Click 'Read Original' for details. For companies transitioning to new marketing, the marketing (brand) department is now in an awkward position. One awkwardness is 'what to do', and the other is 'how to do it'. In traditional marketing, the responsibilities of the marketing (brand) department and the sales department were clear: the marketing department handled awareness, while the sales department handled channels (transactions and relationships). The marketing department was the air force, and the sales department was the army. The traditional marketing department's awareness tools were communication and PR, relying on mass media, resulting in brand image. As for organizing activities and setting policies, these may have been the busiest tasks for the marketing department, but not the most legitimate ones. Now the marketing department's awkwardness is: the traditional sales department is taking over the marketing department's work. Uni-President upgraded its original sales department to a marketing department, and Lidu upgraded its sales department to a marketing center. The names differ, but the responsibilities are similar: air force marines. Air force marines: the army function is to handle channels and relationships, planting the flag on market high ground. This was the sales department's original basic function; the air force function is communication, initiating communication from the channels to occupy user minds. So, the air force function essentially takes over the role of the original marketing department. The mass media that the marketing department once relied on is disappearing, and new media is being utilized by the new marketing department. What is the marketing department to do? This is the marketing department's awkwardness: in the new marketing system, what exactly is the marketing department's function? Uni-President renamed its original marketing department to the Market Content Department. In my understanding, the Market Content Department's responsibilities should include: brand, IP, scenarios, PR, content factory, etc. Some of these responsibilities are remnants of traditional marketing. Since this is a transition period, traditional marketing still exists, so some functions naturally remain. However, the traditional marketing department's most important communication function is gradually disappearing, because internet communication is no longer centralized. Another awkwardness for the marketing department is: how to do it? Take the content factory as an example. The boss of a well-known company once said that in the past, communication was 'spending 200 million yuan a year to make consumers remember one sentence.' In the past, this sentence was usually completed under the leadership of the marketing (brand) department. Whether outsourced or self-created, it was the marketing department's achievement. Now, content production is mostly UGC. Uber's Douyin explosion was completed by consumers. The creators in Uni-President's content factory are either internal part-timers or external personnel. The marketing department only created a platform like a 'content dream factory'. In a recent survey of Lidu, most effective market activities were not initiated by the marketing department but were first practiced by the marketing center. Because now it's impossible to come up with a plan that everyone agrees on; everything is iterative, so you start doing and then optimize. If the marketing department comes up with a mature plan, maturity might mean ineffectiveness. New marketing expert Niu Enkun said that the marketing department can only 'follow the mass line', with plans coming from the masses and going to the masses. This kind of marketing is called 'bottom-up marketing' by positioning expert Trout in his famous book Marketing Warfare. I told Lidu's marketing department that their best approach might be to let the frontline have an 'idea PK', and whoever has the best method, promote it company-wide. The reason for the marketing department's awkwardness is that in the new media landscape, everyone's creativity is unlimited, no longer limited to professionals. In the past, the marketing department was the professional marketing 'air force', but now everyone is the 'air force'. Any department's awkwardness is not scary; what's scary is when the company is not active. New marketing, BC integration, the army is also the air force, and creativity is most easily formed in contact with the C-end. So, the marketing department that works in the office may be losing the drive to lead the market. Source: Teacher Liu's New Marketing