The Dual Functions of Channels
253
The Evolution of the Marketing Channel
254
Flows in Marketing Channels
255
Functions of the Channel
256
Channel Institutions: Capabilities and Limitations
257
Producer and Manufacturer
257
Retailing
258
Wholesaling
263
Physical Distribu tion
264
INTRODUCING MARKETING
L EARNING OBJECTIVES
As you read the chapter, you should develop an understanding of the
following key marketing concepts:
•
The important role marketing can play in the success of an
organization.
•
Organizations that correctly employ marketing have several
common characteristics.
•
The various kinds of marketing.
•
the strategic workings of marketing components.
ELVIS-ALIVE AND WELL
It's Elvis week in Memphis, and all over town they've got banners: '''20 years/Still
Rocking.'" Is it just us, or is it weird to wax so upbeat about the twentieth anniversary of a death? You can't help but feel that the world's got the Elvis Presley it wanted: a
changeless, ageless object of contemplation and veneration. Elvis Week culminates in an
event called Elvis-The Concert 2000 in which the man himself, resurrected by video
technology, will sing with his living ex-band mates and the Memphis Symphony Orches-
tra. Who wouldn't secretly prefer this fail-safe digitized spectacle to a weary 62-year-old
grinding out "If I Can Dream" one more time?
Twenty years ago, no one close to Elvis could have imagined that his fans would
spend over $250 million annually on Elvis dolls, plates, key chains, towels, and wigs-to
name just a few items. Two years after Elvis's death, his estate was worth less on paper than
it owed in taxes. Then, in 1979, Priscilla Presley, Elvis's ex-wife, was named an executor of
the estate for her daughter. The family's crown jewels-Elvis's recordings-had been sold
off years earlier and Priscilla had just one chance to save the legacy. She gambled that
Elvis's name, image, and likeness were worth something. And she turned his home into a
roadside attraction to fmance a legal war, fighting for control of all that was Elvis.
Priscilla concluded that there was only one way to save Graceland: sell tickets to
the hundreds of gawkers who daily pressed their faces against Elvis's gates. Meanwhile,
why not sell some gewgaws to the fans that were already buying cheesy trinkets at the
strip mall across the street? Buoyed by an initial investment of $560,000, Graceland's
doors were opened to the public in 1982. It took 38 days to recoup their investment;
350,000 visitors walked through the house the first year. "I felt I was betraying Elvis,"
says Priscilla, recalling her decision to enter the amusement business. "Graceland was
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