-M.

GREAT EXAMPLE! Thanks for checking into my blog.

Cheers!

Many thanks. The message is always important. People ultimately decide on what the final result of a campaign is; and the marketing team is only the tip of the iceberg. What forms the rest of the mass the proverbial iceberg are – wait for it – the consumers / customers. Most marketing teams still don’t seem to get this. Anyway, one day, they will. They will.

My only addition to what lies here is that I am a practitioner and I’ve had to slide in innovation under the guise of creativity, often not making myself terribly popular, however I’ve done it and the results have spoken for themselves. It has been worth it. I’ve served international brands and agencies. I’ve been using the internet since I was around 14. I’m now 35. I think I sort of get it.

I can’t add much more to this post, other than … thanks, Michelle.

Ciao.

One word: AMEN.

When your customers become fans and appropriate your brand for their ankles, their cars, their websites, you DON’T SUE THEM FOR BREACH OF COPYRIGHT.

You feature them, you invite them to your conference, you link to them and you THANK them for their support.

The biggest problem with marketing people is that they think they can control the message and that they OWN the brand. But their brand is always owned by their customers.

And companies think they have to control their employees because, at heart, most companies don’t trust their staff and for good reason; they are projecting.

This is so right, “great marketing is hiring good people & trusting them to take care of customers”

Exactly.

And your point about having a company and a product that doesn’t suck? That’s the other problem, we have shifted to an economy where “getting people to buy our stuff” is all that matters.

There was a great cartoon back in the build-it-and-flip-it stage where some staffer suggested the company build a great product that everyone needed and loved. he was laughed out of town.

Says everything.

Thanks for this post. I sent a thank-you note recently to my college marketing professors for doing a great job at teaching the basics, which is what you’re driving home here. Despite any technology or media advances, it’s always important to remember that the message and brand comes first.

Great blog – keep it up!

Sean

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_story_of_the_fail_whale.php