UA Marketing Club x Sens: Marketing, Books, and Community

On March 24 in Kyiv, UA Marketing Club and the @sens_khreshchatyk bookstore collaborated to create a space for live dialogue about marketing, books, artificial intelligence, and genuine human connections.

The meeting was called "Marketing, Books, and Community." But it was much deeper than just a conversation about a profession. Ihor Blystiv, CMO of Kormotech and founder of UA Marketing Club, moderated the event.

We talked about how books shape our understanding of the world and our professional identity. They help us better understand the market, the audience, and ourselves.

"We want people to come, talk to each other, and touch a real book. Because the more electronics we have around us, the more we crave something real. A real book, real merch, sincere offline communication. And we see this in our audience. Zoom can’t replace a live meeting."
Says Viktoriia Sereda, Marketing Director of the Sens bookstore and co-author of the book "Ya tebe viina". She is convinced that AI will continue to develop — that’s inevitable. But we can use it wisely — to automate routine, not to take away humanity. Marketing should remain about love and meaning because people give love to people.

Today, the perception of marketing has changed significantly. Businesses have started to take it more seriously. Owners have finally come to understand that the marketing director position is a key one that influences strategic decisions. Marketers are approached for analytics and understanding the customer. Because the marketer is the eyes of the consumer, they look at the product not from a financial perspective but from the point of view of the person who has to come and buy it. And without a customer, there’s no business.

Oleksii Filanovskyi, author of "The Main Marketing Book", shared his vision of the structure of modern marketing, especially in the Ukrainian context:

"We are in a country at war, and our trends are often internal. But globally, marketing is divided into two categories:
🔹 Commodities — everything we buy without emotion. Household chemicals, delivery — the most important factors are lower price, faster service, and convenience. Logistics, cost, and functionality win here.
🔹 And then there are emotional products. Like the books in Sens — each one is special, for a specific person. You can’t just say: 'You need to buy 50 kg of books because it’s a good deal.' A completely different thing works here: personalization, attention, feeling."

Today, AI can become a true assistant in the emotional product space, not for mass advertising but for a personalized dialogue with each customer.

This meeting at Sens reminded everyone that true marketing begins with understanding people and ends not with a click but with trust.
In a world where everything is becoming digital, the role of books, live conversation, and community is only growing.
And the marketing of the future is marketing built around meaning.