If it weren’t for lawyers, marketers would probably be the most reviled professional class. Rodney Dangerfield has nothing on us.
Lately, the criticism has gotten unusually shrill. One prominent ad agency executive recently said that marketing is dead. Somebody else wrote the same in Harvard Business Review. A prominent VC says that marketing is just for companies with sucky products. It seems like we never get any respect.
I think that part of the problem stems from the fact that other professions have qualifications. Doctors go to medical school, engineers build things, financiers make money and even lawyers need to get admitted to the bar. Meanwhile, any jackass off the street can call himself a marketer. What we need are concrete principles. Here are seven.
read more…
“Greed…is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.” That was the ‘80’s Gecko mantra.
It was based on something high-flying financier Ivan Boesky said shortly before he was exposed as a fraud and sent to prison. Nevertheless, we bought into it then and the sentiment resonates even now. George Bush, after all, encouraged us to shop in the face of adversity.
But is greed really good? Does it capture the “essence of the evolutionary spirit? Is Geckoism a hardheaded, pragmatic approach or utter nonsense? These were serious questions a generation ago, but they have long been answered. The truth is that while greed might work in the movies, in the real world it’s simply naive.
read more…
The ancient Chinese phrase “may you live in interesting times” was meant as a curse. Unexpected events, for most of history, have been unwelcome. They inevitably brought war, famine and poverty.
Today, we have our problems and some of them are pretty bad, like terrorism, global warming and hunger. The big difference is that we have learned how to innovate our way out of trouble. When you start looking at what’s coming up, you can’t help but be optimistic.
The power of information technology is that it advances at an exponential pace. Once scarce commodities like storage and processing power are now abundant and that is making possible novel solutions to old problems. New industries like nanotech, robotics and genomics are creating things that would have been science fiction a decade ago.
read more…
People like to say, “keep it simple, stupid.” It’s a down-home remedy for our overly complex, technology infused modern life. Like much good advice, it is often given, but rarely followed.
The problem is that simplicity is not so simple. We live in a complex universe where much that happens is beyond our control. Merely wishing things to be simpler does not make it so. In fact, making facile assumptions often leads to disaster.
How we deal with complexity determines how we innovate, build organizations that can compete effectively and navigate an increasingly technological marketplace. We need to take it seriously, not gloss over it. Fortunately, this has been an area of intense study since the beginning of the digital age and there are some basic principles that can guide us.
read more…
Over the past decade, marketing has become increasingly ROI focused. Generally, that’s been an enormously positive thing, but as I’ve noted before, there has been some reason for concern.
One of the chief problems is that metrics often obscure value. Business success occurs in the marketplace, not in Excel or in Powerpoint. It’s easy to get so caught up with key performance indicators that you forget about performance in the real world.
Managing a business is different than managing a budget. The outcome of an investment is not solely, or even primarily, a function of efficiency. It matters where you invest. Resources allocated to a good business will work harder than those that are put towards a bad one. That’s why it’s crucial to rightsize investment. Here’s a quick guide.
read more…
A brilliant and accomplished editor, one who I respect greatly, used to tell his staff that they should write for the fourth floor, where the sales and marketing teams sat. The idea was that journalists should write for the dull and dim comprehension of the business world.
As a perennial inhabitant of that floor, I resented the implication. For me, business has always been a lively intellectual endeavor where ideas are more than dreams; they are tested in the marketplace.
So, in a certain sense, this blog is a retort to my old friend. Alas, since I moved away, he no longer comes over to drink whiskey and certainly won’t send me any presents. Therefore, as in past years, I’m celebrating Digital Tonto’s birthday with a list of my favorite posts. They weren’t necessarily the most popular, but they’re the ones I like.
Cinderella was an amazing performer. In one night she made it to the ball, found her prince and lived happily ever after.
Amazingly, she did so by her natural grace, charm and wit. Having no experience with princes or balls, she became the star of the show, with no prior coaching, preparation or experience. She simply believed it could be true and it was.
Alas, Cinderella, much like many stories of great accomplishment, is a fairy tale. We love hearing about the moment of triumph; the shot at the buzzer, the photo finish and the medals at the podium. The truth is boring – endless hours, repeated frustration and constant exhaustion. Here are 5 principles that determine whether it’s all worth it.
read more…
They say that those who don’t learn their history are condemned to repeat it, but isn’t the opposite also true? If the past is prologue, can we really move forward without looking backward?
Futuristic buzzwords like the social web, strong AI, and the web of things have become fashionable to talk about as hot new trends, but our digital future will most likely be far stranger and more wonderful than anything we can imagine today.
The truth is that new paradigms arise from novel solutions to old problems. Those solutions in turn have consequences that are both unforeseen and unintended. Much of today’s technology began as investigations into obscure curiosities in first-order logic, radio communication and the like. The seeds of the next wave will be just as improbable.
read more…
On November 4, 2010, Microsoft launched Kinect, a motion-sensing device for their Xbox video game console. It quickly became the best selling electronic device in history, moving 8 million units in less than two months.
Then hackers started fooling around with the device using it to do things Microsoft never intended. This kind of transgression would usually elicit in nasty “cease and desist” letters and hefty lawyers fees, but this time Microsoft did something different.
They released a software development kit (SDK) to help outsiders modify their product and created an accelerator that offered seed money, office space and training to promising young innovators. Clearly, something important has changed. Brands are no longer mere corporate assets, but have become open platforms for collaboration and creativity.
read more…
This past June, US Congressman Allen West declared that approximately 80 Democratic members of Congress are Communists. More recently, another House member, Michele Bachmann and five of her colleagues accused others in the government of being Islamic radicals.
Very few people seemed to take them or their allegations seriously. Some called it a return to McCarthyism, others used the term “witch hunt.” John McCain called the charges “unwarranted and unfounded.”
As for me, the real issue isn’t subversives in the government, but the ones that are underground, quietly meeting and plotting to overthrow the order of things. History has shown that these types of groups have enormous power to disrupt and can alter the status quo beyond recognition. Present society doesn’t really have a chance.
read more…
