The Great Marketing Dilemma: Excellence Vs. Competence
 | Any truly good marketer knows, there is a difference between excellence and competence. It's the same as the difference between motion and progress. I was in a meeting recently where junior marketing managers presented a chorus of bland informational marketing materials to a large cross-departmental management team. They presented with beaming pride the latest statement stuffer, brochure insert or internal newsletter. The room was filled with leaders from throughout the company...a twice- a-year affair for most attendees. Where was the big idea? The breakthrough concept? The big picture thinking? The creativity that would chart a course for leadership? In talking with a colleague, we discussed the fact that so many businesses today are becoming inundated with individuals that, while competent and well-meaning, wouldn't recognize a good idea if it hit them in the head. And they are supposed to be the marketers, the creative class of the company. But alas, they embrace creations that would make David Ogilvy roll over in his grave. Companies are filled cookie cutter cubicle-dwellers. "Team members" more concerned with fulfilling their Microsoft Project schedules, dotting the I's, staying 3% under budget and preserving their job security. The same individuals that wouldn't have the faintest idea as to whether a concept would be effective in changing consumer perceptions in a meaningful way, but are expert at squeezing 12 highly-accurate and "essential" copy points into the body of an ad no one would ever be inspired to read in the first place. They can mimic the latest marketing buzzwords, but are unable to generate an original thought of their own. Perhaps it is due to budgets, maybe it's because senior managers are no longer real marketers, possibly that schools are cranking out drones or maybe it's because the computer has made it so easy to spit out mediocre work. The truth is, it's not their fault...they have never been trained or mentored in the art of marketing. Could this be part of the reason that less than 1% of all ad messages are even remembered? In my days of working with Procter & Gamble, this was anything but the case. Brand Managers were groomed, taught, nurtured and refined into solid marketers. I know, sometimes the P&G way has been maligned for slothfulness and conservatism...but P&G-trained marketers were "students" of marketing. They had substance and viewed marketing as an investment in the growth of their most valued asset: their brand. As senior executives, we need to realize that we make an impact in the standards and examples we set within our organizations. By the challenges, expectations and praise we promote among the marketing team. We must encourage greatness...effectiveness...accountability...smart ideas and yes, wherever possible, breaking out of the norm. We create the "boundaries" to what is possible within our companies and in the marketplace. Don't get me wrong, accuracy and legal clearance are responsibilities of any marketer worth their salt. But we must FIRST instill a spirit of greatness in our people. Here are some ways to identify "good versus great":
Life is short, dare to be great. |
Nice article John, thoughtful, intelligent and as always inspiring.
As I’ve learned from your example, life is way too short to settle for mediocrity.
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