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Michael, as you know I’m a huge fan of your writing. But I do wonder if this post falls into the trap of equating marketing to advertising (and maybe comms) which is the root cause imho of marketing’s failure-it has specialized itself into irrelevance. As you point out with the Amazon example, marketing can drive revenue when it thinks more expansively about product, price, distribution, etc. Maybe the old (the 4 Ps) needs to be new again.

We need more generalists who are able to see the whole picture, offer unbiased advice and take to heart Dave Packard’s timeless advice that “marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department alone”.

If we are to drive growth - short term revenue and profit and long term, primarily intangible, value - we need to break down the silos and look at the whole picture, not just the part we want and are incentivized to deliver.

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Gareth,

I completely agree with you, and if I were to rewrite the article, I’d do a much better job clarifying the difference between marketing and advertising. You’re right!

Michael

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