Fifty years ago (in 1954), Peter Drucker wrote these now famous words in The Practice of Management:

"Marketing.... It encompasses the entire business. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is from the customer's point of view."

In 1969, Drucker wrote about the rise of consumerism and how it reflected on the practice of marketing:

We have asked ourselves where in the marketing concept consumerism fits or belongs. I have come to the conclusion that, so far, the only way one can really define it within the total marketing concept is as the shame of the total marketing concept. It is essentially a mark of failure of the concept.

Successful marketing is about simultaneously being truly customer-centric as well as bottom-line oriented. However, few would contend that marketing today is truly being practiced in this way at most corporations or even at non-profits. Today, it is increasingly clear that the marketing function has failed to adequately represent the customer's point of view in many companies, and has only paid lip service to the marketing concept.

Marketing is undoubtedly a vital business function that has generally served society well. However, incremental thinking, copycat behavior and a lack of accountability have given rise to a host of problems. Marketing is being criticized for squandering resources, eroding customer trust and paying inadequate attention to legitimate societal interests. Indications that marketing is not working well abound:

• Collectively, US companies now spend nearly $10,000 per year per family of four on advertising and sales promotion alone. Much of this spending fails to achieve effective results; for example, AdWorks 2, a study conducted by MMA and IRI in conjunction with Nielsen Media Research, found that television advertising returned only 32 cents for every dollar invested.
• Roper Starch reports that consumer cynicism and distrust of advertising is growing. Consumers are "tuning out, turning off, and opting out." Research by Yankelovich Partners suggests that, beyond such passive resistance, which has been increasing for years, consumers are now entering a phase of "active resistance" to marketing efforts, with a much greater impact on marketing productivity.
• The ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index) indicates that customer satisfaction levels are quite low in many industries. Other studies show that customer loyalty is way down from levels seen in the 1970s, despite huge investments in Customer Relationship Management systems. A part of the answer may lie in the fact that marketing continues to have two major blind spots: the rising power and influence of women in the marketplace and the rapid aging of society.

Marketing clearly has a serious productivity problem; while other business functions have been delivering better results with less spending over time, it appears that marketing has done the opposite. The Internet, widely regarded a few years ago as the savior of marketing, has in fact exacerbated many of its problems.

We believe the time has come to examine how and why marketing has veered significantly of course, and how to steer it in the right direction. This will require new perspectives, new frameworks and a renewed commitment to the highest ideals of marketing: serving customers individually and society as a whole by synergistically aligning company, customer and societal interests.

This symposium brings together a select group of leading marketing thinkers and practitioners who are committed to restoring marketing's timeless and priceless virtues. The objective is to help set a new course for marketing, and to have a major impact on the field, both academically and professionally.