It is little wonder that marketing has become the subject of much debate. At a time when productivity in manufacturing is rising steadily, marketing seems to be getting more expensive and less effective. Over the past 20 years, annual advertising spending in the United States has quadrupled in current dollars to more than $200 billion. The budgets for some major brands now sound like the GDPs of small nations: Sears—$664 million; Chevrolet—$656 million; McDonald’s—$580 million. Total nonadvertising expenditures, such as for promotions, trade allowances, coupons, sweepstakes, and sponsorships, exceed even those amounts. But the results have been disappointing.
A version of this article appeared in the July–August 1999 issue of Harvard Business Review.
