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      The Industrial Revolution2 started the evolution to modern marketing by taking the world out of the simple barter system into a new age of manufactured goods. The first (1760–1840) and second (1840 to the 1920s) Industrial Ages created the last major shift in society. One of the most important outcomes was that average incomes experienced unprecedented and sustained growth, leading to the birth of the middle class. In the words of Nobel Prize winner Robert E. Lucas Jr., “For the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth. … Nothing remotely like this economic behavior is mentioned by the classical economists, even as a theoretical possibility.”3 Driven by new manufacturing processes, the Industrial Revolution produced a wave of inventions and innovations that changed almost every aspect of daily life and marked a major turning point in history. Sound familiar? Its impact on society parallels the incredible changes we are witnessing today.

      The Industrial Ages spread innovative solutions and new manufacturing processes across different industries, and created a wide variety of goods in all sectors of the economy. Initially, because of low volumes, all goods were purchased. However, manufacturing efficiencies and outputs improved, and a middle class emerged wanting to buy these goods, spawning the Automation and Communication Age (1920–1965). During this period, production exceeded demand and competition became a marketplace reality. With competition firmly in place, businesses were forced to add employees to sell their goods. This period was known as the Sales Era.

      The Automation and Communication Age continued until World War II intervened, and manufacturing resources were redirected to meet the needs of the war effort. It was North American manufacturers, primarily in the United States, that gave the Allies a decisive advantage in winning the war. At the conclusion of World War II, America emerged, unlike war-ravaged Europe, with a massive manufacturing base at its disposal, which had to be repurposed for peacetime and the pent-up demand for goods from a population who had sacrificed so much during the war years. This gave rise to mass marketing and the Marketing Era, which introduced early advertising and other marketing disciplines into the selling process. Technology evolved during this period, too, and set the stage for the Information Age. In particular, television’s arrival added an exciting new dimension to the marketing mix.

      As the 1960s moved forward, marketers capitalized on this new medium and were able to get their selling message to millions of viewers in 60 or even 30 seconds. Consumerism became a defining part of our lives, and marketing became an integral part of our culture. This age introduced the Marketing Era, which added more complexity to the marketing mix by moving beyond product marketing to disciplines such as customer research, segmentation, and branding.

      The Automation and Communication Age was then followed by the Information Age (1965–2010), which is still a vital part of today’s economic and marketing environment and the breeding ground for a wave of technological innovations that continue to change our world. Initially, information technologies contributed to the improvement of the manufacturing process. Efficiency and quality skyrocketed and allowed countries such as Japan, Korea, and China to become global players. We also ushered in a new age of distribution, as manufacturers were able to move products around the globe. From a marketing perspective, new information technologies (e.g., databases, increased processing speeds, powerful desktop computers) enabled the introduction of relational databases to build the framework for customer profiling and early database marketing. Evolving digital technologies increased the speed of innovation (it seems like we have an industrial revolution every couple of years now) and created a new economic order as the Web took off. This period brought high-speed bandwidth, social media, mobile phones, and other advances into the mix. During this age, marketing expanded its footprint and importance across all industries and built a broad range of sophisticated services and capabilities. This expansion was known as the Marketing Company Era.4