Dear Reader:

Recently, I've been noticing that the concept of Evolutionary Marketing lacks definition and contour in the public mind. Some submit that what we call “Evolutionary Marketing” is simply a less cheesy form of traditional marketing. Others inform me that they feel little connection to the term “evolutionary”. And still others express concern, or skepticism, that Evolutionary Marketing means absolutely nothing at all: that it is a vacant vehicle to construct a castle in the sky, one that has little or no connection to the ground below.

I'd like to share with you my latest thoughts on what Evolutionary Marketing is, in as succinct a manner as I can, and then ask for your thoughts on the matter as well.

There are two potential answers: the easy one and the hard one. Let's start with the former. The easy one is that Evolutionary Marketing “unites the impulse to create a better future with an integrated strategy for using both time-tested and cutting-edge marketing tools for generating more income, facilitating word-of-mouth, and developing deeper relationships with stakeholders.” Although some readers' jargon alerts may have gone off, let us accept that definition as relatively straightforward for now.

The harder one is, well, decidedly hard. It has to do with our perspective on who we are, why we're here, and the world we want to create. It involves a complex view of the upward spiral of cosmic development—if one can even accept such a precept—and a delicate inquiry into the nature of how our society is structured, what motivates us as human beings, and what kind of culture we envision when we allow ourselves to be inspired by the possibility of true Utopia.

The harder answer doesn't necessarily lead one to conclude that the fundamental structure of markets themselves are inherently problematic. That is to say, Evolutionary Marketing does not go so far as to claim that a total dissolution of capitalism and social restructuring is primarily what is needed for culture to move forward.

Rather, Evolutionary Marketing proposes that our own relationship to the cosmos is what so desperately needs evolution. A revolution, even. A radical reorientation from the flatland of postmodernity—which is the cloth from which all of us are cut—to the evolutionary potential of integrally enlightened consciousness.

Part of that reorientation is realizing that one is part of a process—a 14-billion year process—a process that has been reaching toward ever-higher levels of awareness, depth, and consciousness since the moment time began. In that realization, one begins to make deep sense out of life—a preposterous notion for many sophisticated postmodern individuals, perhaps, but a true one nonetheless. One simply has to experience it for oneself to understand its veritas.

Concomitantly, one discovers that the miraculous innovations that humanity has engendered—from technological breakthroughs like the Internet, to insights into our psychic and spiritual constitution—are to be embraced, not frowned upon, or embarrassed by, or, most importantly, cynical about.

And so Evolutionary Marketing, to arrive back at the central question of this post, adopts wholeheartedly a fundamentally life-positive, forward-looking, human-ingenuity-cherishing platform. Its aim is to create, communicate, and develop higher value in the world. Accordingly, it seeks to utilize, as inclusively and integratively as possible, all available and appropriate tools to do so, at the same time as it calls the individual to develop an increasing morally-felt sensitivity to what is possible for human beings at the outset of the 21st century.

Evolutionary Marketing therefore doesn't reject all tools of marketing; it only discards those that lead to separation and inhibit our potential for higher development. Some tools, for example, manipulate and fragment the human soul into easily salable pieces: simply go to YouTube and type in "Axe Commercial", and you'll see what I mean immediately. Those we must reject fully. Others, however, such as understanding one's current and prospective customers' core values and speaking directly to them in a compelling and clear way, must be embraced wholeheartedly by those of us seeking to effect change in the marketplace of ideas.

Well, that's where we've gotten with this inquiry so far—or, at least, it approximates a summary of our thinking and exploration to date. How about you? What do you think?

Yesterday, on my way to the gym, I was speaking with my business partner Steve Haase, and he said something that struck me: “If you just focus on the perspective of the work that you're trying to bring forth, you won't make an impact; and if you just focus on converting visitors into sales or signups, you also won't make an impact.”

That is, if you're only focused on raising consciousness but ignore actually getting the word out about what you're doing with strategic intent, your work won't have the reach it could; but if you descend into a contracted state, in which you do things you shouldn't in order to make more money, you won't be helping to raise consciousness.

But what about the great change agents of our time, you ask, like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Theresa? They didn't “market” themselves, per se. Aren't we corrupting the purity or integrity of our message by becoming marketers?

In the way I see it, those of us at the leading edge today—we who have the most education, wealth, and freedom, and who want to make an impact—are not engaged in the same violent struggle of wresting away power from the few and distributing it to the many that Gandhi was; we're not fighting against segregation or for equal rights; and we're not taking vows of poverty and dedicating our lives to serving the poor. All of those are noble and valiant tasks. And the individuals who assume them deserve our utmost respect and profound gratitude.

Yet many of us find ourselves increasingly interested in conscious evolution—that is, in the evolution of our values, shared worldview, and perspective. We are doing this through teaching, coaching, innovating, connecting, conversing. We are trying to bring new perspectives, products, services, applications, technologies, and ideas into the world that lead to a better future. Our fundamental motto is not to struggle against, or to survive; it is to evolve consciousness and culture.

And cultural evolution occurs, you could say, in the marketplace of ideas—not on the streets of protest or the shantytowns of destitution. All of those domains, we hope, will be impacted positively by our work; but fundamentally, we are looking to evolve the way people think, relate to one another, live, and work.

That process—the process of effecting change in the marketplace of ideas—takes work. It takes gaining visibility, earning trust, generating revenue, and creating organizational structures. Our work is done in the marketplace, through entrepreneurial creativity and coordinated effort.

The danger of working in a marketplace is, of course, that you succumb to the lowest common denominator—commercialism, superficial self-promotion, consumer exploitation. But the potential pitfall of trying to raise consciousness is to avoid the marketplace. So we must do—and embrace—both. We can use the tools without losing sight of what matters, and we can do what matters while strategically applying the tools. In fact, that's what's going to allow us to actually effect the change we believe is possible.