Has Marketing 6.0 Arrived? What Does It Bring That’s Different?
Marketing 6.0 is the title of the new book by Phillip Kotler, along with Iwan Setiawan and Hermawan Kartajaya. Released at the end of 2023, it marks an important milestone in contemporary digital marketing.
As always, Kotler is thinking ahead, envisioning the future while maintaining a sharp focus on the present.
Everything presented in this book is either just starting to happen or has already been occurring organically and incrementally for some time.
What Marketing 6.0 promises is the popularization of these innovative techniques and technologies to the point where they become the new standard.
Today, we’ll delve into Marketing 6.0. What it is, how it’s already being applied, what the future holds, and we’ll explore some examples at the end.
Ready to dive in? Let’s get started:
The Path to Marketing 6.0
Marketing 6.0 doesn’t emerge as a completely different way of doing marketing. Few things have changed so dramatically as to revolutionize everything we do.
Usually, these shifts in marketing eras (as numbered by Kotler himself) are more related to how brands approach marketing and the development of products/services, rather than the tools themselves.
For instance, television has been a marketing tool since Marketing 3.0. It is still widely used today and remains one of the most reliable ways to launch a product—albeit at a high cost.
Similarly, the techniques and tools we’ve gained since the internet revolution in Marketing 4.0 won’t be replaced or rendered obsolete.
Even professionals remain indispensable. With AI’s rise, it might seem that Marketing 6.0 is about task automation and reducing costs with creatives.
However, the opposite is true: AI’s ease of use brings the need to expand efforts and explore new ways to leverage the team’s creativity.
Here’s a quick timeline to understand the journey we’ve made so far:
From 1.0 to 6.0 — Marketing’s Evolution According to Kotler
Marketing has come a long way since 1.0.
In fact, if we trace marketing’s evolution far enough, we can find examples that align with the dawn of writing and history itself.
Thanks to the distinct characteristics of each marketing era, a clear trajectory emerges from Marketing 1.0 to Marketing 6.0.
“The most discussed technology in Marketing 5.0 was Artificial Intelligence, which seeks to replicate human problem-solving and decision-making abilities.” — KOTLER, Marketing 6.0
Let’s outline the main traits of each era. See if you can trace this journey:
- Marketing 1.0: The product quality era. Brands with the best products and distribution dominated the market.
- Marketing 2.0: Post-World War II production boomed, intensifying competition. Quality and distribution became the norm, shifting focus to targeting the right audience and crafting strategies to win over the ideal customers.
- Marketing 3.0: The era of personalization, starting in the 1950s. Marketing shifted from demographics to individuals. Copywriting became the standard for advertisements.
- Marketing 4.0: The massification era. Strategies from Marketing 3.0 transitioned to digital, birthing and solidifying practices like Inbound Marketing.
- Marketing 5.0: a renewed appeal to individualization, but this time with much more data. With the abundance of information brought by the internet, it is now possible to create entire campaigns for just a few dozen people or even a single individual through strategies like ABM — the ultimate in B2B marketing personalization. Content, which began to emerge during Marketing 4.0, has taken over everything. Marketing work, while still aiming at sales as the ultimate goal, started to deliver value in different ways, often without “selling” anything, focusing instead on lead conversion.
We explored this transition in detail in a dedicated article. It’s worth checking out—click below to read more:
➡️ Marketing 5.0 Explained: How to Apply It in ALL Businesses
A Blend of the Old and the New
Transitions between marketing eras are rarely marked by revolutions that invalidate previous methods.
The categorization into 6.0, 5.0, etc., doesn’t render earlier approaches irrelevant.
For certain brands or situations, strategies from earlier eras—like Marketing 1.0—might still be viable or even necessary, especially due to local market limitations.
For example, in a remote town with few residents, simply having a product available on store shelves could be more effective than launching digital marketing campaigns.
Are there actions that are exclusively part of a specific era of marketing? Not at all. These eras are connected to how you think about your business and promote it.
Alright, we understand what has brought us to this point, from the earliest efforts in the world of marketing to today, with the internet dominating everything.
Now we need to discuss what Marketing 6.0 truly is and what new aspects it brings.
Let’s dive in together:
What is Marketing 6.0?
Now that we’ve outlined the path from Marketing 1.0 to 6.0, let’s delve into what makes Marketing 6.0 unique.
First, a basic definition from Kotler: Marketing 6.0 seeks to bridge the gap between physical and digital interactions, bringing more digital marketing into real life and more real-life aspects into digital marketing.
Kotler calls this Immersive Marketing, synonymous with Marketing 6.0.
It is built on several core pillars, explored in detail across the book’s chapters. If it’s not clear by now, reading the book is highly recommended!
You can find it on Amazon, but at the time of writing this article, only the English edition is available. Check the link below:
The main pillars of marketing 6.0:
- Metamarketing: A new era where the distinction between “real life” and “marketing” fades, focusing on immersive experiences.
- The Rise of the Phygital Generation: Gen Z’s defining trait is growing up in a “phygital” world, transforming their purchasing preferences and perceptions.
- Immersive Marketing: A framework governed by five key principles, enabling Metamarketing.
- Tech Enablers: How technology supports Marketing 6.0’s goals.
- Metaverse, Sensory Marketing, and Augmented Reality: The role of these emerging technologies in Marketing 6.0.
Over the next sections, we’ll explore each of these points.
The last one will be brief, as the book extensively discusses the Metaverse and augmented reality, which are still in early stages of development and public usability.
Let’s begin:
Metamarketing
This is the cornerstone of Marketing 6.0—the transformation of marketing campaigns, content, and actions into integral parts of people’s lives.
While this might sound overwhelming, we’re already starting to experience it.
A great example is B2C and B2B2C apps, like Tinder (B2C) and iFood (B2B2C).
In the case of Tinder, and dating apps in general, how people connect romantically has been completely transformed.
This is the essence of Metamarketing. However, these examples represent extreme cases.
For the B2B reality, we are already seeing efforts heading in this direction. For instance, Salesforce, beyond selling software as a product, also offers courses and training to create Salesforce specialists.
This has transformed the job market itself, which now seeks to hire these specialists.
The entire B2B SaaS model is already aiming to provide this Metamarketing experience — which Kotler sees as the natural evolution of omnichannel.
This is a very introductory chapter in the book. In the following chapters, and in the upcoming sections, we’ll delve deeper into how exactly Metamarketing works:
The Rise of the Phygital Generation
Another crucial point to consider in Marketing 6.0 is the emergence of Generation Z.
But not for the reasons we often hear — “Gen Z searches on TikTok,” “Gen Z spends more time on social media than anyone else,” etc.
In fact, Kotler was quite astute in identifying that this is the first fully Phygital generation in human history.
For the first time since someone announced something for sale, the physical and digital channels are as integrated as they are today.
Of course, e-commerce has always existed. But 10 years ago, it was entirely out of the question for anyone to imagine that you could buy something online, walk two blocks, and pick it up from a locker like those from Magalu.
We also could not have imagined that physical stores would sell on other stores’ e-commerce platforms and even combine personalized pick-ups and deliveries.
This Phygital generation prefers an excellent shopping experience on any channel and expects simple service across all channels.
Mariana, who has just purchased a product online, wants the option to pick it up in-store whenever she prefers or simply wait for it to arrive. Either alternative is valid.
And if she opts for in-store pick-up, two quick questions for a chatbot on the website should be enough for her to understand where and when to pick up her product.
The same chatbot should also be able to tell her when the product will arrive if she prefers to wait.
Today, only the largest companies are implementing Phygital strategies that go beyond omnichannel. But in the future, this will become standard.
The book dives deeply into some characteristics of Generation Z and how this reflects in the Phygital aspect. It’s worth the read.
The Inevitability of Immersive Marketing
According to Kotler, right in the chapter title, Immersive Marketing is inevitable.
This Immersive Marketing is essentially Metamarketing. It’s when marketing stops being marketing and starts playing a role in people’s lives.
This is because five primary forces are driving us toward it: short videos, community-based social media, interactive e-commerce, language-based Artificial Intelligence, and wearables.
Source: Marketing 6.0
These micro-trends are what are naturally propelling Marketing 6.0 forward. It’s not a matter of complete transformation — it’s simply the reality we have today.
Brands are already using Influencer Marketing alongside short-form video content to create (or activate) communities on TikTok and Instagram.
With AI, these brands can expand their content into deeper materials, using AI as a research and production assistant.
Even though Artificial Intelligence was the flagship of Marketing 5.0, it remains one of the significant micro-trends at this stage.
It enables standardized customer service through chatbots that provide personalized approaches.
It also allows for the personalization of e-commerce browsing experiences, for example, or answering questions via Instagram direct messages. AI now ensures the immersion proposed by Marketing 6.0.
Through these hypothetical examples, we see that Marketing 6.0 is not a change we’re proposing but one that Kotler observes happening.
Tech Enablers
The second part of the book primarily discusses the concept of tech enablers, or the technologies that will make Marketing 6.0 possible.
This chapter begins with a fascinating point: Marketing 6.0 needs to merge physical and digital because consumers are returning to and preferring personal interactions.
In other words: online shopping is a reality, but in-store purchases are growing. Thus, the experience must flow seamlessly across both mediums.
Source: Marketing 6.0
One prominent example of Marketing 6.0 is provided by Generation Z itself.
Many are young entrepreneurs, particularly in the apparel segment, which is gaining significant traction among this group.
In this segment, we see how physical stores transform their spaces into more than just shops but community hubs, while still being able to sell nationwide thanks to increasingly advanced logistics and emerging marketplaces.
Kotler identifies the following as fundamental technologies for this integration:
- IoT technology: Data capture in physical stores must be as efficient as it is online. Any interaction with your brand must be recorded, and IoT resources are the best way to achieve this.
- AI for data processing: Analyzing and presenting this data cohesively requires AI. Several options are already available in the market, particularly in the field of commercial intelligence.
- Spatial computing: Digitalization of environments and consumer experiences.
- Blockchain: For the informational infrastructure of transactions.
- AI, VR, and AR: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Artificial Intelligence can now fully replicate physical experiences digitally. Kotler bets on this resource, though we need to discuss it further.
Metaverse, Sensory Marketing, and Enhanced Reality
These three concepts are pivotal in Marketing 6.0, according to Kotler.
The primary role of these technologies is to help bring physical experiences into the online world almost literally, via the Metaverse.
Here’s where this article might get a bit controversial. Kotler presents the concept of the three webs in the book as follows:
- Web1: Internet users could only consume content but not produce or publish their own. This was the early internet of the 1990s, before the dot-com bubble burst.
- Web2: Users could now consume and produce content online, initially through platforms like YouTube, MySpace, and early social networks. We are still in this phase but in a late stage — social networks have become mass media tools.
- Web3: According to Kotler, this web will be characterized by total interaction through the Metaverse, the natural evolution of social networks and internet experiences.
“The Metaverse, considered the symbol of Web3, or the next iteration of the internet, seems to be the most logical next step in the evolution of social media.” — Kotler, Marketing 6.0
This issue, however, is not yet clearly defined. The Metaverse has not taken off, but it still might.
Perhaps it won’t take off in the way we’re expecting—like a Facebook you can enter, for instance.
But recent advancements indicate a more subtle Metaverse, much more “meta” and far less “verse.”
Apple recently launched the VisionPro, which offers some interesting features but still struggles by being more of a portable computer than a wearable device.
Meta, which was on a similar path, recently shook the market by launching the world’s first Smart Glasses in partnership with Ray-Ban.
By sacrificing more advanced functionalities, the glasses are smaller and can take photos, record videos, play music, and even make calls.
This points to a positive future for VR and AR, but it remains uncertain. According to Kotler, a significant part of Marketing 6.0 will be about creating and maintaining digital environments within this Metaverse.
Which is plausible. What we don’t yet know is when.
All of this is to say that Marketing 6.0 is happening now, right before our eyes.
In fact, all of Kotler’s eras of Marketing are like this. Nothing belongs exclusively to the future or the past—everything is part of the now.
You can take the first step toward Marketing 6.0 today, leveraging the power of chatbots.
Provide personalized experiences for everyone who visits your site—set up different flows for each traffic source, for every page on your site, for the qualification level of leads, and more.
And all of this with ChatGPT helping you create the workflows. Try Leadster for free today, and let’s step into the new era of Marketing!
