The term marketing came into use in the early 1900s to describe company activities taking place in markets. The early marketing textbooks were written by economists who felt that economics textbooks spoke mainly about price, demand, and supply and left out many other variables that influence buying and selling decisions. Economics textbooks failed to say much about how sales, advertising, distribution channels, product development, wholesaling, retailing, or branding influenced the economic outlook. Marketing textbooks did a better job of describing real‐world economics, and a number of specialized books appeared on specific marketing functions such as advertising, sales, promotion, and retailing. While early marketing textbooks were largely descriptive of these activities and the institutions engaged in them, the writers also occasionally offered prescriptive ideas on how these activities and institutions could be improved, at times citing the results of scholarly studies on effective selling, pricing, and advertising.

The breakthrough in the development of marketing theory came in 1967, when Philip Kotler, then a rising star at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, published a new textbook, called Marketing Management (now in its 16th edition). The book's analytical approach synthesized ideas from economics, behavioral science, organization science, and mathematics. The theory outlined in the book argued that marketing should be customer focused, not product focused. Customers and their needs, rather than the attributes of the company's products, should be the focal point of managers' efforts. It further argued that the strategy, broadly defined as a process of identifying target customers and developing a value proposition, should guide a company's tactical activities—including product design, pricing, promotion, and distribution. Because of its deep insights, Marketing Management became the leading marketing text in business schools around the world and has remained so for many decades. It helped shape marketing as a business discipline and also helped shape the way in which the Kellogg marketing faculty views marketing and its role in an organization and society.

Building on Kellogg's tradition of marketing leadership, Kellogg on Marketing presents the current developments in marketing theory and practice. Combining cutting‐edge research with real‐world insight, expert authors—the marketing faculty at the Kellogg School of Management—outline the fundamental marketing concepts and show how the practical application of these concepts can help companies gain and sustain market position. With a focus on customer centricity and value creation, the ideas presented in this book can help managers design bestselling products and services, develop impactful communication campaigns, and create effective distribution channels. Insightful and practical, Kellogg on Marketing is the essential reference for everyone seeking to achieve market success: from entrepreneurs to managers working in large companies, from junior marketers to senior executives, from engineers designing a company's next offerings to creative teams developing the communication campaign promoting these offerings.

The information presented in this book is organized into seven parts. Part One, Marketing Strategy and Tactics, focuses on the big‐picture issues in marketing: the recent changes in the business environment and their impact on marketing practice, the role of strategic value creation, and the importance of a systematic approach to market planning. In the first chapter, Alexander Chernev and Philip Kotler discuss some of the key changes in the current business environment. These range from the emergence of new technologies, the exponential growth of available data, the increasing reliance on data analytics and artificial intelligence to complex sociocultural dynamics, mounting environmental challenges, and unpredictable market disruptions. This chapter further outlines the main marketing trends that have emerged from the rapidly changing market environment.

In the next chapter, Alexander Chernev and Philip Kotler address the drawbacks of focusing only on the tactical aspect of marketing management without devising a sound strategy to guide a company's actions. They further argue that managers are better served by going beyond the four Ps to develop a strategy that clearly articulates the value that the company aims to create in its target market. Building on the concept of value management, in the following chapter, Alexander Chernev advances a framework for marketing management centered around the concept of creating and capturing value. Dubbed G‐STIC after its key components—goal, strategy, tactics, implementation, and control—this framework provides a roadmap for a company's actions and ensures that these actions are aligned with the company's overarching goal.

Part Two, Marketing as an Engine of Business Growth, focuses on the central role of marketing in the organization and the primary driver of company value. In Chapter 4, Lakshman Krishnamurthi and Rebecca Devine explore the essence of market disruptions. Specifically, they examine how changes to a product and the way it is brought to the market can create significant value for the company and can even change the way an industry operates. In the next chapter, Tom O'Toole underscores the role of customer centricity as a business strategy. He argues that because digital media allow companies to address their target customers individually—and at scale—a company's customer strategy is the key to market success. In Chapter 6, Greg Carpenter delineates the difference between market‐driven and market‐driving approaches to managing growth. In this context, he argues that firms can gain competitive advantage by shaping consumers' thinking through the timing of their entry, the means used to distinguish their brands, and the admiration they achieve among their peers. Finally, Chapter 7, by Tim Calkins, explores an important and often neglected part of marketing: defensive strategy. Specifically, he argues that when companies fail, it is often because they could not hold on to market share when attacked by new entrants, and he outlines the key defensive strategies that can enable companies to mount a viable response to competitive threats.

Part Three, Developing a Winning Marketing Strategy, examines some of the key issues involved in defining the ways in which a company identifies markets in which it will compete and defines the value it will create in these markets. This part starts with a chapter by Julie Hennessy, in which she discusses the process of identifying target customers and the importance of deciding which customers to serve and which to ignore. This chapter further argues that precision targeting is a key component of a company's strategy to grow a company's sales and profits.

In the following chapter, Kent Grayson specifies four steps that a company must take when segmenting a market for both new and existing products. Using examples for consumer and business‐to‐business marketing, he highlights potential segmentation misunderstandings and pitfalls that companies should try to avoid. Building on the concepts of segmentation and targeting, in Chapter 10 Kevin McTigue discusses the importance of crafting a unique strategy to win and retain customers. He further identifies the key principles of crafting a winning positioning strategy and shows how to fight value‐destroying price competition by becoming a better choice for target customers.

Part Four, Creating Value with Brands, examines the role of brands as an important source of value for both companies and their customers. This part starts with a chapter by Alexander Chernev on the role of brands as a key driver of customer and company value. He outlines the function of brands as a marketing tool, the importance of creating a meaningful brand image, the ways in which brands create customer and company value, and the role of brand equity and brand power in brand valuation.

In Chapter 12, Neal Roese delineates the essence of brand image, how best to quantify it as a key performance indicator, and how best to build it. This chapter further explains the importance of strategizing through the lens of brand image. In the chapter that follows, Jonathan Copulsky outlines strategies that enable brands to survive, persevere, and thrive in an ever‐changing digital world. He describes some of the main threats facing brands and provides a framework that gives brand stewards a means for anticipating and responding to threats that might undermine the brand value they have worked so hard to build.

Part Five, Crafting a Successful Communication Campaign, focuses on the process of communicating a company's offerings to its target audience. The chapter by Derek Rucker offers a framework for successful planning, implementation, and evaluation of a company's advertising activities. Rich in original insights and practical suggestions, this chapter is a quintessential primer on developing great advertising that derives its creative solution from a sound marketing strategy.

Chapter 15, by Kevin McTigue, outlines the core principles of developing an impactful communication campaign and shows how to leverage a customer‐centric approach to design and implement a successful communication campaign. This chapter further offers a systematic approach to navigate the Who, When, Where, and What of communication planning and offers a practical approach to creating actionable communication campaigns. In the following chapter, Mohan Sawhney offers an enlightening vision of how the metaverse will lead to further major changes in the marketing landscape. This chapter defines the essence of the metaverse, outlines some of the key marketing opportunities it offers to trendsetting companies, and discusses how it can become a viable platform for marketing initiatives.

Part Six, Designing Effective Distribution Channels, addresses the ways in which companies deliver their offerings to target customers, the importance of creating an effective omnichannel strategy, and the integral role of the sales force in this process. This part starts with a chapter by Julie Hennessy and Jim Lecinski, who discuss how channels create value for both firms and customers. They further present alternative models that can help marketers design channel structures that match the needs of their target customers. This chapter also explores the retail, wholesale, and direct‐to‐consumer routes to marketing, and discusses the advantages and limitations of each approach.

In Chapter 18, Jim Lecinski unpacks the two main elements required to deliver a true omnichannel experience: a front‐end customer interface and a back‐end technology that powers it. Taken together, these two elements offer a roadmap for managers to successfully create and manage an effective and cost‐efficient omnichannel customer experience. In Chapter 19, Craig Wortmann describes how sales professionals and marketers can become more persuasive and boost sales by capturing, distilling, and sharing powerful stories. He outlines two practical tools—the Story Canvas and the Story Matrix—that help people tell the right story at the right time for the right reasons.

Part Seven, Data‐Driven Marketing, discusses the ways in which companies can use market data to design and implement effective marketing campaigns. This part starts with a chapter by Eric Anderson and Florian Zettelmeyer, in which they discuss how managers can use data analytics and artificial intelligence to improve their marketing actions and drive value. They argue that nowadays having a working knowledge of data science is a prerequisite for most, if not all, marketing functions within the organization, and that the implementation of data‐driven decision making is a leadership challenge that must be addressed at the C‐suite level. In Chapter 21, Aparna Labroo outlines frameworks and case studies that spotlight how marketers can leverage opportunities arising from technological changes to better manage customer experience. These frameworks can be used to consider future opportunities and challenges that may arise as technology continues to develop.

Chapter 22 by Derek Rucker and Aparna Labroo outlines a novel framework that enables managers to use predictive data analytics based on psychological insights into consumer behavior. This chapter lays out the perils of reactive managerial responses to data and advances a theory‐based predictive testing approach based on a set of clearly articulated, managerially relevant hypotheses. In the last chapter, Tom O'Toole discusses the recent developments in implementing customer centricity on the individual customer level. Specifically, he examines the role of predictive analytics in enhancing a company's ability to detect specific needs, desires, and preferences, and proactively customize effective marketing programs for each individual customer.

Overall, the chapters contained in this book provide an insightful overview of the current state of marketing theory and practice. Whether you are new to marketing or an experienced marketer, Kellogg on Marketing can deepen your knowledge by offering strategic insights as well as practical illustrations of how to design actionable marketing programs that create value for your target customers in a way that benefits your company and collaborators.

—Alexander Chernev

Philip Kotler