Elevating marketing: marketing is dead! Long live marketing!

Marketing must be elevated to a higher level of consciousness. A consciousness that grows beyond solving small, immediate problems to addressing long-term, large problems that goes beyond individual customer satisfaction and short-term financial performance to encompass the total value creation system. The discipline, in theory and practice, must move beyond a narrow focus on customers to a broader concern for them as citizen-consumers. This necessitates a recommitment of marketing to its fundamental purpose in society, which is improving the standard of living for all citizens by co-creating value at all levels within a socio-economic system. An elevated (systems) concept of marketing must focus on micro, meso and macro systems with an understanding of the purpose and shared vision for each system, a clear identification of responsibilities, and a focus on resource effectiveness and efficiency.