How did Kotler become Father of Modern Marketing?

PROFESSOR Philip Kotler, fondly known as the Father of Modern Marketing, is a living legend. Not only is he the founder of the base of modern marketing, he's also a man who has proven himself to be living his values.

- By Denzil Perera

Addressing the inaugural National Marketing Day of Sri Lanka in 2022, I still remember him stressing the importance of making a sustainable world for everyone. Marketing is not about overexploitation of human and natural resources. It's about assuring everyone has an opportunity to fulfil their needs and desires. This aligns better with principles of inclusivity and sustainability.

Returning to the subject, in 2022, we aimed to honour Professor Kotler, as the entire Sri Lankan marketing community gained insights from his renowned book, Principles of Modern Marketing. He was thrilled to have received such an honour at the age of 92, noting that even in his homeland, no such recognition had been given to him. He expressed his gratitude for our heartfelt tributes and would like to express my sincere appreciation for the generous guidance and direction provided by the esteemed Professor Nalin Abeysekara, the Dean of the Management Faculty at the Open University of Sri Lanka.

The birth of Modern Marketing

Professor Kotler has witnessed numerous transformations in the theory and practice of marketing since earning his Master's Degree in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1953. In 1960, three years after earning his PhD in Economics from MIT, he became part of the marketing department at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, joining a group of esteemed faculty including Sidney Levy, Stewart Henderson Britt, Richard Clewett, Ralph Westfall, and others. In his classes, he utilised content from various textbooks that thoroughly explained marketing institutions and practices, offering prescriptive advice. Nevertheless, the textbooks fell short in providing a robust theory of consumer behaviour, referenced an inadequate number of findings from academic journals, and poorly articulated the actual processes companies used to make their marketing decisions.