The Newest Definition of Marketing

The newest marketing definition was born January 14, 2008. Yes, that’s right, there’s a new one. The American Marketing Association (AMA) has a nine-member committee that rewrites the definition of marketing every five years. Does marketing need a new definition every five years? I don’t know, but the AMA seems to think it does, so I’ll go with it.

The AMA issued a press release, which stated: “One of the most important changes to American Marketing Association’s new definition for marketing is that marketing is presented as a broader activity,” said Nancy Costopulos, chief marketing officer of the AMA. Costopulos went on to state, “Marketing is no longer a function—it is an educational process.”

Ta da! The new marketing definitionThe new definition reads: “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.” The old and now obsolete definition stated: “Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.”

Let’s break down the definition
So, marketing is an activity, which is probably viewed as a collective activity of everything from newsletter mailings to postcard mailings to posters for a tradeshow.

Institution means “a significant practice, relationship or organization in a society or culture” according to Merriam-Webster, so I guess we could say marketing is a set of practices as well as processes to achieve those practices? I’m really not sure about this part of the definition, so if anyone would like to enlighten me, please do.

The processes probably include the likes of market research, planning, advertising, sales promotions and publicity.

Then, after we plan and create these activities, we implement them by communicating them and delivering them to customers. We deliver them in the way our customers want them. If we know our customers watch TV more than they surf the Internet we inform them through the TV. We deliver our goods effectively.

I’m not sure what “exchanging offerings” means. I will assume (and now we’re in dangerous territory with assumptions) that it means we offer our customers something of value.

Okay, the new definition makes some sense, but the language is a bit of a head-scratcher if you ask me. Basically, instead of being a function, marketing is a process. Are creating marketing posters really part of a process instead of a function? Couldn’t they have just deleted “function” and put “process” in its place in the old definition? I’m just sayin’.