FATHER OF MARKETING

Assignment 1

8/13/2013
Section E, Group 3
Aditya Sood 2013PGP020
Nupur Sahni 2013PGP263
Salil Aggarwal 2013PGP338
Sruthi Thomas 2013PGP402
Sudhir Kumar Singh 2013PGP407
Vivek Devaraj 2013PGP450

GUESS WHO?
 BOSS OF MARKETING!

Who was it who ventured into marketing when it was considered a black art? Yes, it was Frank Bass who
transformed the field of marketing single handedly.

Recognized as the Bass shop amongst the top universities like University of Pennsylvania's Wharton
School and MIT's Sloan School of Management, it is the professor from The University of Texas at Dallas,
Mr. Bass who is the boss of marketing.

Why we considered Frank bass as the father of marketing:

Theories proposed
Frank Bass proposed a model which incorporated concepts of econometrics into marketing, thus
giving a dimension of rationality along with innovation to the field. Mr. Bass was the first
amongst marketing scholars to apply econometric methods in developing statistical estimates of
the effects of advertising, promotions, and prices upon sales.
Bass Diffusion Model (1) uses differential equation that describes how new products get
adopted in a market population. The model presents a rationale of how current
adopters and potential adopters of a new product interact. The basic premise of the
model is that adopters can be classified as innovators or as imitators and the speed and
timing of adoption depends on their degree of innovativeness and the degree of
imitation among adopters.
Another model proposed was brand choice in marketing. It made the case that
consumers' choices cannot be predicted easily but that they vary depending on
mood and many other factors. The work has had a significant impact on the way
marketing managers think about brand choice and related consumer
measurement.
Applications in todays scenario: The findings of Bass have been widely used in forecasting,
especially new products sales forecasting and technology forecasting (1).

And yes, if Kotler claimed fame through Principles of Marketing, our boss gave Mathematical
Models and Methods in Marketing. In addition there came gazillion publications like New
Product Growth for Model Consumer Durables, The Shape of the Advertising Response
Functions Revisited and Model of Dynamic Probabilistic Thresholds. And also a professional
experience that brings modern perspective to the field of marketing.

References:

(1) http://www.bassbasement.org/BassModel/Default.aspx