It's Always Been Marketing

It's always been marketing and always will be. There's all this talk about how agencies and clients are needing to change. While long overdue, it doesn't change the fact that we still rely on marketing to spin the world. Since the first man painted a picture of his successful hunt on a cave wall and claimed his superior killing skills, it's been about marketing.

When fire, the wheel, stone weapons, bronze, iron and steel were discovered it took some serious marketing to prove their worth. Imagine had the first bronze effort involved minted coins. A serious WTF moment. No. I imagine it was turned into a sharp point and used to kill some sort of beast. Like the prehistoric version of Tony Little - it never needs sharpening. Talk about SpearWow.

All our great (and not so great) moments in human history have been nothing but the most successful marketing campaigns.

• The Age of Enlightenment - Direct Marketing
• Spanish Inquisition - Loyalty Marketing
• Choose your Religious Foundations - WOM
• Succession of Military might, Kings, Queens and Leaders - Relationship Marketing
• War of the Worlds broadcast - Viral

Yes, some are a little stretch. But let's not miss the point. It's always been and always will be about changing perceptions. It's not an easy task. Take part persuasion, part inspiration and mix in some greed. While times change only our methods change along with it. The bottom line has not fundamentally shifted from the earliest man.

What makes us human more than thumbs is our ability to persuade and market our strengths and services.

Induco ergo sum?

So before we get too bent out of shape about the current state of this and that, let's return to the roots of the problem we were originally hired to solve. Let's persuade people that what our clients offer is their best choice. When you start to feel lost in the shuffle, think about all the changes in perception fire has had over the last several thousand years. It's not just for cooking anymore.