Marketing 7.0: A Guide for Thinking Marketers in the Age of AI

by Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya, Iwan Setiawan

231 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 24, 2026

About the author

Professor Kotler's book, Marketing Management, is the world's most widely used graduate level textbook in marketing. His other textbooks include Principles of Marketing and management: An Introduction and they are also widely used around the world.
Kotler developed new concepts in marketing including atmospherics, demarketing, megamarketing, turbomarketing and synchromarketing. He believes that marketing theory needs to go beyond price theory and incorporate the dynamics of innovation, distribution and promotion systems into analyzing, explaining and predicting economic outcomes.
Kotler has worked for many large companies in the areas of marketing strategy, planning and organization, and international marketing.
He presents seminars in major international cities and countries around the world on the latest marketing developments to companies and other organizations.
"He is the father of Marketing Management".
(Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Dmitry · Rating 1 out of 5]

(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)

Эта книга похожа на все предыдущие книги этой серии, начиная с Marketing 3.0, Marketing 4.0 и так далее. В этих книгах делается обзор произошедших изменений, но обзор получается поверхностным и самоочевидным. Учитывая, что я прочитал все книги из этой серии, я постоянно задавался вопросом: на кого ориентированы эти книги? Я хочу сказать, что описываемые изменения в отрасли носят характер самоочевидных и любой мыслящий читатель самостоятельно поймёт, какую роль сегодня играют социальные сети и AI технологии.

Книга настолько поверхностно описывает эти и все остальные темы, что не понятно на какую аудиторию ориентированы все эти книги. Можно даже сказать, что эти книги походят на расширенные версии статей или что статья в профильном журнале или для профильного сборника оказалась бы намного более удачным решением со стороны автора, нежели писать целую книгу, в которой ничего ценного ни с практической, ни с теоретической точки зрения просто нет. Опять же, простое наблюдение, здравый смысл и отсутствие страха или боязни использовать новые технологии вполне могут заменить эту и все остальные книги этой серии. Вторая проблема заключается в том, что теме «AI в маркетинге» посвящается только первая половина книги, вторая же рассказывает о психологии маркетинга, а также об её использовании в продажах.

Хотя начало у книги довольно многообещающее, всё очень быстро сводится к человеческой психологии, причём к теоретической её части.

With heavy dependence on digital marketing channels, mainly social media and search platforms, many next-generation marketers have become obsessed with algorithms. Marketing has become overly technical. Today’s marketing education and training emphasize hacking the algorithm and optimizing performance metrics rather than understanding the deeper psychology of customers.
<…>
Authenticity in marketing stems from a brand’s unique voice and the people behind it. Values, culture, and real-life experiences shape this voice. Although AI tools are fast and efficient, the resulting marketing often appears generic. They can miss the human touch that makes a story relatable. This is why AI- driven marketing typically lacks the emotion and warmth that storytelling provides.

Вышеприведённые цитаты хотя и являются важными и интересными вопросами сегодняшнего маркетинга с учётом AI технологий, но уровень их нельзя обозначить как профессиональный, т.е. эти вопросы входят в предмет обсуждения не только маркетологов и в целом скорее являются поверхностными вопросами в теме AI. Дальше дела обстоят не намного лучше.

It is now wired to skip anything that looks like advertising—a behavior known as banner blindness. To win attention, marketers need to break pattern expectations. Raw, unpolished content, known as lo-fi, is an effective way to do that. It engages the attention brain by breaking through the filters that block overwhelming content.
<…>
At the same time, content is becoming more repetitive. AI-generated, template based formats add to the sameness. As a result, audiences learn to filter most of it out. Their brains become conditioned to scan for important information while skipping anything that resembles a typical ad. Even when ads break through the noise but fail to be useful, many users end up disappointed, labeling them clickbait.

Не хочу расстраивать авторов, но игнорирование или не замечание рекламы со стороны потребителей, не является новым явлением и тем более это явление не появилось как ответ на использование AI в бизнесе. Действительно, сегодняшняя видео или фото продукция, генерируемая AI, является однотипной и схожей друг с другом из-за чего моментально узнаётся людьми, но это совсем иной вопрос, нежели тот который ставят авторы книги. Но что такое lo-fi, которое преподносится авторами как некая вакцина от клиентского игнорирования рекламы? Понять это не так просто т.к. книга прямо не отвечает на этот вопрос, однако с помощью некоторых моментов в книге можно уловить всё же суть.

At the same time, lo-fi does not feel disruptive. Instead of standing out like a traditional ad, it blends in with the native content people are used to seeing from friends on social media. They feel familiar. That is the power of lo-fi: it breaks the advertising pattern while matching the native social media content.
Short-form platforms like TikTok sparked the lo-fi trend by making it convenient to shoot, edit, and even livestream using a mobile phone. At first, it empowered Gen Z to create content without needing advanced production skills. This generation values authenticity and prefers content that feels spontaneous.
Today, brands are following suit to appear more human and connect with Gen Z. From budget-friendly companies like Walmart to luxury labels like Loewe, companies are embracing lo-fi. Instead of professional production, they capture and share seemingly unscripted everyday moments, shot and edited on mobile phones. The content becomes less promotional and more emotional.
<…>
Long-form content has given way to short, easily digestible formats. Social media now favors quick takes and livestreams over edited videos.
<…>
Lo-fi marketing works because it breaks traditional ad patterns. It does not look like an ad, so it slips past the brain’s filters. And it is simple, making it easy to process, familiar, and likable.

Трудно понять, о чём же говорят авторы этой книги, но можно предположить, что они говорят о покупке блогеров чтобы те рекламировали товары в социальных сетях, таких как TikTok. Возникает вопрос этики, ведь, по сути, мы пытаемся обмануть клиентов, показав им сообщения не обычных людей, а людей, которым заплатили фирмы, чтобы те рекламировали их товары. Если же речь идёт просто о покупке рекламного пространства в социальных сетях, то тогда возникает вопрос, в чём отличие такого «lo-fi» от традиционной рекламы на ТВ, газетах и журналах и пр.? Но главное не это даже, а то, что люди понимают, когда какой-нибудь известный или не очень известный блогер пытается подсунуть откровенную рекламу, вместо искренней оценки бренда. Так что сегодня, да с новым поколением потребителей, такой подход не работает. Люди не идиоты, и они знают, что социальные сети стали активно использоваться для продвижения и рекламы товаров, включая покупку обзоров у блогеров. Это не значит, что этого делать не стоит или что это не эффективно, но это значит, что по большей части люди понимают, что им показывают рекламу.

For marketers, echo chambers create significant challenges. They trap users in fixed mindsets, making them less open to new perspectives. The market fragments into tightly knit tribes that are increasingly closed to outsiders. Expanding brand reach beyond existing audiences becomes difficult. Content not aligning with a tribe’s worldview is often dismissed.

Этот эффект свойственен скорее теме политике, а не теме брендов. В мире брендов господствует скорее привычка, а не «echo chambers» точно так же как страх нового, т.е. использования нового технического продукта взамен старого. Я хочу сказать, что потребители не группируются где-то в одном интернет пространстве, по типу бренда который они используют. А вот про политику такого не скажешь, ведь в каждой стране уже сформировались свои политические спикеры, которых и слушают люди. Про бренды такого точно не скажешь.

Marie Kondo popularized the idea of keeping only items that “spark joy” through her decluttering method. Her philosophy encourages people to hold onto things that evoke emotional resonance.

Тоже не новая идея, которая была характерна для потребителей и в XX веке.

In late 2024, Coca-Cola released an AI-generated campaign as a homage to its beloved 1995 “Holidays Are Coming” ad.
<…>
The response was mixed, with much of it critical. Many viewers described the ad as “soulless.”

То, что люди часто становятся агрессивно настроенными к продукции, созданной с видимой помощью AI, уже не является новостью и именно поэтому я и написал, что книга говорит о таких вещах, которые широко обсуждаются всем обществом, а не только специалистами по маркетингу. Но главное даже не это, а то, что теме «AI в маркетинге», в частности практическое его использование, не нашлось места в книге. Вся информация носит крайне поверхностный характер, который известен любому человеку пользующемуся интернетом на ежедневной основе. Я хочу сказать, что даже в этом смысле книга получилась не только поверхностной, но и исключительно теоретической.




This book is similar to all the previous books in this series, starting with Marketing 3.0, Marketing 4.0, and so on. These books provide an overview of the changes that have taken place, but the overview comes across as superficial and self-evident. Having read every book in this series, I constantly found myself wondering: who is this series aimed at? What I mean is that the changes described in the industry are self-evident, and any thinking reader will understand on their own the role that social media and AI technologies play today.

The book describes these and all other topics so superficially that it’s unclear what audience these books are aimed at. One might even say that these books resemble expanded versions of articles, or that an article in a specialized journal or for a specialized anthology would have been a much better choice for the author than writing an entire book that simply contains nothing of value from either a practical or theoretical standpoint. Again, simple observation, common sense, and a willingness to embrace new technologies can easily replace this book and all the others in the series. The second issue is that only the first half of the book is devoted to the topic of “AI in marketing,” while the second half focuses on the psychology of marketing and its application in sales.

Although the book gets off to a promising start, it very quickly narrows its focus to human psychology—specifically, its theoretical aspects.

With heavy dependence on digital marketing channels, mainly social media and search platforms, many next-generation marketers have become obsessed with algorithms. Marketing has become overly technical. Today’s marketing education and training emphasize hacking the algorithm and optimizing performance metrics rather than understanding the deeper psychology of customers.
<…>
Authenticity in marketing stems from a brand’s unique voice and the people behind it. Values, culture, and real-life experiences shape this voice. Although AI tools are fast and efficient, the resulting marketing often appears generic. They can miss the human touch that makes a story relatable. This is why AI- driven marketing typically lacks the emotion and warmth that storytelling provides.

Although the quotes cited above raise important and interesting questions about modern marketing in the context of AI technologies, they do not represent a professional-level discussion; in other words, these issues are not limited to the scope of marketers and, on the whole, tend to be rather superficial when it comes to the topic of AI. The situation does not improve much beyond that.

It is now wired to skip anything that looks like advertising—a behavior known as banner blindness. To win attention, marketers need to break pattern expectations. Raw, unpolished content, known as lo-fi, is an effective way to do that. It engages the attention brain by breaking through the filters that block overwhelming content.
<…>
At the same time, content is becoming more repetitive. AI-generated, template based formats add to the sameness. As a result, audiences learn to filter most of it out. Their brains become conditioned to scan for important information while skipping anything that resembles a typical ad. Even when ads break through the noise but fail to be useful, many users end up disappointed, labeling them clickbait.

I don’t want to disappoint the authors, but consumers ignoring or failing to notice ads is nothing new, and this phenomenon certainly did not emerge as a result of the use of AI in business. Indeed, today’s AI-generated video and photo content is monotonous and similar to one another, which is why people recognize it instantly, but this is a completely different issue from the one raised by the book’s authors. But what exactly is “lo-fi,” which the authors present as a sort of vaccine against customer ad avoidance? It’s not easy to understand this, since the book doesn’t directly answer this question; however, by examining certain points in the book, one can still grasp the essence of it.

At the same time, lo-fi does not feel disruptive. Instead of standing out like a traditional ad, it blends in with the native content people are used to seeing from friends on social media. They feel familiar. That is the power of lo-fi: it breaks the advertising pattern while matching the native social media content.
Short-form platforms like TikTok sparked the lo-fi trend by making it convenient to shoot, edit, and even livestream using a mobile phone. At first, it empowered Gen Z to create content without needing advanced production skills. This generation values authenticity and prefers content that feels spontaneous.
Today, brands are following suit to appear more human and connect with Gen Z. From budget-friendly companies like Walmart to luxury labels like Loewe, companies are embracing lo-fi. Instead of professional production, they capture and share seemingly unscripted everyday moments, shot and edited on mobile phones. The content becomes less promotional and more emotional.
<…>
Long-form content has given way to short, easily digestible formats. Social media now favors quick takes and livestreams over edited videos.
<…>
Lo-fi marketing works because it breaks traditional ad patterns. It does not look like an ad, so it slips past the brain’s filters. And it is simple, making it easy to process, familiar, and likable.

It's hard to tell exactly what the authors of this book are talking about, but one can assume they're referring to paying bloggers to promote products on social media platforms like TikTok. This raises ethical concerns, since, in essence, we’re trying to deceive customers by showing them posts not from ordinary people, but from people who have been paid by companies to promote their products. If we’re simply talking about buying ad space on social media, then the question arises: how does this “lo-fi” approach differ from traditional advertising on TV, in newspapers, magazines, and so on? But that’s not even the main point; the real issue is that people can tell when a blogger—whether famous or not—is trying to slip in blatant advertising instead of offering a genuine assessment of the brand. So today, with a new generation of consumers, that approach doesn't work. People aren’t stupid, and they know that social media has become a tool for promoting and advertising products, including paying bloggers for reviews. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it or that it isn’t effective, but it does mean that, for the most part, people realize they’re being shown ads.

For marketers, echo chambers create significant challenges. They trap users in fixed mindsets, making them less open to new perspectives. The market fragments into tightly knit tribes that are increasingly closed to outsiders. Expanding brand reach beyond existing audiences becomes difficult. Content not aligning with a tribe’s worldview is often dismissed.

This effect is more characteristic of the realm of politics than of the realm of brands. In the world of brands, habit tends to prevail over “echo chambers,” just as does the fear of the new—that is, the fear of using a new technical product instead of an old one. What I mean is that consumers don’t cluster together in a single online space based on the brand they use. But you can’t say the same about politics, because every country has already developed its own political voices that people listen to. You certainly can’t say that about brands.

Marie Kondo popularized the idea of keeping only items that “spark joy” through her decluttering method. Her philosophy encourages people to hold onto things that evoke emotional resonance.

This isn't a new idea either; it was already common among consumers in the 20th century.

In late 2024, Coca-Cola released an AI-generated campaign as a homage to its beloved 1995 “Holidays Are Coming” ad.
<…>
The response was mixed, with much of it critical. Many viewers described the ad as “soulless.”

The fact that people often react negatively to products created with the apparent help of AI is no longer news, which is precisely why I wrote that the book addresses topics widely discussed by society as a whole, not just by marketing specialists. But the main point isn’t even that; it’s that the topic of “AI in marketing”—specifically its practical application—has no place in the book. All the information is extremely superficial, the kind of knowledge available to anyone who uses the internet on a daily basis. What I’m saying is that, even in this sense, the book turned out to be not only superficial but also purely theoretical.

[Periplus Bookshop]

Unboxing Marketing 7.0: A Guide for Thinking Marketers in the Age of AI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3T29...