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Elevating marketing: marketing is dead! Long live marketing!

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Abstract

Marketing must be elevated to a higher level of consciousness. A consciousness that grows beyond solving small, immediate problems to addressing long-term, large problems that goes beyond individual customer satisfaction and short-term financial performance to encompass the total value creation system. The discipline, in theory and practice, must move beyond a narrow focus on customers to a broader concern for them as citizen-consumers. This necessitates a recommitment of marketing to its fundamental purpose in society, which is improving the standard of living for all citizens by co-creating value at all levels within a socio-economic system. An elevated (systems) concept of marketing must focus on micro, meso and macro systems with an understanding of the purpose and shared vision for each system, a clear identification of responsibilities, and a focus on resource effectiveness and efficiency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Arizona, 1130 East Helen Street, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Frederick E. Webster Jr. & Robert F. Lusch

  2. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

    Frederick E. Webster Jr.

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  1. Frederick E. Webster Jr.
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  2. Robert F. Lusch
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Correspondence to Robert F. Lusch.

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Webster, F.E., Lusch, R.F. Elevating marketing: marketing is dead! Long live marketing!. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 41, 389–399 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-013-0331-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-013-0331-z

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