None of it is important (and all of it is)

Steinbeck points out that the stars shine in the sky, regardless of the drama here on Earth.

Perspective fools us into believing that our point of view is primary, but it’s not difficult to imagine a more distant (or closer) one that would change everything.

The service at table 7 might not matter much to the waiter, but it matters a great deal to the elderly couple celebrating a positive medical diagnosis. The greeting you offer to a stranger might seem trivial to you, but it could change the arc of that stranger’s day. And the drama that consumes us in this moment might be forgotten in just a few days…

“Important” always requires a modifier. Important to whom? Compared to what? In what time frame?

It’s all important. And none of it is.

      

Art is a verb

If a machine makes a painting that no one ever sees, it might be well-crafted or match some objective form of beauty, but it’s not art.

Art changes the creator and the viewer. Art requires participation. Art is a verb.

Decoration is important. Beauty matters. But decoration and beauty are insufficient to create art. Music, images, tastes and words become art when a transformation happens.

“What is the change you seek to make?” The answer to that question can inform our work.

No change, no art.

      

Marketing clerks

Bookkeepers do important work. But a bookkeeper is not the head of accounting.

Marketers are responsible for anything the organization does that touches the market. But many people with ‘marketer’ in their title simply go to meetings and do tasks after the real work of marketing is already done.

Some tech companies have hundreds of people in their marketing department. Most of them are simply playing catch up, because the engineers are making all the powerful and leveraged marketing decisions.

Who is making the difficult decisions on your team? That’s the person who’s actually in charge of marketing.

      

Real artists…

Real artists do all the painting themselves, not like Rembrandt

Real artists use brushes, not technology like Cartier-Bresson

Real writers write it out by hand, not like Jack Kerouac

Real musicians record it live, not like Steely Dan

Real singers sing without processing, not like Kanye West and Daft Punk

Real directors do the prep without AI, not like Martin Scorsese

It turns out that real artists have always used technology. What they have in common is intent, responsibility, and the ability to create a feeling in the audience.

“Here, I made this.”

      

How to teach marketing

Trick title. There are at least three kinds of “marketing” we ought to be teaching:

1. Marketing from the point of view of the consumer. This is something every student should be taught, beginning at a young age. How do marketers manipulate customers? What desires do they amplify? What is surveillance capitalism and how does our quest for convenience get in the way of our happiness? What do we need to understand about debt, status and affiliation to become mindful in a market-ized world?
   
2. Marketing as a job in an organization. Going to meetings, creating decks, understanding spreadsheets. Terms of art like lifetime value and market share. The difference between a brand and a logo. Non-profits and corporations spend billions on marketing, and working in that system requires insight and competence.
   
3. Marketing as a craft. Strategic marketing. Telling stories that spread. Building an asset. Marketing as a service on behalf of your customers. Owning the responsibility that goes with the leverage that marketers have.

Most organized marketing instruction is about the first or second, with some online courses teaching hustle and hype, which I don’t count as marketing. My best work is about the third kind, the one where it all began.

More here.

      

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