So it's easy to dismiss the older generals, in favor of younger techno-savvy warriors. Since Philip Kotler has been in Marketing since the time Bill Gates was in diapers, does that make him outdated? What could he have to say in a business climate that's obsessed with applying technology to every stage of the management and marketing process? Prepare for a 'new, improved' Marketing. If you have an early version of Kotler already installed, this is upgrade to die for. While it crystallizes those eternal principles you may have learned in Principles of Marketing (segmentation, positioning and pricing strategy), it also updates the status of the 4 Ps in today's information-rich universe. 'Marketing objects', as we know them, are much more than products and services, says Kotler. Thus the 'marketplace of ideas' is no more about increasing demand. It is about 'exchange'. FedEx exchanges overnight delivery for a different price than, say the Post Office. Evian can sell bottled water at 0.25 cents an ounce, but also a cartridge of the same 'idea' as a moisturizer for sixty times more. Kotler shows us how context can determine a value proposition that can change rapidly; and how marketers must prepare to meet these disruptions. Information management is key, he tells us, and shows us why mining the marketplace can include anything from studying lifestyles (via 'PRIZM clusters') to trend analysis (a la' Faith Popcorn), to the Web. Closing appropriately with a breathtaking chapter on E-commerce ("Adapting to the New Age of Electronic Marketing"), this is a handbook that ought to appeal to managers anxious about the equivalent of an Amazon.com or a Priceline.com stalking their territory.

You can either look at this book is Kotler's summary of Marketing at the close of the century, or a prognosis of how it might be as we dip our toes into the raging waters of the next millennium. If I was a CEO, I'll give it to all my managers when handing out their bonus checks.