1. a process of understanding a corporation's products and offerings by collaborating with creation and delivery groups, positioning those offerings in the mind of prospective consumers and helping to create and enhance marketplace demand for those offerings
2. a large and mysterious group, usually comfortably ensconced in corporate headquarters, populated by people wearing expensive clothing and toting MBA's. The members habitually fly, dine and entertain on expenses. The group consumes ever-increasing quantities of money on fine-sounding activities like ""marketplace research"", ""creating buzz"", ""positioning"" etc. but never communicates with any other groups except via set-piece presentations and the issuance of stone tablets, and nobody seems able to explain the business value of the group's activities. This continues until the group's budget is cut or the corporation goes out of business, whichever comes first.