Is marketing really the enemy

DESIGN WEEK - 18 October 2004

How disappointing to see James Dyson (DW 14 October) lending his voice to those of Dick Powell and Richard Seymour in their keynote address at last month's Marketing Forum, bemoaning the negative impact that marketing departments exert on the design process.

As a marketer myself of some 20 years standing, who believes passionately in the value of design and its key role in changing markets and creating value, I find it very depressing that some of the UK's leading designers hold marketing in such low esteem that they are moved to call it a 'big problem' and something to be 'stopped' from polluting the mind of the designer.

It would be presumptuous of me to defend the calibre of the marketers in question, but one can only assume that they were poor exponents of the discipline. Research is a notoriously bad predictor of breakthough technologies, but a good tool for killing off mediocre ideas - the rate of failure for new product launches is still far too high.  It is also what most good designers actually do in the early stages of the design process, only they call it 'observation'. Brands are key in generating price premiums - way above the cost of production - to the benefit of the company, and hopefully also the designer keen to see his/ her idea come to life. And communications may often be philistine and irritatingly variable in quality, but is nonetheless essential in raising awareness and making new products famous.

In short, marketing and design should be sister disciplines and powerful allies - not enemies within. More thoughtful communications from the design industry might help to get more great ideas to market quicker, with help from enlightened marketers who should be the designers' strongest allies.