Selling Consumer Brands: Doug Zarkin

Are marketers evil? Doug Zarkin didn't seem to be at all when I sat down with him to chat in the lobby of the midtown offices of global optical business Luxottica, for whom he is the VP-Chief Marketing Officer of the Pearle Vision chain. I met Doug a lifetime ago when I wrote about the Mark brand he was running for Avon in an article for Advertising Age. He has since run a variety of top brands including Victoria Secret's Pink and Calvin Klein, and has become an oft-quoted expert on how to build consumer loyalty. He reached out when he heard I had this podcast, and I took the opportunity to discuss with him one of my favorite topics: how corporations talk to strangers, that is how they build their case to try to sell them things. We explore the complicated balance of corporate v. personal responsibility, and who's to blame if and when people feel hoodwinked by The Man, a.k.a him.