Fluent Essays

The indicators of a good reflection are:  It is personal to you  It is clear how the learning relates to your role or prepares for a future role  It outlines the content and method of the learning activity  It describes how your knowledge, skills and attributes have developed as a  result of the learning activity.  It identifies any further gaps or learning you did not cover and how you might  fill these.  It describes how your current practice might change as a result You can approach your Self Reflective writing as per the four stages below: 1. What did I expect to learn? 2. What did I learn? 3. What will I do differently going forwards? 4. My actions and next steps    A strong Assignment Critical Reflection Requires addressing to the following  issues: High personal effectiveness:  - Critical self-awareness,  - Self-reflection and self-management; - Time management;  - Sensitivity to diversity in people and different situations and  - The ability to continue to learn through reflection on practice and experience Lecturer’s Notes for Week 8 A brief overview of the Future of Marketing Strategy The way that business managers used marketing at the past was reflecting a production of products and services which were promoted by advertisements in order to reach purchases. The way the business managers or marketers are using marketing now is based on a two way communication by listening actively to customers’ needs and wants are respond to their expectations with a clever design of products. They are customizing products based on the target segment of customers and are using new channels for promotion as well as delivery of products. A modern way that enables the flow of market information as well provide innovative ideas back to organization is the use of Crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is used as a collective intellectual gathering of information that comes from the public and then used to complete a business-related task. Further information is provided within the power-point presentation located in the 8 th week’s content as well to the additional reading material uploaded in this week’s content. References Telpaz, A., Webb, R., & Levy, D. J. (2015). Using EEG to Predict Consumers Future Choices. Journal of Marketing Research, 52(4), 511-529. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1509/jmr.13.0564 Marketing Strategies for the Future Dr. Paula Stephens © University of South Wales Learning Objective To consider the ways in which marketing strategies might be adapted to incorporate modern marketing tactics, to ensure that the right messages are reaching the right audiences. © University of South Wales The way it was? Businesses produced products and services Marketers produced advertisements / communications about the products and services Consumers watched and listened, and then… …bought and used the products and services. © University of South Wales The way that business managers used marketing at the past was reflecting a production of products and services which were promoted by advertisements in order to reach purchases. 3 The New Reality Marketing strategies involve: - Two-way interaction Co-creation Customised products New channels. © University of South Wales The way the business managers or marketers are using marketing now is based on a two way communication by listening actively to customers’ needs and wants are respond to their expectations with a clever design of products. They are customizing products based on the target segment of customers and are using new channels for promotion as well as delivery of products. 4 A Sharing Economy? http://www.zipcar.co.uk/how#zipcar-for- consumer © University of South Wales Sharing economy is an umbrella term with a range of meanings, often used to describe economic and social activity involving online transactions. ... Such transactions are often facilitated via community-based online services 5 Crowdsourcing So…businesses can benefit from their customers wisdom This results in the loss of some control… …but they are talking about you anyway! Feedback can result in a better product/ service, improved relationships, greater brand loyalty and increased sales © University of South Wales Crowdsourcing is used as a collective intellectual gathering of information that comes from the public and then used to complete a business-related task. 6 Some reasons to crowdsource Customer’s input can improve products. How????? Examples????? © University of South Wales Customer’s input can improve products. How?????: new ideas, improve deficiencies. Examples????? Dissatisfy with a product package as it raises difficulties in storage. (this is an example of the need to crowd source or employee’ input for improving a product). Another example is “Fiat Mio” see next slide as well the next examples in the 9th, 10th slide of this presentation 7 The Fiat Mio © University of South Wales 2009. 11000 ideas submitted over facebook and twitter from 120 countries. Concept car arrived in 2010. Won numerous car show awards. 8 Fairly Nuts © University of South Wales Ben and Jerry conducted a worldwide search for new flavours by asking its customers to jump onto its online flavour lab, whip together the ice cream of your dreams and give it an appealing name. It promised Fair Trade ingredients from certified suppliers. 9 Turning scientific research into a video game © University of South Wales A University of Washington online game. With Foldit players solve puzzles for points. The puzzles are really science problems. It lead to a breakthrough for a new anti aids drug. 10 It wins customer loyalty and positive word of mouth People want to be helpful, be thanked, be part of a team Self preservation theory explains why pleasing others helps us to feel better about ourselves. Social media collaboration feeds into this. © University of South Wales Crowdsource is an important tool for building customer loyalty and positive word of mouth since every customers want to feel helpful, thanked, and be part of a greater team. 11 It’s inexpensive Good for start-ups, entrepreneurs and small businesses with limited resources Asking questions in social channels is less expensive that a traditional survey or focus group. © University of South Wales Crowdsource is inexpensive way to improve current products of create new ones based on peoples shared opinions therefore it is considering a good tool for start-ups, entrepreneurs and small businesses with limited resources. Asking questions and receiving answers in social channel like facebook, twitter associates lower costs and assist the enhancement of information for product development or imporvement. 12 Customers can create your content for you E.g. REI (outdoor wear) crowdsourced content. Asked fans to upload images of themselves enjoying the outdoors: over 10,000 photos received (and half million visits to the website) http://smartblogs.com/social-media/2015/01/29/andys-answers-how-rei-created-a-sustainable-user-generated-content-resource/ © University of South Wales So what is the future of marketing strategy… It’s about putting the public back in public relations and social back in social media It’s not about new technologies It’s time to rethink the value proposition of marketing There is a need for courage and creativity:. © University of South Wales The future of marketing strategy is to listen actively the customers needs as well suggestions through social communication channels or networks as a way to facilitate courage and creativity. 14 Reading Telpaz, (2015), “Using EEG to Predict Consumers’ Future Choices,” Journal of Marketing Research Vol. LII (August), 511-529 © University of South Wales From segmentation to fragmentation - role of Marketing stretgy - Reading.pdf European Journal of Marketing From segmentation to fragmentation: Markets and marketing strategy in the postmodern era A. Fuat Firat Clifford J. Shultz II Article information: To cite this document: A. Fuat Firat Clifford J. Shultz II, (1997),From segmentation to fragmentation, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31 Iss 3/4 pp. 183 - 207 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000004321 Downloaded on: 09 November 2016, At: 03:43 (PT) References: this document contains references to 93 other documents. 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About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download. D ow nl oa de d by U ni ve rs it y of S ou th W al es A t 03 :4 3 09 N ov em be r 20 16 ( P T ) http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000004321 From segmentation to fragmentation 183 From segmentation to fragmentation Markets and marketing strategy in the postmodern era A. Fuat Firat and Clifford J. Shultz II Faculty of Marketing, Arizona State University West, School of Management, Phoenix, USA Introduction There have been several philosophical debates in the history of marketing thought about the discipline’s mission and role within business and society. Among these debates are science versus art, the extent to which the marketing concept should be broadened, and the recent debates on method and philosophy. From them emerged and continue to emerge new directions and challenges for marketing and marketers. Of course, these debates are (were) usually spurred by social forces or evolving business conditions that inspire(d) the need for fresh thinking. One of the most compelling forces today would appear to be the advent of postmodernism. As a new perspective, which has been very effective in the arts and humanities (Foster, 1985; Kaplan, 1987; Stephanson, 1988), as well as in architecture (Jencks, 1987), postmodernism seems likely to make, and by some accounts is already making (Gitlin, 1989; Habermas, 1983; Hutcheon, 1988; Jameson, 1992), an impact on contemporary culture, generally, and consumer culture, specifically. This impact has not been lost on marketing scholars, many of whom have begun to examine postmodernism within the context of their discipline (Brown, 1993a, 1993b; Firat, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993; Firat and Venkatesh, 1993, 1995; Firat et al., 1993, 1994; Ogilvy, 1990; Sherry, 1991; van Raaij, 1993; Venkatesh, 1989, 1992). Moreover, subsumed under the impact of postmodernism across institutions is the belief that postmodernism may also considerably affect the way that marketing organizations will need to conduct business into the next century. Inde ed, the modus operandi for marketers in a postmodern era may be “business as unusual”. Consequently, there may be a need for traditional marketing management practitioners to reassess their assumptions about markets and the strategies they use to create competitive advantage and to capture market share. Contributions by marketing scholars have generally focused on the implicit impact of postmodernism on marketing (Brown, 1993a, 1993b; Firat, 1992; van Raaij, 1993), yet our review of the literature led us to conclude that the implications of postmodernism for strategic marketing have received little if any attention from marketing scholars. Our objective, then, is to expand the discussion of postmodernism’s impact on the discipline of marketing and, more European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 3/4, 1997, pp. 183-207. © MCB University Press, 0309-0566 D ow nl oa de d by U ni ve rs it y of S ou th W al es A t 03 :4 3 09 N ov em be r 20 16 ( P T ) European Journal of Marketing 31,3/4 184 specifically, to suggest strategic contingencies for marketing managers and research opportunities for marketing and consumer research scholars. The expanding influence of postmodernism Postmodernism, for a time considered to be a fad by some members of almost all academic disciplines, could prove to be a serious contender as a new perspective from which to view and to act in the world, generally, and the business world, specifically (see Brown, 1993b). This premiss clearly has far- reaching implications for marketing managers. Despite its academic and popular adversaries (see Bhaskar, 1991; Eagleton, 1990; Habermas, 1983; Hill, 1993), postmodernist insights and ideas seem to be commanding growing attention and creating serious interest across many disciplines, including architecture (Frampton 1983; Jencks, 1987), art (Levin, 1988; Wallis, 1984), philosophy (Derrida, 1982; Lyotard, 1984; Madison, 1988), literary criticism (Jameson, 1992; Wilson, 1989), women’s studies (Nicholson, 1990) and history (Winders, 1991). Although marketing and consumer research disciplines have been relatively slow to recognize the impacts and existence of postmodernism as compared to sociology (Bauman, 1992), political science (Angus and Jhally, 1989; Aronowitz, 1988), and even the management discipline (Bergquist, 1993), recently postmodernist implications have begun to be explored by marketing scholars (as previously cited). In marketing, these implications may be more than practical, operational, or even theoretical. They may, by some accounts (Firat and Venkatesh, 1995), result in substantial redefinition of the character and the role of the field. For example, an articulation of postmodernist insights for marketing and the consumers of a possibly postmodern era may suggest that some of the most central tenets and/or principles of marketing – e.g. the marketing concept – be re-thought and modified extensively. The purpose of this paper is to explore these practitioner relevant implications, especially as they pertain to segmentation and positioning, two of the most central and strategic concepts in marketing management (Kotler, 1991). Segmentation and positioning have been singled out because they are cornerstones of marketing management, yet emerging trends would suggest traditional conceptions of either may not be as meaningful or satisfactory as once thought, if we hope to understand or explain emerging market conditions. Therefore, marketers may ne ed to develop different conceptions and approaches to segmentation and positioning if they wish to achieve marketing objectives. The aforementioned literature implies the need for transformation(s) in how we view markets. That is, if and when postmodern changes (further) entrench themselves in our societies, no clear or specific recommendations have been promulgated that will enable practitioners to respond to the concomitant marketing challenges. We intend to recommend proactive strategies and frameworks for marketers interested in successfully responding to those challenges. To accomplish this task we shall refer to the framework developed by Firat and Venkatesh (1993), taking into consideration the extensions to this D ow nl oa de d by U ni ve rs it y of S ou th W al es A t 03 :4 3 09 N ov em be r 20 16 ( P T ) From segmentation to fragmentation 185 framework offered by van Raaij (1993) and Brown (1993a, 1993b). These authors have provided insights into the complex and at times confusing discussions on the meaning and domain of postmodernist discourse and culture in order to discer n the connections and mutual influences betwe en postmodernism and marketing. In this vein, each paper has proposed several connections betwe en postmoder nism and, for example, marketing and advertising practices, which demonstrate the postmodernist tendencies of marketing, especially in recent years. In their framework, Firat and Venkatesh (1993) offer five conditions of postmodern culture: (1) hyperreality; (2) fragmentation; (3) reversal of consumption and production; (4) decentring of the subject; and (5) paradoxical juxtapositions (of opposites) and a general consequence of these conditions – loss of commitment. Van Raaij (1993) adds to these conditions the consequence of openness, which he defines as pluralism; that is, pluralism as the dominant approach to all relationships, or as the acceptance of difference. Brown further expands the framework by articulating three tendencies of the postmodern consumer(s): (1) readiness for living a perpetual present; (2) emphasis on form/style (Brown, 1993b); and (3) greater acceptance of or resignation to (a) state(s) of disorder and chaos (Brown, 1993a). Brief descriptions of these conditions are provided in Table I. The purpose of this paper is not to discuss postmodernism per se since such discussion is available in the aforementioned literature. Instead, we shall try to elaborate points that will help us to provide some further understanding of the transformation mentioned in the title of this paper: “From segmentation to fragmentation”. A recognition of the rudimentary aspects of a transition from modernity to postmodernity will highlight the differences that such a transformation will affect on the constitution of the market. We shall discuss these market implications of the transition throughout the following sections of the paper. We shall also propose, at different points in the paper, marketing strategies that will be required to keep up with or proactively respond to the changes in the market. Foundations of modern marketing thought A brief discussion of the tenets of modern marketing is in order to help a better understanding of the changes required for transition to postmodern marketing strategies. Marketing thought and practice have experienced changes in D ow nl oa de d by U ni ve rs it y of S ou th W al es A t 03 :4 3 09 N ov em be r 20 16 ( P T ) European Journal of Marketing 31,3/4 186 orientations and approaches across history. While present in the practices of certain organizations early in the development of modern business practices (Fullerton, 1988), “modern marketing” thought has not dominated practice until after the Second World War (Kotler, 1972). Modern marketing is distinguishable from other marketing orientations in several aspects, among which is the “marketing concept”. This concept, as articulated by several marketing scholars (e.g. Alderson, 1965; Bagozzi, 1975; Kotler, 1972; Kotler and Levy, 1969; Levy and Zaltman, 1975) captures many of the more essential characteristics of modern marketing; characteristics which reflect its indebtedness to tenets of modernism in general. Modern thought put the subject (human being) at the centre and elaborated the project of modernity in terms of the relationships this subject develops with the objects he or she acts on in order to improve conditions of life. The totality of these subject-object relations constitute the economy, and the rationality of Postmodern conditions Brief descriptions Openness/tolerance Acceptance of difference (different styles, ways of being and living) without prejudice or evaluations of superiority and inferiority Hyperreality Constitution of social reality through hype or simulation that is powerfully signified and represented Perpetual present Cultural propensity to experience everything (including the past and future) in the present, “here and now” Paradoxical juxtapositions Cultural propensity to juxtapose anything with anything else, including oppositional, contradictory and essentially unrelated elements Fragmentation Omnipresence of disjointed and disconnected moments and experiences in life and sense of self – and the growing acceptance of the dynamism which leads to fragmentation in markets Loss of commitment Growing cultural unwillingness to commit to any single idea, project or grand design Decentring of the subject Removal of the human being from the central importance she or he held in modern culture – and the increasing acceptance of the potentials of his/her objectfication Reversal of consumption and Cultural acknowledgement that value is created not in production production (as posited by modern thought) but in consumption – and the subsequent growth of attention and importance given to consumption Emphasis on form/style Growing influence of form and style (as opposed to content) in determining meaning and life Acceptance of disorder/chaos Cultural acknowledgement that rather than order, crises and disequilibria are the common states of existence – and the subsequent acceptance and appreciation of this condition Table I. Brief description of postmodern conditions D ow nl oa de d by U ni ve rs it y of S ou th W al es A t 03 :4 3 09 N ov em be r 20 16 ( P T ) From segmentation to fragmentation 187 managing these relations is the substance of economics. It could be claimed, therefore, that the economy and its science, economics, had to take “centre stage” in modern society. In fact, it would be difficult to argue the contrary; that the economy does not constitute the major interest in modern society. The dominant train of thought throughout modern history has been that if the economy is not healthy, nothing else can survive. Marketing and the marketing concept tend to be products of this modernist focus on the economy. The success of the marketing organization is contingent on the acceptance of its products in the market and to the resolution of the product offering in a market exchange (in a transaction involving economic resources). Marketing textbooks (see Bagozzi, 1986; Kotler, 1991; Park and Zaltman, 1987; Stanton, 1975) usually indicate that the final purpose of marketing practice is to maximize in the long-term (or optimize) such exchanges, or sales, and thereby, profits. While the social reason for being (raison d’être/justification of existence) is professed to be the satisfaction of consumer ne eds, existence is proclaimed to be possible only through economic/financial success in a competitive environment. Given that the whole society’s existence depends on economic health, economically rational behaviour becomes central to the operation of any institution or entity, and the focal importance of the health of the economy above all else (including, some critics would contend (Evernden, 1989; Henion, 1976), human, animal and plant life) is reaffirmed in the individual behaviours of marketing organizations. Social and political order comes to be perceived as dependent on a healthy economic order (Schmookler, 1992). Each marketing organization reflects this order in its own operations. One major reflection is in the centrality of the product and each product’s contribution to the success of the organization, since, in modernism, economic value is represented in and by the benefits inherent to the uses of the product. In other words, value is a property of the product; it is “[t]he total utility which is yielded by the object in question” (Bannock et al., 1978). The marketing organization realizes or actualizes economic value through its products. One reason for the centrality of the product is that modern marketing presupposes that value for the consumer is materialized in the prescribed benefits of product attributes being offered, and that it is this value which results in consumer satisfaction. Postmodernists would suggest that all of the above assertions are suspect, as we shall discuss. The above premisses are also reflected on the conceptualizations of the consumer in modern thought. The consumer, as the subject at the centre of the modernist project, is an individual with a mind that can be independent from the natural, sensational (emotional) limitations and weaknesses of the body (Rorty, 1979). As such a subject, the consumer is not only conceptualized to be the centre of the modernist project (i.e., improving human lives by controlling nature through scientific technologies), but also to be very centred, self- conscious, and committed to a reasoned and reasonable goal or end. Consequently, modern marketing thought tends to hold that a unity (in some D ow nl oa de d by U ni ve rs it y of S ou th W al es A t 03 :4 3 09 N ov em be r 20 16 ( P T ) European Journal of Marketing 31,3/4 188 arguments, authenticity) of self or self-concept, a sense of one’s identity and character, can and does exist. The consumer, then, armed with such a united concept of self and a commitment to it (many times represented in a personal quest) strives for the satisfaction of (clearly) identified needs for this self. Such unity of purpose, character and self logically suggests a stability in the consumer’s orientations and behaviour. This allows segmentation into relatively homogeneous behaviour/need/orientation groups, or the more recent types (as in the VALS typology) possible and useful as a marketing principle and tool. Postmodern impacts on marketing Openness/tolerance Postmodernists have argued that many of the modernist premisses, including those which shaped modern marketing thought, are based on myths, in the same vein that any social existence is (Campbell, 1990). The postmodernist position is generally that since all social experience is founded on a narrative – that is, a story constructed by a social group about life, its conditions, and its requirements – in which a community believes and, by acting upon such belief, transforms it into the social reality it experiences, no narrative ought to have a privileged status. Postmodernism, therefore, is open to and tolerant of all narratives, even including the modernist ones, as long as they tolerate other narratives also. They do, however, challenge and object to, especially, two aspects of modern narratives: the modernist assumption that a social reality independent of a socially constructed one (or of human agency) exists; and the modernist claim to having the only tr ue way of objectively knowing and, therefore, accurately representing this reality thanks to traditional methods of scientific enquiry. These aspects suggest that knowledge and understanding can only be determined by a given set of prescribed orientations and methods, however imperfect, whereas for the postmodernist – as for Mill (1859/1978) or Nietzsche (1954) – richer insights may be provided by knowing that the imperfections of one’s methods limit how much one may ever know. Postmoder nist thought especially challenges these narratives because, perceiving such a unique quality in themselves, the modernist narratives suggest superiority to all others and tend to reject all others as irrational, insensible, unrealistic, utopian, and even as fantasy and palmistry. Unfortunately for those who would wish to benefit from postmoder nist insights, there may seem to be an incommensurate ontological schism between modernist and postmodernist positions. As opposed to the knowing subject of modernity, postmodernism conceptualizes the consumer as the communicating subject, one who actively communicates the social reality she or he prefers to live rather than passively inheriting one constr ucted without his/her participation. Marketing in a postmodern culture, therefore, has to be open to and tolerant of the non-traditional demands communicated by consumers, including those of interference into organizational cultures. D ow nl oa de d by U ni ve rs it y of S ou th W al es A t 03 :4 3 09 N ov em be r 20 16 ( P T ) From segmentation to fragmentation 189 Hyperreality and perpetual present The disillusionments with the modernist project have given rise to many diverse movements, especially in the most modern societies of the world, which seem to have eroded the commitment to modernity. One result of the erosion of commitment to modernity is an increasing tendency and willingness on the part of the members of society to seek the “simulated reality” rather than an extant reality, imposing and immutable (Baudrillard, 1983; Eco, 1986; Postman, 1985). There are many indications of this tendency that have an impact on marketing. One is the transformation of our urban centres into theme parks (Sorkin, 1993). Indeed, the city, itself, the reality that much of modern society experiences in everyday life, is a simulation completely constructed by the human imagination (Gottdiener and Lagopoulos, 1986). Yet, increasingly, we find different sections of our cities replicating/reflecting different thematic constructions. In Beverly Hills, California, for example, one finds Rodeo Drive (named “Via Rodeo”), a very well-known part of this well-known town, representing a theme from Rome. The shopping malls, most imposing parts of our (sub)urban experience, of course, are theme parks in their own right. The Borgata in Scottsdale, Arizona, which replicates a Renaissance Italian town, or the Raffles Center in Singapore, the Circular Quay in Sydney, Australia, represent good examples of this thematization of these important landmarks of our time, where, possibly, outside their homes and work places, (sub)urban populations may be spending the largest portions of their time. Clearly, however, shopping malls do not stand alone as theme parks. Thematization is well integrated into work areas, park areas, wharf areas, etc. In this sense, markets are increasingly de(re)constr ucted by thematizing marketers in conjunction with the consumers who seek the simulated experiences that enhance and re-enchant their present encounters with(in) life. For postmodernist observers of contemporary culture, these environments represent a nostalgia on the part of contemporary urban populations for experiencing what, in the imagination, once was or could have been. This is a partly disinterested nostalgia, however, not a wish to be indeed transported totally into such a time or existence, but only voyeuristically to experience it for the moment that it excites and titillates the senses. Furthermore, this interest is not solely for what could have been in the past but also in the future. It is the representation of an imagined past or future in the present, and the present is the period on to which postmodernism turns its gaze. Premodern culture focused on the past, the moder n culture on the future. The focus in postmodernism is: right here, right now. But this immediacy does not have to stabilize, become uniform and boring. The postmodern consumer wants to experience the diversity of many themes, past and future, not get fixed in any single one. The hyperreal – reality based on simulation (Baudrillard, 1993; Eco, 1986) – allows the realization of this wish. The touristic consumer samples the many sights, sounds, themes and tastes of yesterday and tomorrow – which are all now and here, in the present (Gitlin, 1989) – immersing themself into the D ow nl oa de d by U ni ve rs it y of S ou th W al es A t 03 :4 3 09 N ov em be r 20 16 ( P T ) European Journal of Marketing 31,3/4 190 experiences and moving among them to experience each for a moment, as long as it keeps its appeal. The postmodern consumer seeks those experiences that can make “present” all or most of the exciting elements of space/time settings without the difficulties and hardships. This postmodern claim seems to find support in the interest that consumers display for the IMAX Theatre at the Grand Canyon where they can really experience the canyon in all its (historic) grandeur without the trekking, the heat or the cold, and the possibility of missing many sights. The interest in simulation seems to be evident in the fact that visitors to the cloud forest in Costa Rica have to be shown in slide shows all that they will miss when hiking the forest. It is evident in the numbers of tourists who visit EPCOT Center’s World Showcase in Disney World, Orlando, Florida, from around the world to experience Paris and London and Italy and Morocco, etc. It is evident in the interest in the volcano in front of The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, the safari at Fossil Rim Park in Texas, and the San Francisco earthquake showcase on Pier 39 in San Francisco. Each place is one where consumers go to have sensational experiences without the dangers involved. Finally, it is very evident in the extraordinary interest exhibited in all media for the coming advent of virtual reality and/or integ rative communication technologies that will allow simulated presence and sharing of virtual spaces by people actually far away from each other (Bylinsky, 1991; Daily News Tribune, 1990). The success of the marketing examples above indicate the greater attention marketing organizations have to give to the hyperreal and its representation in the present. Fragmentation and loss of commitment Rather than suppress fragmentation or try to find unifying themes to resolve it, postmodernism calls for an unabashed practice of it. Recognition of the above discussed interest among the consumers of, especially, contemporary market economies in experiencing the different simulated existences, and an interpretation of human history in terms of socially constructed realities, lends validity to making such a call. This is a call for a tolerance towards different ways of being, life styles and realities. The postmoder n sensibility even encourages the experiencing of many different ways of being, not conforming or committing only to a single one. Such a stance clearly allows for an expansion of fragmentation, of fragmented moments of experience and existence in a lifetime. Since contemporary consumers find commitment to a single project or metanarrative across modernity to have brought little promise but much misery, they have an affinity to not commit or conform to any unified, consistent, centred field, idea, system, or narrative (Jay, 1986; Lyotard; 1992; Wilson, 1989), or “regime of truth” (Foucalt, 1980). Fragmentation seems to be omnipresent in the everyday lives of modern consumers. Indeed, to the postmodern observer, fragmentations abound in everyday life experiences. They dominate the media, the most important and omnipresent mode of exposure to our universe in contemporary society. Fragmentation in the medium of television permeates advertisements, music videos, situation D ow nl oa de d by U ni ve rs it y of S ou th W al es A t 03 :4 3 09 N ov em be r 20 16 ( P T ) From segmentation to fragmentation 191 comedies and other prog rammes. Advertisements and music videos, increasingly resembling each other, are collages of fleeting moments that excite the senses, yet rarely connect to a central, unified theme or focus. Consider the “Just do it” Nike advertisements. The purpose of the collage is to leave the consumer not with a centred idea or cognition but with an overall image, an image that is, itself, not linked to the fragmented images in the collage, but triggered by their impact on the senses. The programmes on television or the most popular films from the movie establishments are not really that different. Each is made up of largely independent but highly exciting, short, fleeting segments that stand on their own through their spectacular qualities, whether technical, artistic or stylistic. While in modern film, for example, each scene was constructed to contribute to the narration of a story line, as postmodern trends diffuse in the film industry, films increasingly concentrate on the spectacle with inconsequential story lines that enable the spectacular scenes that can be created through technique and style (Marchetti, 1989). Similar fragmentation is also experienced in the spoken or printed vignettes on the radio or in newspapers and magazines, as well as in the highlighted brand names that flash by on billboards to reinforce the experiences on television and films. The …