He died over July 4th weekend and I’m embarrassed to admit I missed his passing.
Why should you care? Well he invented modern marketing is all. He’s was 81 years old and a professor at the Harvard Business School. His most famous quote – and the one that resonated with me – is this one:
“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.”
The idea is that marketing is responsible for taking products and positioning them so they fill needs in the market place.
A great roundup of his thinking and influence is available here