Time for a new definition of the term MARKETING?

The latest definition of the term Marketing by the American Marketing Association (AMA) dates from 2007. Marketing is defined as " 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".
In a post of this blog in 2008 I commented on the fact that this definition replaced another one, just 3 years after its introduction in 2004. The 2004 definition was obviously heavily criticised for its myopic view on marketing.
While many traditional marketers (and other stakeholders) were obviously pleased with the 2007 AMA definition of Marketing - it is found today in almost all marketing textbooks - I think that this definition is again at the end of its life cycle; most young people entering today the marketing domain as professional would have problems to accept it.
This because a few things have dramatically changed since 2007, most important one being the staggering growth of the social media domain and the subsequent customer empowerment as a result of it. While the 2007 AMA definition is underlining the role of marketing for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings it completely ignores the customer domination of the marketplace and a number of other facts that the social media explosion has introduced to the marketing reality.
There are two main drawbacks in this definition: The first is that it is still based on the one-way, broadcasting type of thinking that still dominates the thinking of older marketers. In a customer-dominated market the broadcasting attitude must be replaced by an interactive one based on listening and engagement.
The second issue here is that two basic elements of the definition have been transformed today in something completely different than what they used to be: the creation and the communication.

• "creation" is rapidly replaced by "co-creation". Businesses failing to tap the customer creativity in developing new products, services and communication concepts will be the laggards of the future.   
• Old fashion "Communication" by means of mass media is rapidly losing ground and influence. Looking to a billboard this morning on the way to the office I suddenly realised that the only function of the ad displayed there was to inform me about a product and nothing else! My customer journey will actually start behind my laptop, iPad or smartphone where I would go searching about the product I saw by reading reviews and opinions of those who already bought it. The message is not anymore the  medium: The Customer is the medium (and the message).

These simple realities make the latest Marketing definition obsolete. I could fill pages explaining this further but I think the bottom line is that Marketing academics must bend again over the drawing board and redefine the term marketing. We are already late with this: our students and the field are waiting.

Crowdsourcing: utilize the customer's creativity

Taping the Customer Creativity (also known as Crowdsourcing) is one of the elements of my model outlining the main ways that marketers can engage the Social Media as Marketing tools.

Many examples of such initiatives are already known to those who follow what happens in the Social Media space. Most applications ( RedisignMe, Dell, Nokia, Samsung, TomTom, HP, Talpa, Google Android KLM, Starbucks, P&G, Robeco, threadless, LEGO, SAP, Kodak and many others) are focused on utilizing the customer wisdom in order to innovate. Another way to utilize the customer creativity is to ask customers to design advertisements for you or even commercials. A pioneer in this area is Current where amateur videos that appear on TV win money. Here in Holland we have also some interesting examples. A few months ago Nespresso tested two commercials as to the viewers' opinions before one of them appeared on TV (Source: MarketingFacts.nl)

Another nice example of using customer creativity is the Battle of Concepts , a Dutch (at least till this moment) platform allowing companies to organize competitions (mostly among creative business students) for solving real business problems. The site is getting very popular among students who can win up to 5.000 Euro but also among lecturers who can find there real case studies for their students! (I think to try this next year). Last but not least a new site called Creatad offers creative amateurs the possibility to make money by designing advertisements (printed or videos). I wonder if the American Marketing Association will be obliged to come soon with a new Marketing Definition taking into consideration the interactive nature of Marketing today as well as the way the New Marketing is creating value for the customer who becomes slowly marketer himself!