I have been reading a few too many negative blog posts lately about whether or not companies would be spending more money in experimental marketing, or if they would be pulling their money out of the space with the advertising/marketing/PR budgets shrinking, but I have also had and read some interesting conversations stating the opposite. I decided to call out some things that refreshed my look at thinks. This is a long one folks, so please stick with me.
This morning I had a chance to catch up with Marybeth Berberich, who I met
first at The University of Cincinnati. We had not had a chance to really catch up in a while. What started as a polite “how have you been” conversation quickly moved to a comfortable conversation point for us, Marketing Theory. Marybeth and I worked together to prove theories on the future of communication for Proctor and Gamble. What I would typically be a trip down memory lane was replaced with our thoughts on what generic grocery brands might do to stay current with their consumers, from a branding standpoint especially the creative/design approaches they could take with their visual branding.
This conversation made me long for my college days, when I could spend afternoons debating theory about the future of marketing, branding, and advertising with super intelligent people. However, I quickly realized that I still get to have those conversations on a fairly regular basis, with people just as smart and fun as Marybeth.
Living with Paull Young, I had a chance to debate the
intricacies, and nuances of the social media landscape. Most commonly we would discuss the balance between the management of your online reputation and the transparency that our industry requires. In fact Paull’s insight into the topic has made me change my approach to my Facebook profile, as well as my twitter updates.
I feel as though everyone who knows of Paull Young, also knows that he is a thought leader, and that he knows as much about the space as our industry’s heavy hitters. I actually consider him to be one. However, the deep thought and theory that he has swirling around in his mind I have been privy to in a way I think most will only get if he publishes a book of random thoughts from down under one day. (SIDE NOTE: That book is complete speculation, but if for some reason it’s titled “Random Thoughts From Down Under” or some variation of that I want a share of the profit. No less than 55%, Youngie)
I have recently been able to bounce many ideas about social media’s
future off of Jackie Vettorino. We have discussed mobile, traditional PR’s role in new media, new media’s role in traditional PR, and so many other topics. We agree on many things, and have agreed to disagree on even more. J-Vet is one of the smartest people I know when it comes to social media and does more to carry her own around the space.
Too many nights of social drinking have turned into conversations about the tech space or what is worth paying attention to and what isn’t. Our friends are nice enough to let us geek out and stand with blank looks on their face as we discuss the pros and cons of wordpress vs. tumbler, or debate weather the G1 is the iPhone killer or if one of Blackberry’s new offerings is the assassin.
In reading my bloglines, I find that a-lot of the excitement is being replaced with criticism of companies who are not approaching the space properly, or boutique agencies who have made mistakes with campaigns. I know there is a need for influential bloggers to speak about the reasons why campaigns have not generated the amount of buzz their clients anticipated, but part of me is not ready to stop talking about the possibilities in our industry’s future.
With people like the ones I’ve mentioned above, I think we have an opportunity to really take the social media game in a successful direction. And to be honest not matter how the economy is doing, I believe, companies should be spending more money in this space, but they should be doing it more wisely. The trick is determining who is playing in the space effectively, by taking a look at the agency’s strategy, and the people hired to execute it.