The Consensus About the Future of Marketing

Is it just me, or is there now a consensus in the world of marketing about the future?

  Lots of the ideas that seemed radical a few years ago are now accepted as the norm.  And many disruptive trends are now presumed to be long-term change.  For instance, the idea that television must be reinvented or die is hardly worth the breath and, hey, did you know people don’t like interruptive marketing techniques?  Search (aka The Database of Intentions) is now more than just a handy function but the way we organise our lives.  Also, now that everyone is joined up outside of traditional institutions, it’s clear that people regard peers as the purest form of accurate information. 

Then there’s Moore’s Law which has re-engineered our homes into powerful nodes on a never-ending network.  And Open Source.  No longer a niche for the sandal-brigade but just the way that alpha-programmers go about creating the websites we all love.  Yes, we like choice in the way we use content but more than that we enjoy the freedom to pursue our own passions with like-minded folk – however niche.  Silicon Valley and Madison Avenue have locked horns in a battle that will probably rage for a decade, while social networks, having rejigged our perceptions about what public life is, are quickly morphing into media empires that fight for the services of the best creative writers, filmmakers and musicians.  Many of whom are the best of the next generation.  Even the path to real metrics is becoming clearer.  So all the big building blocks are roughly in place.  Right?  But where does this leave the humble modern marketeer?  Well, that really depends on the individual.  In my experience the people who came into the world of marketing because…

…it was careful and cosy are finding the going tough, while those who are excited by the Mega-Media-Morph are loving the chance to innovate and experiment.  Not necessarily in a big way, but innovation nonetheless.  One of the themes of my recent client sessions has been that I am definitely not there to provide people with a new rule book, only to help them with their own decision-making.  Because, in a world where everything has been thrown up in the air, the only reliable roadmap is the one you draw up yourself.  

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