The pervasive power of marketing surrounds us daily. It influences how we choose products or services and is used effectively by the companies, public bodies or organisations we work for. Even charities and volunteer groups cannot perform effectively without some form of marketing. Yet this is a relatively new academic discipline with the first courses in marketing taught a little over a hundred years ago in the USA.
There is no doubt marketing has been round a lot longer (civilizations have always traded) but its recognition as a formal discipline has been slow to be acknowledged. Perhaps that is because the word has some “baggage”. Marketing is often negatively perceived as the commercial manipulation of consumers and there is no doubt some dark arts have been practised. That over‐critical perception is shifting, and A Dictionary of Marketing from Oxford University Press is a good marker of how comprehensive the subject is and that this discipline is on the verge of maturity.
The author, Charles Doyle, is a practitioner. This can only be good, because marketing is most effective when it is practised in real markets. If theory is not in some way substantiated, then it is, in this discipline at least, largely worthless. But this title is not “academic‐lite”. There are good definitions here, 2,600 in all covering theory, techniques and concepts both older and modern. Some are a few lines (appropriate for clarifying jargon or acronyms) while some run in to a few pages, such as the definition of Competitive Position. The major subjects are given “mini‐essays” and are easily separated out from other entries by being given boxes of their own. A particular entry of note for me was Marketing Plan (pp. 241‐54). Any small business could gain much for reading and applying this clear and detailed overview.
This publication is also timely with the current revolution in online marketing with new possibilities to reach customers. So, included are some of the newer internet marketing concepts such as Affiliate Marketing, Google Adwords, Search Engine Marketing, Web 2.0 to name but a few.
There are also some surprising entries in this title with a few historical figures such as William Randolph Hearst and Josef Goebbels. Hearst revolutionised newspaper marketing while the nefarious manipulation of the media by Goebbels to influence public opinion is included. Other lesser known innovators in advertising, media and marketing practice are also given due mention such as A.C. Nielsen (a pioneer of market research) and Bill Backer (famous for some of Coca Cola's great advertising campaigns).
It may appear irrelevant but I have particular praise for the attractive cover and more importantly the layout. The font and page design are easy on the eye and I found myself instinctively thumbing through and dipping into pages constantly. It all appears clear. A‐Z markers are greyed at the page's edge to locate alphabetical entries, though I think it more confirms its appearance as a dictionary than serving a practical purpose.
There are also some notable appendices at the back, one of which is a timeline of marketing from 100 bce to today. Of particular interest for me was that early branding was used in China during the Song Dynasty to distinguish types of tea from lower to higher grade. Brand names such as “Misty Mountain” and “Garden in the Sky” were used in 960‐1127 ce. Appendix two covers iconic brands of the twentieth and twenty‐first centuries with mention of the brand history and notable campaigns and slogans. It is a great little summary of some of their historical impact. However, appendix three is a delight in that it lists notable American and British slogans with some remarkable entries. Is it widely known that Bovril ran a slogan in the 1890s that ran, “the two infallible powers; the Pope and Bovril”? Or that “eight out of ten cats prefer Whiskas” (1970s) or even that Kellogg's Rice Crispies' “Snap, Crackle and Pop” was coined c. 1928? The last appendix has a short listing of web links for finding marketing resources on the internet.
At just over 450 pages there is enough content to satisfy a student of marketing. I think any person running their own business would do well to test themselves with this title to see how good their grasp of marketing is. For them there may well be new concepts here that open original ways to marketing their product or service. For a general reader A Dictionary of Marketing will prove to be a good title to browse and glean clear and accessible definitions in a field that will continue to greatly impact commerce in the twenty‐first century.
