2001年秋,唐·舒尔茨教授和我到中国开展了第一次巡回演讲之旅。我们当时都是美国西北大学梅迪尔整合营销传播学院教授,记得很多高管研讨会和北京、上海、广州的顶尖大学都特别邀请了我们去演讲。相较于传统西方方法依赖于巨额预算、大量广告和大量促销,我们在报告中强调的整合营销传播是一个更稳健的、更有效的和可持续的营销传播方法。
我们的想法很简单,就是鼓励中国公司从客户角度来促进品牌传播,从客户数据中洞察未来,最重要的是使用传播技术来促进互动和可测量的关系,更好服务于客户。
此后,我们不断往返于中美,拓展关于中国的广告知识,并使其在营销传播产业中快速演化;通过第一手资料,展现极其活跃创新的中国企业如何应用整合营销传播理论来重塑市场地位。这些方法能够产生良好的效果,促进品牌联结他们的客户。
2020年6月4日,唐·舒尔茨教授安详地离世。他一直在工作,写作、研究、布道、推动学术同行与企业专家团队共同探索未来,直到生命的终点。顾明毅博士和他的团队延续了我们的研究,在这本书中,他们将过去20年来最重要的营销理论变革与当前实证研究联系在一起,对新兴营销机遇、需求和品牌遭遇到的限制进行了专业观察。如果舒尔茨的名字能和这项具有挑战性的、发人深省的项目联系在一起,他一定会感到骄傲。
海蒂·舒尔茨
(唐·舒尔茨教授夫人)
2021年1月于芝加哥
In the Fall of 2001,my husband,Don Schultz,and I made our first speaking tour of China.At the time,we were both on the faculty of the Integrated Marketing Communication Department of the Medill School at Northwestern University.We were privileged to be invited to give presentations at several executive seminars and leading universities in Beijing,Shanghai,and Guangzhou.Our presentations were centered on how Integrated Marketing Communication was a more robust,effective,and sustainable approach to marketing communication than the traditional Western methods that depended on huge budgets,mass advertising,and heavy sales promotion.
The message then was simple: We encouraged Chinese companies to approach brand communication from the customer’s point of view,to draw insight from customer data,and most of all,to leverage communication technology to foster interactive and measurable relationships with their customers.
In the years that followed,we made many return trips and expanded our knowledge of China and its rapidly evolving marketing communication industry.We saw first-hand how savvy and innovative Chinese organizations were applying IMC principles to reshape the marketplace in ways that would have a profound effect on how brands connect with their customers.
Don Schultz passed away in peace on 4 June 2020.He continued to work right up to the end;writing,researching,advising students and engaging with academic and professional colleagues about what the future might hold.In this 2025 Future of Advertising Program report,Dr.Gu,Mingyi and his colleagues carry on that tradition.They have distilled some of the most critical marketing theories of the last 20 years and combined them with current empirical research to provide a view of the emerging opportunities,requirements,and constraints facing brands.He would have been proud to have his name associated with this challenging and thought-provoking project.
Heidi Schultz
January 2021,Chicago