FirstPerspective • July/August 2005

July/August 2005

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GREEK PHILOSOPHER PLATO ONCE DESCRIBED A CAVE where prisoners could only see shadows projected on the wall in front of them, never able to turn around and see the real objects creating those shadows. They could not see the path out of the cave into reality.

Likewise, today’s marketer can often feel shackled inside a cave of assumptions, especially during annual planning (some of us are literally shackled until we’re done). In an ever-changing climate, it’s difficult to see the real nature of your customers that will frame a sound marketing strategy. Mounting pressure to justify marketing budgets doesn’t help either when you’re working in the dark.

To adjust a phrase from Plato’s mentor, Socrates, the unexamined marketing plan is not worth living out.


You’ve been working for months on your marketing plan. It’s polished to perfection. Now all you need is the green light.	If your company is like most organizations, it will begin annual planning and budget preparation within weeks.	Forrester Research, Inc., forecasts that total U.S. online advertising and marketing spending will reach $14.7 billion in 2005.	Find out what's going on in leading markets, from automotive, banking, cable, pharmaceutical managed care and others.

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