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Etymologically, the word Region comes from Latin Regere, that is, to dominate, to govern.
The Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz He became famous for the phrase:
“War is the continuation of politics by other means.”
Marketing people have always liked to see themselves as a war by other means, involved in a commercial dispute similar to the anything goes typical of military conflicts.
So much so that this book by Al Ries and Jack Trout, true marketing gurus, was very successful.
Today it may be a bit outdated to think of yourself as a war, especially in a world that seeks to overcome challenges based on unity.
In any case, our competitors remain competitors, who compete with us for the same markets, the territories where customers and potential customers are located.
And even though the dispute doesn't cost lives (sometimes it does), it costs jobs and careers, all in the name of the place at the top as the dominant brand.
Guerrilla Marketing and Geomarketing
The end of Vietnam and Afghanistan wars taught the world powers a hard lesson, small military forces could resist and win using irregular warfare techniques, guerrilla warfare.
This learning was soon absorbed by marketing, which developed a booklet on how small brands could resist big ones, dubbed Guerrilla Marketing.
The typical guerrilla actions were transcribed as marketing actions.
ambushed Now it was time to take a ride to some major brand action.
Like launching cheaper products on the same date or distributing flyers in waiting lines.
Popular action would be involvement in causes defended by the public in a target region.
Asymmetric sponsorships, if the big companies can hire the stars, the smaller ones leave to sponsor local stars.
Interventions, incentives for artists to transform places in order to value them so that the population pays back with their consumer loyalty.
These examples make it clear that Guerrilla Marketing takes place over a region, along the lines of what Geomarketing presupposes.
The strength of the locals lies in knowing and exploring their territory well
If, on the one hand, Marketing likes to disguise itself as an art of war, Geography prefers to present itself as a Social Science, which contributes to the reflection of current problems, but which has always played an important role in real wars.
So much so that Author Yves Lacoste's statement caused controversy at the release of his book “Geography, this serves, first of all, to wage war”.
Nobody argues that Geography is fundamental for us to live with the enormous complexity of Earth's space.
But that doesn't mean it's only used for the good of humanity.
While most people go through life without referring directly to learning from Geography classes, the military, on the other hand, goes through their careers based on it as a reference.
Not only adapting to environments, but also using Geography as a weapon of war, such as the hypothesis that the power plant of Itaipu is a threat against Argentina.
Military uniforms change depending on the environment, as do the tactics and equipment used.
Geography is at the center of war-oriented organizations.
In practice, the construction of maps meets governments in their land management objectives.
Outside this context, there was little space left for an objective use of Geography on a daily basis.
