From closing remarks by Columbia's Berndt Schmitt at the 2006 Corante Innovative Marketing Conference:

Here's what *hasn't* changed about marketing: We still need to develop products, we stll need strategy, we still need branding

What *has* changed is the way we implement marketing -- the 4 P's -- and the way we run our marketing organizations.

There's been both revolutionary and evolutionary change....technology has created a revolution and allowed the consumer to have more control over your brand....but after that revolution, the change [that marketers take to adjust to the new landscape] is evolutionary.

Interaction and conversations have not been represented in traditional marketing. But the question for marketing remains -- what value does the consumer ultimately get out of those interactions and conversations?

I don't recall him saying this, but the reason that's important is that a company can only recognize value for itself if it's able to create value for its customers.