Please Allow Me To ...

As a new pile of shit seems ready to greet the fan every day in 2009, I find little to feel positive about in the ad biz. Clearly, we're at the dawn of a new age. Unfortunately, the future of advertising and marketing remain firmly clenched in the sweaty palms of those not qualified to herald in this new era. Theirs is not the blame. After all, they started fresh faced and inspired at some point in their career. Their reward for having been beat down are the positions held today. The best way to keep them is to remain firmly entrenched in the same process and speak that have proven results over the past 50 years. Innovation is for the brave - and foolish - who will blaze the trail only to be trodden over once victorious.

Yes, it's a fool's game. It's a thankless task for those that venture in with dreams or ambition. The reward is only paid out in hours of service. I've seen the best laid plans washed aside for a rehash of what kinda worked before to be followed by harsh criticism and calls for innovation. It's a vicious cycle that chews up the weak and thrives on cowards.

I offer no strength. If you're looking for best practice, keep moving. In today's biz, you're probably already doing it. If you're looking for thought leadership, there's plenty of voices already pleading to be heard. I seek nothing more than an avenue to keep me sane. A space to lay out the crazy ramblings that bounce around my head as I fight through the madness and vileness of this world.

What you may find, should my better humours get the best of me, is some reason to the collision between technology and marketing. There has to be a better way. Actually, there is a better way. No agency is capturing the true strength of digital marketing today. A couple companies have used the power of today's digital world to their strength - but only through internal resources. Whether this even constitutes marketing anymore is beyond my expertise. I know of no one that can see the future - though it has done nothing to prevent hundreds from trying.

What will come, will come. How we name it is beside the point. Who gets ownership of it is currently a knock down brawl in boardrooms filled with the seediest c crowds you'd care to encounter this side of the windy city. What comes from the battle will sure to be a ream of fancy new titles worn like heroic medals on the lapel. For the other 99% - more of the same.

Oh yes, now that's the stuff. I'm feeling better already. There will always be a place for smart thinking and reason. How far that resonates is beside the point.

God help us all.