Marketing: Real People, Real Choices, 12th edition
Published by Pearson (January 21, 2025) © 2026
- Michael R. Solomon Saint Joseph's University
- Greg W. Marshall Rollins College
- Elnora W. Stuart The University of South Carolina Upstate
- Janée N. Burkhalter Saint Joseph's University
- Brad Carlson Saint Louis University
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For principles of marketing courses.
Companies don’t make decisions. People do.
Marketing: Real People, Real Choices introduces marketing from the perspective of real people, who make real marketing decisions, at leading companies every day. Described by students as a “great read,” it shows how marketing plays out in contemporary organizations. Students benefit from practice and guidance in making marketing decisions and even establishing a personal brand.
The 12th Edition remains a field leader in marketing analytics and metrics, with significantly expanded applications of these concepts in topical chapters. Coverage of digital and social media marketing has also been heavily revised, as more firms seek expertise in these high-demand skills.
Hallmark features of this title
Marketing in the real world
- Brand You, a section at the end of each chapter, helps students draw on chapter concepts to develop their own personal brand.
- Real People chapter-opening vignettes feature real decision-makers with marketing-related challenges covered in the chapter.
- Coverage of analytical and quantitative marketing elements in several chapters shows how marketers harness “big data” to identify and meet customer needs.
Critical-thinking opportunities
- End-of-chapter cases and other activities prompt learners to make recommendations for the marketing future of contemporary firms.
- Apply Marketing Metrics exercises at the end of each chapter offer practice with the metrics that today’s marketers use to make decisions.
- The popular supplement “How to Build a Marketing Plan” (Ch. 3) is complemented by a sample marketing plan and how-to guidelines in the Appendix.
New and updated features of this title
Key skills of the “new marketer”
- EXPANDED: Marketing analytics and metrics content has been significantly expanded to demonstrate the critical role of analytically savvy marketers in an organization’s success.
- REVISED: Coverage of digital and social media marketing in Chapters 13 and 14 has been substantially upgraded to reflect tools and best practices now in promotion.
Marketing trends at leading companies
- EXPANDED: Five new Real People chapter-opening vignettes feature marketers from Pinterest, the National Football League, Microsoft, PrizePicks and calmbox.
- EXPANDED: Several new and updated Marketing in Action cases feature the contemporary organizations Early Majority, US Mobile, Hasbro, iFixIt, Live Nation, Shein and Dove.
A look at the future of marketing
- REVISED: Chapter 1, “Welcome to Marketing in the Modern World,” was heavily revised to reflect the reframed role of marketing for the future.
- NEW: Technology disruptors influencing marketing are explored, including AI (Ch. 5), phygital experiences (Ch. 12) and social media platforms such as Threads, Pinterest, Tik Tok and X (formerly Twitter) (Ch. 14).
Features of Pearson+ eTextbook for the 12th Edition
- NEW: AI-powered study tool draws on Pearson content to turn homework mistakes into teachable moments.
Features of MyLab Marketing for the 12th Edition
- NEW: Interactive Assignments blend author content and mixed media into a seamless learning path. Easily create assignments with a simple added step in your MyLab course setup.
- NEW: Marketing in Action cases at the end of each chapter include auto-graded multiple-choice assessments.
- EXPANDED: Mini Sims put students in professional roles and give them the opportunity to apply course concepts and develop decision-making skills through real-world business challenges.
- EXPANDED: The Video Library makes it easy to select videos and related assessments for pre-built assignments. Each chapter includes one video assignment and one podcast assignment connecting course concepts to real events.
- REVISED: Dynamic Study Modules use the latest developments in cognitive science and help students study chapter topics by adapting to their performance in real time.
- Marketing Metrics Assignments let your students practice their marketing metrics and analytics skills, improving their understanding of the quantitative aspects of marketing.
PART 1: UNDERSTAND THE VALUE PROPOSITION
- Welcome to Marketing in the Modern World: Create and Deliver Value
- Global, Ethical, and Sustainable Marketing
- Strategic Market Planning
PART 2: DETERMINE THE VALUE PROPOSITIONS DIFFERENT CUSTOMERS WANT
- Market Research
- Marketing Analytics: Welcome to the Era of Data-Driven Insights!
- Understand Consumer Markets
- Segmentation, Target Marketing, and Positioning
PART 3: DEVELOP THE VALUE PROPOSITION FOR THE CUSTOMER
- Product I: Innovation and New Product Development
- Product II: Product Strategy, Branding, and Product Management
- Price: What Is the Value Proposition Worth?
PART 4: DELIVER AND COMMUNICATE THE VALUE PROPOSITION
- Physical Distribution Concepts and Business-to-Business Markets
- Deliver the Customer Experience
- Promotion I: Planning and Advertising
- Promotion II: Social Media Platforms and Other Promotion Elements
Appendix: Marketing Plan: The S&S Smoothie Company
About our authors
Michael R. Solomon, PhD, joined the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia as Professor of Marketing in 2006, where he is currently the Dirk Warren ’50 Sesquicentennial Chair and Professor of Marketing. From 2007 to 2013, he also held an appointment as Professor of Consumer Behaviour at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. From 1995 to 2006, he was the Human Sciences Professor of Consumer Behavior at Auburn University. Before joining Auburn in 1995, he was chairman of the Department of Marketing in the School of Business at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Professor Solomon’s primary research interests include consumer behavior and lifestyle issues; branding strategy; the symbolic aspects of products; the psychology of fashion, decoration and image; services marketing; and the development of visually oriented online research methodologies. He currently sits on the editorial boards of the Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Journal for the Advancement of Marketing Education, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Critical Studies in Fashion and Beauty and Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education. In addition to other books, he is also the author of Pearson’s text Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being, which is widely used in universities throughout the world. His recent trade book, The New Chameleons: How to Engage with Consumers Who Defy Categorization, won the NYC Big Book Award for Marketing/Sales in 2022. Professor Solomon frequently appears on television and radio shows, such as The Today Show, Good Morning America, Inside Edition, Newsweek on Air, the Entrepreneur Sales and Marketing Show, CNBC, Channel One, the Wall Street Journal Radio Network, the WOR Radio Network and National Public Radio, to comment on consumer behavior and marketing issues. He recently directed Nielsen’s revamp of its global brands model that assesses clients’ brand equity around the world.
Greg W. Marshall, PhD, is the Charles Harwood Professor of Marketing and Strategy in the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. For three years, he also served as vice president for strategic marketing for Rollins. Before joining Rollins, he was on the faculty of Oklahoma State University, the University of South Florida and TCU. He also holds a visiting professorship in the Marketing Group at Aston Business School, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Professor Marshall earned a BSBA in marketing and an MBA from the University of Tulsa and a PhD in marketing from Oklahoma State University. His research interests include sales management, marketing management decision making and intraorganizational relationships. He is editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Marketing and former editor of the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice and Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. Professor Marshall is past president of the American Marketing Association Academic Council and also a former member of the AMA Board of Directors. He is a distinguished fellow and past president of the Academy of Marketing Science, and a distinguished fellow and past president of the Society for Marketing Advances. In 2018 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Marketing Association Selling and Sales Management Special Interest Group (SIG) and in 2019 he received the Circle of Honor Award from the Direct Selling Education Foundation. His industry experience before entering academe includes product management, field sales management and retail management positions with firms such as Warner-Lambert, the Mennen Company and Target Corporation.
Elnora W. Stuart, PhD, having most recently served as Professor of Marketing and Associate Dean of the George Dean Johnson, Jr. College of Business and Economics at the University of South Carolina Upstate, is now Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of South Carolina. She continues to teach, consult and conduct research. Prior to joining USC Upstate in 2008, she was professor of marketing and the BP Egypt Oil Professor of Management Studies at the American University in Cairo, professor of marketing at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and on the faculty of the University of South Carolina. She has also been a regular visiting professor at Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, Spain and Landshut College of Applied Sciences in Landshut, Germany. She earned a BA in theater and speech from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and both an MA in journalism and mass communication and a PhD in marketing from the University of South Carolina. Professor Stuart’s research has been published in major academic journals, including the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Promotion Management and International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing. For over 25 years, she has served as a consultant for numerous businesses and not-for-profit organizations in the United States and in Egypt.
Brad D. Carlson, PhD, holds the position of Professor and James J. Pierson Endowed Chair in Marketing at the Chaifetz School of Business, Saint Louis University, where he is also an SLU Research Institute Fellow. With over two decades of academic leadership, he served as the Director of the PhD Program in International Business and Marketing for five years. Before joining Saint Louis University, he contributed to the academic community at the Rawls College of Business, Texas Tech University. Dr. Carlson’s academic journey includes obtaining a BA in psychology and an MA in advertising and marketing communications from Webster University, followed by a PhD in marketing from Oklahoma State University. His diverse background as an NCAA athlete and semi-professional musician and improv comedian enriches his research on consumer-based strategy, which applies insights from psychology and social psychology to decipher consumer behavior and shape marketing strategies. His scholarly interests span celebrity endorsements, sports marketing, celebrity-brand relationships and the frontline customer interface. Dr. Carlson’s contributions have appeared in major marketing journals, such as the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS), Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Research in Marketing and Journal of Business Research. Actively involved in the academic community, he has held various roles within the Academy of Marketing Science, including serving as President. Dr. Carlson’s teaching prowess is marked by repeated recognition for his passion and innovation, notably his distinctive approach to asynchronous online teaching.
Janée N. Burkhalter, PhD, (she/her) is a Professor of Marketing in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University. She held an appointment as the University’s Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion from 2022 to 2024, and from 2020 to 2022 she was the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs in the Haub School of Business. She earned both a bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude) and an MBA from Florida A&M University and a PhD in marketing from Georgia State University. She teaches and researches at the intersection of entertainment, marketing strategy and social media. Dr. Burkhalter’s research has been published in academic journals such as the Journal of Advertising, the Journal of Marketing Communications, Business Horizons, the Journal of Brand Management and the Journal of Promotion Management. Before entering academe, she worked in marketing strategy for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. Dr. Burkhalter is an associate member of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences and serves as a judge for both the Webby Awards and the Anthem Awards.
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