The Continuing Brilliance of Philip Kotler

I saw a short video the other day on YouTube of Philip Kotler talking to a class at the London School of Business. For those unfamiliar with Kotler, he is the single most important figure in marketing and has been for decades. I use the 13th edition of his textbook, Marketing Management, now co-authored with Kevin Keller, in my teaching. On my bookshelf is the 2nd edition which I read in graduate school. He has been more prolific than 3-4 normal people.

Anyway, he has a new perspective on the role of marketing. He says that it can be captured by the acronym CCDVTP: Create, Communicate, and Deliver Value to a Target for a Profit. He goes on to note that there are three primary roles for marketing: value management, brand management and customer management.

This is certainly not an earth shattering concept. Many people have been talking about this being the role of marketing for years, but Kotler is able to synthesize this and put it into a tight perspective.

Value is the first key--and it is probably the most important, because without value, we do not have a business at all. The only problem I have with this is that too many people will immediately think that they need to manage value from their perspective and commmunicate with or persuade customers to see the value. Value is a customer proposition. Value comes when the customer finds what he/she is looking for--the solution to their needs and wants. It comes in context with competitive offerings.

Brand management vs. product management is a major advancement. As a person who focuses on brand and reputation, I applaud this perspective. Product management has always seemed to me to be too inside-out. Brand management, like value, connects with the customer. Brands are attributes that help to delineate markets and attract customers.

Finally, customer management brings all of this together. Marketing is about customer management. While marketing talks about stakeholders, the real focus is on the customer. This is where marketing and corporate communication diverge in terms of reputation. Communicators must consider all stakeholders; marketing prioritizes with the customer first among others. This is why communications and marketing must be partners in an organization--there needs to be a balance so that the organization can understand the impact of all stakeholders on their ability to succeed. Marketing can become too myopic at times.

Take the 6-minutes to watch the Kotler video on YouTube. It will more time well spent.