Dive Brief: 

• When Beyonce surprised the music industry and released an album with no prior marketing push last week, the album quickly made a splash, selling over 600,000 units in a few days and breaking Taylor Swift's record of 465,000 in one week. 
• The move had industry leaders, like Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts, saying "Marketing as we knew it is dead."
• Saying that "marketing is dead" because of Beyonce's stunt ignores the decades of relationship building the performer has done with fans. 

Dive Insight: 

The marketing industry seems to be a bit morbid. This isn't the first time leaders in the industry have declared marketing or a segment of marketing dead. In fact, just this September, an exec at P&G declared digital marketing dead. Marketing is not dead. In fact, saying marketing is dead might be the next new thing in marketing. What Beyonce's stunt did prove is that, at the core of everything, building a steady relationship with your audience is the most important part of all marketing.