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Changing Landscape of Marketing

New Book from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management Examines the Changing Landscape of Marketing.

Toronto – The past decade has seen a number of developments that threaten the very fabric of how marketing activities have traditionally been conducted. On one hand, consumers are increasingly socially networked and value-conscious, with heightened expectations of how companies will react to their demands. Along with the challenges, however, come new opportunities: the growth of behavioural economics and the emergence of new data collection techniques, for instance, give marketers unprecedented access to previously hidden aspects of consumer behavior. Clearly, ‘business as usual’ is not an option for marketing managers who want their firms to stay in the game.

A new book, Flux: What Marketing Managers Need to Navigate the New Environment, helps managers adapt to the rapidly changing business environment. The book, published by Rotman-UTP Publishing, an imprint of University of Toronto Press in partnership with the Rotman School of Management, offers a collection of the very best thinking on key areas of marketing activity and decision-making.

Each chapter is written by a leading expert from Rotman School’s award-winning marketing faculty in a specific ‘new’ marketing subject area, from managing brands to dealing with new media, and addresses substantive challenges in that area while providing steps for taking action.

“The landscape on which firms interact with customers is in a state of flux. In the last few years, we have seen dramatic changes in the manner in which this interaction takes place,” says co-editor Prof. David Soberman, who holds the Canadian National Chair in Strategic Marketing at the Rotman School. “From the consumer’s perspective, easy access to information has drastically changed the very nature of the purchasing behaviour. The traditional “store choice followed by brand choice” model has now given way to an “I know what I want and will seek it out” mentality, and in some cases even an “I know what I want and I’d like a seller who can help me customize it” mentality.”

“As an academic institution, we value rigorous academic research that stands to the highest quality of the peer-reviewed journal publishing process. As a business school, we value research that is applicable – research that informs the marketing manager in developing both short term tactics as well as longer-term strategies for keeping the consumer engaged,” says co-editor Rotman Prof. Dilip Soman, who holds the Corus Chair in Communications Strategy. “Our colleagues at the Rotman School are leading experts in marketing academia and have been building a portfolio of research that addresses precisely this changing environment which is represented in this book.”

 Flux has already been critically acclaimed by leaders in the field of marketing.

Prof. Dan Ariely of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University says that “Flux takes us on an eye opening journey through the changing and expanding world of marketing. Berkeley’s Ganesh Iyer, a professor at the Haas School of Business, adds, “This is a brilliantly put together book and a deep analysis of the transformation of marketing from a traditional brand-building model to one of comprehensive consumer engagement.”

"Flux is an excellent compendium that comprehensively covers the theory and practice of branding and marketing, drawing on the lessons of the past as well as analyzing how these functions should operate in the new world created by unprecedented global connectivity and access to information," says K.V. Kamath, Chairman of Infosys Ltd., and former Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Bank.

"If you respect the discipline of marketing, this is a book for you. If you have been at it for years, like me (cigarettes, beverages, cereals, soups & sauces and now media), you will appreciate why Soberman and Soman chose the title, “Flux”. Marketing is like baseball. It’s still the same...it’s just evolved," says John Cassaday, President and CEO, Corus Entertainment. “If you are new to the marketing game, Flux will serve as a useful reference manual. All great marketers are insatiably curious. Flux stimulates your curiosity across a wide range of relevant marketing subject areas."

Further information on Flux is available at https://utorontopress.com/ca/flux-3. It is now available from most leading book retailers.

 

Founded in 1901, the University of Toronto Press is Canada's oldest scholarly press and one of the largest university presses in North America, releasing over 150 new scholarly, reference, and general-interest books each year, as well as maintaining a backlist of over 1500 titles in print. For more information, visit https://utorontopress.com/.