivers.

3. Supporting Ukrainian Refugees in Poland (13:39 - 13:39):

   • Context: The war in Ukraine led to a significant refugee crisis in Poland.
   • Solution: MasterCard developed an AI-powered app to assist refugees in finding employment and housing:
     • Features: Matches refugees’ qualifications with job opportunities, cost of living information, and real estate options.
   • Outcome: Facilitated the settlement of 20% of Ukrainian refugees in Poland through the app, garnering interest from the Polish government and the United Nations for broader adoption.

   “What we have been trying to do is to look at these kind of product innovations, creating new platforms that make a big difference.” (12:00, paraphrased)

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Marketing Yourself: Parallels Between Corporate and Personal Branding (13:39 - 15:43)

In the closing segment, Raja bridges the gap between corporate marketing and personal branding:

• Authenticity: Just as companies must present an authentic brand, individuals should market themselves truthfully. “You should market yourself based on authenticity, meaning you cannot fake it.” (15:00, paraphrased)
• Differentiation: Individuals, like companies, need to identify and leverage their unique strengths to stand out.
• Decency Quotient: Emphasizes the importance of integrity over ruthless competitiveness. “Am I being a decent person or being ruthlessly competitive?” (15:30, paraphrased)

Raja underscores that the strategies for effective corporate marketing are remarkably similar to those for personal branding, advocating for authenticity, differentiation, and ethical conduct in both realms.

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Conclusion: Marketing as a Force for Good

The episode concludes with a profound affirmation of Raja Rajamannar’s vision:

“Whether you come from an individual and project them onto companies, or start with the companies and project onto individuals, the strategies are extremely similar and very parallel.” (15:43).

Raja’s insights illuminate how modern marketing must evolve to prioritize societal good alongside business objectives, fostering trust and long-term success. His examples from MasterCard illustrate the tangible benefits of purpose-driven marketing, offering a blueprint for companies and individuals alike to harness marketing as a positive, impactful force.

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Notable Quotes:

• Raja Rajamannar (04:08): “Marketing is not just a force for growth, but it is also a force for good.”
• Raja Rajamannar (06:05): “When you’re trying to do something genuinely good for the society, genuinely good for the planet, you earn the kind of trust from consumers, which is absolutely invaluable.”
• Raja Rajamannar (07:23): “We started with solving a real problem and being purposeful about it, which sort of makes a huge amount of difference.”
• Raja Rajamannar (15:00): “You should market yourself based on authenticity, meaning you cannot fake it.”
• Raja Rajamannar (15:30): “Am I being a decent person or being ruthlessly competitive?”

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This episode serves as a profound exploration of the evolving landscape of marketing, championing a holistic approach that intertwines business success with societal impact. Raja Rajamannar’s visionary strategies at MasterCard exemplify how purpose-driven marketing can lead to meaningful change and sustainable growth.

Transcript

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[Elise Hu]

You're listening to TED Talks Daily where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. Today, a conversation about what marketing is for and how to do it well in our highly competitive environment. Raja Raja Minar is the Chief marketing officer at MasterCard. He sits down with TED curator Whitney Pennington Rogers to share how the art and thinking behind marketing has evolved over the years and how he's reimagined it for the current context.

[Whitney Pennington Rogers]

Well, thank you so much for being here with us today, Raja. It's exciting to have you here.

[Raja Rajamannar]

Delighted to be here. Thank you.

[Whitney Pennington Rogers]

You are the chief marketing officer for MasterCard, which is a fintech company, as we all know. But the way that you and your team position mastercard out in the world is far different from what I think anyone would expect from a fintech company in terms of the way it looks and the things you care about. And I know a lot of this has to do with your philosophy around marketing. And so would you share a little bit to start about the way you approach marketing, the way you think about it?

[Raja Rajamannar]

So when I look at marketing, why does it even exist in companies? So there are three reasons. Number one, it is the manifestation of everything that the company stands for, its values, which all get embodied in the brand. So it's about brand building, nurturing the brand, protecting the brand. That's the first one. Second, to advance the business, because we are not, at the end of the day, just a creative function that makes the brand look good. It has to make a difference to the business. That's number two. And third, with all this intense competition that is so widely prevailing, how do you establish platforms that will differentiate your brand, differentiate your company, and keep it ahead of the game? So these are the three primary reasons why marketing exists. But the way I look at marketing is also a little different in the sense that it's not only doing something good for your company, but it also does something very good for the society. So we call it doing well by doing good or marketing is not just a force for growth, but it is also a force for good. And that really changes the entire texture through which you look at marketing and the kind of difference it can make is absolutely fascinating.

[Whitney Pennington Rogers]

And I know you published a book called Quantum Marketing.

[Raja Rajamannar]

Yes.

[Whitney Pennington Rogers]

Which sort of encapsulates a lot of this. So how do you define that term, quantum marketing?

[Raja Rajamannar]

See, it's fascinating. If you look at all the theories and principles of marketing, they were formed more than six decades back. @ the time, there was no social media, there were no mobile phones, there was no Internet. Forget about artificial intelligence. And one of my quests had been to say that when marketing rules were formed, then the theories of the principles, are they so timeless that they remain constant with all the changes happening, or are they actually going to change? That led me down this whole discovery where I said, actually the principles which were done there are not like magnetism or electricity, which don't change with time, but they actually have to be changed in the context of marketing. In the area of marketing, like classical marketing, there are many things that are done today which are completely ineffective. They're Useless. And in fact, they are even counterproductive from that perspective. I have come up with this whole construct called quantum marketing, which is about challenging every single aspect of marketing from its foundations and then re imagining for the current context. And also try to tease out some of those principles which will remain into the future, irrespective of what happens in the environment. So go more to the foundational principles of marketing the way they should be than the way they have been.

[Whitney Pennington Rogers]

Okay, well, so when we started off, you started talking about a couple of these principles that you are really. That you find really compelling. And one of them was connected to purpose and this idea of how purpose can motivate your decisions in the marketing space. So how does purpose fit into your vision for marketing and how it influences your choices there?

[Raja Rajamannar]

Firstly, your purpose can be purely to make profit. It can be anything from a purpose drivenness. It is the reason why a company exists and what objectives does it want to pursue. It's a direction, it's a North Star for a company. What you find typically is, for most companies, if the purpose is all about profit, the equation becomes so ineffective as opposed to looking at the larger good as your purpose. Profits will automatically follow what you bring first and what you bring next is the key point out here. When you're trying to do something genuinely good for the society, genuinely good for the planet, you earn the kind of trust from consumers, which is absolutely invaluable, and it becomes one of the biggest differentiators for your company or for your brand, and that in turn drives your profitability and your profits. So therefore, when I look at the entire aspect of purpose, it's important that every company needs to know what exactly it is doing beyond merely peddling their products and serving advertisements and marketing campaigns and MasterCard.

[Whitney Pennington Rogers]

Could you share some examples of what that looked like for you? Because there's a lot of ways in which you've. You've implemented this.

[Raja Rajamannar]

Yeah. See, one of the things we have done right here in New York is there was this situation amongst transgender population where when they go through the transition, many times when they go with their card, the payment card, the name on the card does not match with what a person expects based on the new look of that individual. And many of them, sadly, were even being denied service as a result of which they get suspicious looks. Your name says it's Carla, but you are looking like Carl and what's happening and so on. It seems to be probably a small problem for those of us who don't go through those situations. But if you really empathize in what they're going through. You say, man, we have to really do something about it. And so the solution that MasterCard came up with is called True Name Card. You put the name on the card that you think that you want to be called by based on your new identity. Whether you have gone through the legal processes to change the name or not is a different issue. All we want is what do you want to be addressed? It might seem such a small thing, but the amount of difference it makes is humongous to these individuals. The moment we wanted to launch this, there were a lot of companies. We don't issue cards ourselves directly. It happens through the banks, and banks were worried. They said this might be a little controversial. Maybe it's the right thing to do. Is the segment big enough? And it took one bank in Canada to start this whole process. And then it was like opening the floodgates. And now this card is available, True Name Card, in more than 28 countries around the world, and one of our most profitable products. Now, we didn't start with the objective of profit. We started with solving a real problem and being purposeful about it, which sort of makes a huge amount of difference. I'll give you another example. Actually, I keep thinking about it. So when I was growing up, my grandmother, she was blind, and me and my sister would hold her hands and help her navigate through the house. And even when she was sitting in front of dining table, we had to show her where the glass was, what items were, where fast forward. I went to a South by Southwest conference and I was coming out, and one of my finance colleagues has come out and said, rajat, how come we don't have a card for a blind person? How does a blind person pay their card? How do they distinguish one card versus the other card? I said, man, I should have thought about it. I actually grew up seeing somebody who was blind in my own family.

[Whitney Pennington Rogers]

And.

[Raja Rajamannar]

And when we started working on this, and what a simple solution that we have come. But what an effective solution was a small notch on the side of the card when you touch it based on the shape of the card, a shape of the notch, you know what kind of a card it is. For example, if it is a credit card, it's like a half hexagon. The shape of the notch. If it is like a gift card, it's like a V. And if it is a debit card, it's like a C. So the shape of the notch will tell you what kind of a card it is. The Position of the notch will tell you whether you're holding the card the right way up. Because when you go to your terminal, how do you know which way is the right one and which way is the wrong one? And finally, if it has a notch, it is a MasterCard. So with one single stroke, a small innovation, it is a big step forward and we launched it. And the interesting thing is the moment it got launched, it really took the world by fire, so to speak. Now we have got it in more than 35 countries around the world, this particular card. And the kind of feedback that we have been receiving, not just from people who are blind, but even from moms of kids who are blind. And it's very deeply moving. They say this is going to be a game changing thing for my kid because it gives them an independence. And for a blind person, independence is very, very important. So what we have been trying to do is to look at these kind of product innovation, are creating new platforms and without making it into a monologue, if I can just mention one quick thing about recently this happened in Poland. When the war broke out in Ukraine, it has resulted in the largest human migration in Europe since World War II. And these people, they were all flooding the country away from their country and getting most of them into Poland. And Poland as a system and infrastructure was getting totally overwhelmed and it was getting very chaotic because people are all over the place, they don't have opportunities and so on. So what we did was a brilliant solution, I would say, even if I have to save myself. The point is, this solution is a simple app that is powered by AI. It asks the refugee coming from Ukraine, tell us something about yourself, your educational background or your experience, your qualifications, the kind of job you're looking for, the family size, the situation of your kids, and so on. Based on that, it will identify opportunities in the entire country and tell you in this small place, whether it is Krakow or Pozdan, wherever, there are three jobs available that you can apply straight from this particular app. This is the compensation they expect. Here's the cost of living that you have got. This is the kind of schooling for your kids and so on. And you can also search real estate right through that app. What happens is in one single small app, you have really helped this person find opportunities and land with the right opportunities. Now the beauty is one out of five Ukrainian refugees who settled in Poland settled using this app. So much so that the government of Poland said this is the app that they would like to adapt as their own and equally United Nations Security Council has invited mastercard to go and talk about how they could be public private partnerships that will tackle the migration crisis that's happening around the world. So when you start doing these kind of things, on one hand it's profoundly meaningful, fulfilling and gratifying to the employees of the company. But also it does make a difference, competitively speaking, because your brand people will start loving it.

[Whitney Pennington Rogers]

Well, that's extraordinary. And I think one thing that's really interesting too is it's clear how this can be applied to companies. But there's also ways in which you can take this learning these thoughts and apply them to yourself as an individual and sort of how you think about marketing yourselves. And so in these last few seconds, if you could share a little bit about how you might be able to apply some of this on the individual level.

[Raja Rajamannar]

See, I think an individual, I actually talk about the other way around, which I normally say is imagine a company to be a human being. What would you want this human being to be known? What should be the name, what should be the personality, how should they dress, how should they conduct themselves and so on. What you're asking is the exact opposite of it, which is also a very valid thing. If you're an individual, how would you go about marketing yourself? Time and again it has come very clearly to light that simply having the best product will not make you a market leader. You should know how to market yourself. You should market yourself based on authenticity, meaning you cannot fake it if you are faking it. You can fake it and get away for some time, but people will see through you sometime down the line. On the one hand, number two, how do you want to be better than the other products that are out there? Just like in a company as an individual, how am I going to be better performing so that I'm able to gain more market share, which means I'm able to advance faster and better than somebody else or realize my own objectives. Most importantly, and we call this at MasterCard, decency quotient. Am I being a decent person or I'm being ruthlessly competitive just to get by and get ahead? In the short term, being ruthless and being totally self centered might help, but actually in reality, the decency quotient will give you enormous advantage over medium and long term. So for me the parallels are pretty striking. Whether you come from an individual and project them onto companies, or start with the companies and project onto individuals, the strategies are extremely similar and very parallel.

[Whitney Pennington Rogers]

Well, I feel like we could talk about this forever. There's so much more we could dive into here. But thank you so much for sharing this, Raja. Thank you so much for being here.

[Raja Rajamannar]

Thank you very much for having me. Much appreciate it. Thank you.

[Elise Hu]

That was Raja Rajamannar in conversation with Whitney Pennington Rogers at TED at BCG in 2024. If you're curious about Ted's curation, find out [e-mail] curationguidelines and that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Greene, Autumn Thompson and Alejandra Salazar. It was mixed by Christopher Faizy Bogan. Additional support from Emma Tobner and Daniela Balaurazo. I'm Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feet. Thanks for listening.

[Raja Rajamannar]

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How exactly did I get here?

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