1. Knowledge means power. More and more people are influenced by knowledge. Not only in the First World. This is why we speak of the knowledge society. To be part of it means to be less interested in groups, to see yourselfoneself in the center, to discover the individual and the uniqueness in oneself. This turning away from the group and the wish for individuality is important for the development and marketing of products and the corresponding process of communication.
   
   “The future belongs to the knowledge society…
   
   Knowledge is the most important resource.” (Roman Herzog 1998).
   
   But in what kind of society do we live today? An adequate characterization of the ‘current society’ is still missingdue, there is still no consensus, no widely accepted answer.
   
   “Knowledge is of vital significance and that is what it is necessary, that we understand how people and societies form and utilize knowledge…” (World Development Report 1998/1999). To follow up on this question seems to be the correct approach in understanding where we currently stand.
   
   For such universal scholars as Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci or Goethe, the collectivity of human knowledge was still reasonably straightforward. It was not until the 19th century with its enormous growth in productivity in agriculture that the development of the industrial society brought with it a volatile boost in knowledge.

2. The classification of demand in needs and wants of people is another subject dominating the marketing of the 21st century. Commodities for needs, luxury for wants, this is how we can describe the purchasing patterns of people in the First World. In the Second and Third World meeting the needs is often already a luxury in itself. While the affluent society of the First World often uses luxury products to meet needs. This shows clearly what has been indicated previously, that First, Second and Third World need very different strategies of positioning for the same product. While for some a Coke is as precious as Champagne, for others it is exactly the other way around.

Theory and practice are diverging more and more. The insights of the first part of the past century no longer apply to the 21st century and after this time not much new has been added.

The theory has fallen behind, because it gave too little space to creativity, because it didn’t trust the strength of new visions, because it banished courage and risk from action and pushed back entrepreneurial action in favor of managerial planning. The inexplicable was not permitted, sure instinct banished. The language of marketing degenerated to a smorgasbord of the incomprehensible. Even the Anglo-Saxon was at times being twisted beyond recognition.

It is only understandable, that under such circumstances marketing, once the art of bringing products to success, degenerated into a not fully functioning blunt instrument. Empty, in regards to content, parched, withered, atrophied, this is how marketing presents itself today. It needs to be formally annotated, that there are businesses who have recognized this crisis in marketing and they are conceptually as well as organizationally looking at the new challenges. Larger businesses seem to act more consequently in this regard.

Of course, marketing has, due to the migration of the products of many branches from the First into the Second or Third World and the corresponding division and partial destruction of the chain of economic value added, gotten into angry waters.

The future of prosperity in the First World and therefore the possibility to be a sponsor for this development in the Second and Third World is endangered, if the production of consumer goods is concentrated on low-wage countries. Unemployment in the First World and the further exploitation of people in low-wage countries would be a consequence. To the latter I would like to mention, that employers are moving on ruthlessly, if wages and dues rise.

The factor cost and along with the pricing as well as the whole structure of conditions and calculations havehaven become of to market shaping importance. For luxury products the markup from the manufacturer price to the end user price accounts for between 500 to 1000%. Socks which are being sold ex factory for 20 Euro cent, cost 3 to 4 Euro in Europe. However, there are cases to the contrary. Coffee is being bought from farmers in developing countries for such low prices, which hardly give them enough to live, just so get to prices for consumers, where even retail in those end user countries can make a dime.

The word globalization and the notion that globalization can only be solved through size, bewitched many. Just as the illusion that one could offhand and in the most unfavorable case with a lot of money turn a name into a brand. Some brand parvenus seemed to be able to accomplish the impossible.

The crisis of the consumer goods marketing is not an unsolvable misery, to the contrary, we should see it as a chance for a new beginning, which should be done right at this point, where the whole world is renewing its economy.