Godfather Marketing: offering favors before products

Abstract

Disruptive shifts in the current environment are engendering uncertainty, radically changing market relationships and consumers’ priorities. This challenging-the-boundaries article introduces a new marketing paradigm, Godfather Marketing, according to which firms evolve into organizations reminiscent of ‘mafia families,’ yet completely devoid of criminal connotations. Their aim is to deeply fulfill customer needs and desires through favors, not just product sales. This approach requires customers to adhere to a mutual ‘code of honor,’ where merit is rewarded and wrongdoing punished, participating in the firm’s favor exchange network. Through a theoretical approach grounded in historical cultural factors, this article explores firm credibility, favor conditions, reciprocation methods, customer traits, and organizational dynamics. In an era where the quality of information will supersede its quantity, Godfather Marketing offers a distinct perspective, giving marketers a competitive edge for fostering consumer loyalty and local policymakers a potential tool for community governance, within a shared framework of careful controls ensuring the protection of individual freedoms.