Comments

There is an easy way to deal with this - get the marketeers to shut up - sorry I couldn't resist that cheap dig!!

Posted by PaulH at February 3, 2005 4:23 AM

Marketing's job is internal communications as much as external. There's no point in trying to convince customers and prospects you're the best/fastest/lowest cost if the message is lost on the rest of the organisation. Love them or hate them, companies could learn a lot from politicians and their parties. When it comes to the election, they need everyone with a public facing role to be 100% 'on message'. Doesn't always happen, of course, but congruency, when you're trying to win a country one vote at a time, is everything. Why should this be any different for corporations? Most damage is done (or good undone) by individuals who either reject or misunderstand the company's goals and objectives. Marketing internally (in whatever form that takes) can make a huge difference.

Posted by Matt at February 3, 2005 6:28 AM

First, excellent interview. I need to get his book. I was intrigued by this statement:

"People want the unvarnished facts. They don't want people to put a spin on reality."

I'm not sure if spin was preferred but it has seemed to be the major ingredient in marketing. I'm at the younger end of the Boomer demographic, but I do tend to gravitate toward companies that understand it's not all about winning. It is the journey, which is - the experience.

Posted by M.R. Maguire at February 3, 2005 11:14 AM

I'm delighted that David has been a cool friend of mine (albeit long-distance) for awhile now. His book is nothing short of AWESOME... and for continued reading, make sure you bookmark his blog: http://agelessmarketing.typepad.com/ageless_marketing/

Posted by Michele Miller at February 3, 2005 9:22 PM

David's blog rocks. His writing style is also WONDERFUL. Sharp points, gently spoken.

One of the reasons marketing folk get it wrong is systemic from tha actual act of marketing,i.e.

"Branding is all about about being cool and hip, because branding is all about propping up the Ignorance Premium."

Wrote more about it here:

http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/001358.html

PS. I REALLY don't like plugging my own work on other people's websites... at least, I prefer to keep it at a minimum.

People do it on my site now and then, fine. Do it often, not fine.

Feel free to delete if I violated the house rules etc. =)

Posted by hugh macleod at February 4, 2005 7:31 AM

plug away, hugh, we're always interested in hearing other voices.

Posted by Erik at February 4, 2005 9:07 AM

I too have the pleasure of being able to count the "Cool Wolfe" among my friends. Few people I have met have such a good handle on what's really going on out there. He has provided me with precious insight on numerous left-side-of-the-brain/marketing-anti-marketing topics (not politically speaking of course) which continue to help with solving many of the problems our brand-owning clients are faced with. You deserve the recognition, Dave ! When's the next book coming ?

Posted by Roger Vickery at February 13, 2005 2:57 PM