In 1937 two organizations, The National Association of Marketing Teachers and The American Society of Marketing, came together to create what we now know as The American Marketing Association. The goal of the merger was to find ways of lowering the cost of marketing, address criticisms against marketing and find…
I am amazed that with all of the education, training and development available to marketers, we aren’t a better group of presenters. Of course, not everyone can be charismatic, dynamic and mesmerizing as a presenter. Conversely, there’s no presenter who follows certain fundamental rules of effective presentations who can’t make…
If you want to know what the power of inspired marketing means for an enterprise, look no further than the September issue of the Journal of Marketing. In the study “Marketing Department Power and Firm Performance,” authors Hui Feng, Neil A. Morgan and Lopo L. Rego establish a definitive means for…
I have had the privilege of spending time with J.P. Kuehlwein, executive vice president of Frédéric Fekkai, to discuss his views about what’s next in the domain of brand management. After reading Rethinking Prestige Branding: Secrets of the Ueber-Brands, the book that he co-authored with Wolfgang Schaefer, global chief strategy officer at…
When I was in college, my older brother’s friend in a golf foursome advised me: “Russ, 90% of the people you will encounter in business are deadbeats. Wake up, show up and follow up, and you will have those 90% in your rearview mirror before your first good idea.” Forty…
In my last three posts, I shared three of the concepts that have enabled my teams’ successes in marketing: design targeting, tension-based creative briefs, and grounding the concept of social currency in mathematical business impacts. You might describe these as marketing practices. However, to be successful, you need more than…
Wrapping up my series of posts on the “secrets” that I attribute to my success in marketing, here’s the third installment: 3. It’s All Math. “Social currency” is a relatively common concept in marketing and business these days, but I think about the concept in mathematical terms. Social currency refers…
I’m a perfectionist and it can be hard to put pen to paper—or fingers to keyboard—and write something. Take this blog, for example: I’m thrilled to have finally made the commitment to undertake this ongoing open letter because I’ve been procrastinating about doing so for years. Apparently, there are more…
As the new leader of the American Marketing Association, it is a privilege to have your attention. I hope that you’ll stick with me because if you’re a professional marketer, academic scholar or aspiring student, my purpose in life is to inspire you, and to spur you on to greater…
I dream of a day when societies around the planet all have expanding and prospering middle classes, and that a certain quality of life is available to everyone. Inside of those vibrant economies will be the energy, innovation and force of marketing. In this dream, the esteem with which the…