PMA para Philip Kotler

(Entrega do "Lifetime Achievement Award in Marketing" de 2003, a Philip Kotler, no âmbito dos Portugal Marketing Awards, da APPM. Centro Cultural de Belém, 22 Maio 2003)


INTERVENÇÃO POR OCASIÃO DA ENTREGA DO PMA A PHILIP KOTLER (*)

IF YOU EXCUSE ME, PROFESSOR, AND THE AUDIENCE, I WOULD LIKE IN THE FIRST PLACE TO STRESS SOME PRIVATE NOTES.
I TOOK ACQUAINTANCE – SO TO SPEAK – WITH PROF. KOTLER SOME YEARS AGO, ON THE OCCASION OF THE 6th EDITION OF “MARKETING MANAGEMENT” – “THE BIBLE” – IN 1988, WHEN I WAS ATTENDING A POST-GRADUATION COURSE IN BANKING MANAGEMENT IN FONTAINEBLEAU, AT INSEAD.
I MUST ADMIT THAT I LITERALLY SWALLOWED THE BOOK, HAVING THE IDEA THAT, PAGE AFTER PAGE, I WAS UNDERSTANDING AND REALLY MAKING A MARKETING PLAN FOR A COMPANY, WHATEVER COMPANY OR ACTIVITY IT WOULD BE.
IT KEPT ME SO ENTHUSIASTIC THAT, AFTER HAVING WORKED IN ECONOMY AND FINANCE, I DECIDED TO WORK IN THE MARKETING FIELD AT THE CORPORATE LEVEL, ALSO AT A PORTUGUESE UNIVERSITY AND IN THE EDITORIAL FIELD.

BUT I AM NOT HERE TO TALK ABOUT MYSELF…
IT IS REALLY A GREAT PLEASURE, AN HONOUR, FOR APPM, THE PORTUGUESE MARKETING ASSOCIATION, AND MYSELF, TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE HERE AND TO DELIEVER TO PROF. KOTLER ONE OF THE “PORTUGAL MARKETING AWARDS”, AN INICIATIVE THAT WAS LAUNCHED LAST YEAR BY OUR ASSOCIATION, THE ASSOCIATION OT THE PORTUGUESE MARKETERS.
THE BOARD OT DIRECTORS OF APPM, WHICH I HAVE THE PLEASURE TO CHAIR, HAS DECIDED TO NOMINATE PROF. KOTLER TO THE “LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD IN MARKETING”.
I THINK I HAVE NO NEED TO MENTION THE PROFESSORS’ CONTRIBUTIONS TO MARKETING.
THE REASON WHY OF THIS DECISION, IS BASED ON ALL PROF. KOTLER’S PAST AND PRESENT OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE MARKETING ACADEMIC AND MANAGEMENT FIELD, AS A PROFESSOR AND AS A CONSULTANT.
TALKING ABOUT HIS LAST BOOK, “MARKETING INSIGHTS FROM A TO Z – 80 CONCEPTS EVERY MANAGER NEEDS TO KNOW”, AND QUOTING SAM HILL – A NAME THAT IS ALSO MENTIONED AT “THE GURU BOOK OF MARKETING”, AND WITH WHOM WE HAD ALSO THE PLEASURE TO MEET AND LISTEN, LAST NOVEMBER AT THE “PORTUGUESE MARKETING CONGRESS” IN LISBON, AND QUOTING “…KOTLER TACKLES THE FORMIDABLE CHALLENGE OF EXPLAINING THE ENTIRE WORLD IN A SINGLE BOOK – THIS LAST ONE I MENTIONED –AND, REMARKABLY, PULLS IT OFF. THIS BOOK IS A CHANCE FOR YOU TO RUMMAGE THROUGH THE MARKETING TOOLBOX, WITH KOTLER LOOKING OVER YOUR SHOULDER TELLING YOU HOW TO USE EACH TOOL”, AND I END QUOTING.

SO, IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY READ IT, DO NOT LOOSE THE OPPORTUNITY AND DO NOT MISS IT.
DO NOT BE ONE OF THE MARKETERS PROF.KOTLER MENTIONED, IN ONE OF HIS BOOKS, AS THE ONES THAT ARE NOT ABLE TO UNDERSTAND AND CATCH THE SPEED OF CHANGE, OR IN OTHER WORDS, MARKETS ARE CHANGING SO FAST THAT MARKETERS CANNOT DEAL WITH THAT SPEED OF CHANGE.
AS MARKETERS, TAKE YOUR OWN VITAMINES, ANTECIPATE AND CREATE CONSUMER NEEDS, REED THE RECIPEES - I MEAN - LISTEN AND READ CAREFULLY PROF. KOTLER’S CONTRIBUTIONS.

SO, I WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE AND THANK, PROF.KOTLER, FOR YOUR PERMANENT EFFORT AND WORK, TO AVOID THE CHURN OF US, MARKETERS, FROM THE FIELD OF MARKETING, BELIEVING - AS WE ALL BELIEVE - IN THE RELEVANCE OF THIS DISCIPLINE AND PHILOSOPHY OF MANAGEMENT, TO WIN THE BATTLE OF THE CONSUMER, THE BATTLE OF CORPORATE’S AND ORGANIZATIONS’ SURVIVAL IN THE LONG TERM.
PROF. KOTLER, “THE” GURU, “THE FATHER” OF MODERN MARKETING, IT IS WITH GREAT HONOUR THAT I, ON BEHALF OF MY COLLEAGUES OT THE BOARD, THE ASSOCIATION AND THE PORTUGUESE MARKETERS, WOULD LIKE TO GIVE YOU A SYMBOL OF THE AWARD I HAVE JUST MENTIONED.

THANK YOU.

Carlos Manuel de Oliveira
Presidente, APPM