Someone asked me to crash out some thoughts on marketing departments and the relevance of marketing in today’s world. What follows is a slightly edited version. But in a nutshell – I couldn’t do marekting director’s job and I respect people who do. I think that’s the key to lots of things – love the fact we’re all good at different stuff and surround yourself with people who can do what you can’t……
It’s tough in a Marketing department. You need two hats – the cold, rational side for the very real commercial realities like reporting to your board…and the creative skills you need to generate and recognise great ideas. Few people have both.
In my experience, most have a bias towards the rational, business side, and fairplay to them too. If I has a board and shareholders to please, people who really do only think in straight line, so would I.
But this makes marketing very risk averse…the greatest percieved risk is doing something different, but thanks to the the new medio savvy, web enabled consumer, not standing out is the REAL risk.
I think the best client/agency relationships are where each party understands what they’re good at – and relish others that fill their gaps. The worst relationships are where you pretend to be alike.
But it is hard….advertising isn’t what it was, and there’s this scary new world of multi touchpoint brands, content and God knows what else. It’s complex. Hard manage.
A marketer can react by keeping their agencies in silos – and buying ‘stuff’. The good ones force their agencies to work together, have a lead strategist and makes them share the risk, whatever the media.
As for the relevance of marketing……I think marketing done well is still relevant, but we’re in this wierd transition phase when no one can agree what good marketing looks like. Most still think marketing is still about pushing messages, and manipulating people into wanting to buy your stuff. They target individuals.
But marketing has to get inspiring, in a world where people can shut out marketing that’s dull or irrelevent, people have to want to give you their attention – what you do needs to be at least as interesting as the ‘normal media’. That’s a big leap for most marketers and their agencies to make.
Oh, and I totally buy into the whole ‘herd’ and transmedia way of thinking. We’re social animals, marketing will work best when it targets people as part of a social network – and magnifies the conversations there (or reframes them!!!). Most of the ills of the western world come us mistakenly thinking we’re each more special than we really are – it stops us learning from each other’s mistakes and listening to experience….."I’m/we’re different, won’t be the same for me/us"
That’s roughly what I think. Feel free to rip it to shreds.
NORTHERN PLANNER 
