New marketing definition is crapola

Posted on January 14, 2008 by Dave J.

Holey Crapola:
The American Marketing Association Releases New Definition for Marketing:

‘Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.’

Hat tip to cynical (and prolific) J-Walk Blog. Now why didn’t I learn about this from any Marketing Blog? Perhaps because it is meaningless crapola? Even gurus who say marketing is everyone’s job must be stunned at uselessness of this definition.

The funniest part is that they used the standard toolset for generating crappy marketing-committees and surveys:

“The committee used qualitative insight generated through an evaluation of the 1985 and 2004 definitions of marketing to craft a new definition… As part of this process, Association members were asked to provide input on what they liked best about the previous definition, and … were later asked to offer feedback on a draft of the revised definition. At the end … more than 70 percent of their membership viewed the new definition as an improvement.”

The definition doesn’t even seem to solve the biggest confusion (as I see it) between marketing as a support function and marketing as a process of developing and selling products.

One size does not fit all. Committees kill meaning. Surveys are useless. And definitions are not useful unless shown in context. Crapola is crapola.

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  • Larry Hendrick

    Dave, I’ll be glad when you come out of your shell and speak your mind. Come on … what do you really think about this new definition?Of course … you’re right on this one.

  • Larry Hendrick

    Dave, I’ll be glad when you come out of your shell and speak your mind. Come on … what do you really think about this new definition?Of course … you’re right on this one.

  • Dave J.

    Larry, it was low hanging fruit. Might cut down on the mail I get from the AMA, too. Congrats on figuring out the new identity/sign-in at Blogger!

  • Dave J.

    Larry, it was low hanging fruit. Might cut down on the mail I get from the AMA, too. Congrats on figuring out the new identity/sign-in at Blogger!

  • Susan

    Hi Dave,Thanks for bringing this to our attention and for the great laugh. What were they thinking?!Here’s how we view marketing:“Products/Services X Traffic/Leads X Conversion = Revenue.”What else is there really?Susan TatumTatum Marketinghttp://technobuzz.tatummarketing.com

  • Susan

    Hi Dave,Thanks for bringing this to our attention and for the great laugh. What were they thinking?!Here’s how we view marketing:“Products/Services X Traffic/Leads X Conversion = Revenue.”What else is there really?Susan TatumTatum Marketinghttp://technobuzz.tatummarketing.com

  • Gary

    Dave, this is the second “redefinition” in three years from AMA. At a recent Business Marketing Association luncheon in Chicago, Tom Insprucker, head of marketing operations at Schneider Electric/Square D, gave us this definition: “Marketing’s job is to separate opportunity from distraction.”

  • Gary

    Dave, this is the second “redefinition” in three years from AMA. At a recent Business Marketing Association luncheon in Chicago, Tom Insprucker, head of marketing operations at Schneider Electric/Square D, gave us this definition: “Marketing’s job is to separate opportunity from distraction.”