Philip Kotler was once told, "I thought you were the author of one book (Marketing Management) and 34 versions of it." The man who's been called the "messiah of marketing" smiles as he recalls the incident, but there's an element of truth in that quote.
Marketing has undergone a sea change in the three decades since Kotler's first book - now considered a Bible for all marketing management students - hit the stands. Today, Kotler says he would be embarrassed if someone asked him to autograph the first edition of the bestseller.
In Mumbai to address a seminar on "Marketing For Results", Kotler says even his 4Ps theory (product, price, place and promotion), that's taught in every kindergarten marketing course, could do with some additions.
"Several Ps are missing. People, packaging...," he proceeds to take class on the A-B-Cs of marketing. The three As that every marketer should swear by are "awareness, availability and access" and the CCDV concept is to "create, communicate and deliver value".
'India is on a roll', The problems for marketing? "It has become a one-P discipline. Selling," Kotler declares. Maybe he means "peddling", because the guru is clearly unhappy with the stop-gap approach many managers adopt these days: "Marketing professionals lack accountability and hence take short term decisions."
Kotler recommends that CEOs should get a pay-out several years after they leave an organization, which may engender more long-term decision-making.
Some lessons from the day-long seminar - Lesson 1: R&D (Research & Development) must be market-ready
Kotler had a poser for his audience. His question: "If you were the CMO (chief marketing officer) of your organization, who would you prefer to be close to? The CEO, CFO, CIO (chief information officer) or the CRO (chief research officer)?" There was no single opinion, so Kotler decided to have the final say. He would have had it, anyways.
According to Kotler, the CMO needs to be close to everybody from the CEO to the CRO. Typically, the CFO does not see logic in investing behind brands because he is not close to marketing. And, there is an 80 per cent failure rate in new products.
"The R&D is farthest away from customers, hence they often get it wrong," he explained. Now, even in research-focused organizations like IT giant Microsoft, "marketing has become the front door and their new product success rate has become higher".
Part 2 is comming soon, so stay tuned...
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