Idea in Brief
The Problem
Leaders are finding it difficult to think clearly about the role of the marketing function and are anxious about its performance. Yet their efforts to transform marketing have at times been stymied by the lack of a clear methodology for defining its job and designing its work.
The Framework
The authors offer a practical framework for clarifying how marketing can contribute to company growth by delivering distinctive types of value to customers and to the organization itself.
The Result
Companies across industries have applied this framework to reveal the gap between their existing and needed areas of focus; to determine which capabilities to develop, which to sustain at their current level, and which to scale down, outsource, or automate; and to redesign their marketing functions to deliver on a new value proposition.
Marketing has never been more complex. Sweeping advances in technology have revolutionized and fragmented the discipline, while societal issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the climate crisis have raised expectations for marketers’ social performance. This combination of diverse forces has transformed how the marketing function must work, requiring that it become more agile, interdependent, and accountable for driving company growth.
