The future of marketing

The main thesis of this article is that several long-term trends are reshaping marketing and forcing marketing managers to change radically to keep up. These long-term trends are technological, socioeconomic and geopolitical. Advances in technology, in particular, are having a profound impact on marketing, resulting in the deepening of customer relationships and the continuous expansion of the service economy. Artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet, and the expansion of networks are creating a revolution in marketing that makes the 1960s-style 4 Ps increasingly obsolete. Compounding the problem for marketers are the socioeconomic factors of diversity and inclusion, as well as major geopolitical threats. I explore the nature of change, extrapolate marketing practice into the future, and examine the implications for marketing managers, marketing education and academic research in marketing.