I had to tell someone the other day that truism that’s worth repeating: ‘marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department’. It sounded like I was trying to unduly ruffle feathers –ours, as we are the marcom department. But it’s true. What marketing does can only be as effective as the inputs we get. Client servicing has a better handle on what their customers are thinking, and what resonates with them than anyone else.

Marketing is indeed a different animal today. or I should say different ‘insect -considering this article by Tom Asacker, at marketingProfs. He says:

The marketplace of old resembled a mass of caterpillars hanging around the tree of traditional media, venturing down the branches of mass distribution, and consuming the offshoots of brand advertisers. No more. The masses have escaped their pupae, spread their distinctive wings, and are fluttering around fields blossoming with an abundance of colorful and succulent offerings. A fleeting glimpse is all one usually gets of them.

Josef Jaffe, ponders such questions on Across the Sound, his podcast that often talks about consumer generated content, and where creative ideas may come from. He has very interesting opinions about it. In his book, Life after the 30-second spot, he put it this way:

"When talking to the new age marketing zealots, I dance on the 30-second’s grave and sing hallelujah," and is very, very optimistic about the future of advertising, now that this old format has lost its grip.