Introduction

Our opening keynote speaker at this week's iMedia Agency Summit was Professor Don E. Schultz, and his talk was an exciting, high-level look at "Marketing on the Edge: New Frameworks for a New Era."

I had the privilege of sitting down with Don to talk in more detail about some of the practical details involved in what we might call next-generation marketing: who should lead the charge within a marketing organization or more broadly within a corporation? What can agencies do to help integrate a brand? Who is doing integration right, and if you're just starting out, what's a good first step? What will the marketing department of the future look like, and how do we get there?

You'll find a lot of answers -- as well as even more questions -- in the pages that follow.

Author note: Don E. Schultz is Professor Emeritus-in-Service of Integrated Marketing Communications at the Medill School at Northwestern University. He's also president of the consulting firm Agora, Inc., and is on the faculties of Cranfield School of Management, Bedfordshire, UK; Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia and Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He speaks around the world, writes prolifically and was founding editor of the Journal of Direct Marketing.