Marketers, just do work.

One month ago, I graduated from college. With a degree in marketing. Wanting to do interactive advertising.

Which means that, over the past few years (and even more over the past few months), I have been digging through job postings, prowling through lists of "The Top ___ Ad Agencies," and trekking through dozens of agency websites. I was quite impressed with the first several ad agency websites I explored - especially those for interactive* agencies. [for those of you not quite sure what "interactive" means, see my definition below]

Beyond the "coolness" factor of the clean or eclectic, minimalist or avant-garde, always esthetically pleasing, full-of-white-space-and-streaming-video, often Flash-driven sites, I especially loved the inspiring "our philosophy" sections that I would discover on these sites. Wow! these agencies "got it" - they understood things that we had been talking about in my marketing classes. They understood that marketing isn't just about shouting messages at consumers and convincing them to buy stuff so that companies can make money. No, it's about building relationships, and creating value, and partnering research with creativity, and having an integrated strategy, and being remarkable, and earning fans, and starting conversations, and developing trust and transparency.

I was so excited to discover that agencies have this fresh and original look at marketing!

Until, a few days ago, after wading through the millionth obligatory "marketing philosophy" page, I reached an exasperated conclusion: ALL of the advertising agencies that are worth their salt "get it" already. ALL of them understand the current approach to marketing, such as I described above. ALL of them have, basically, this same core philosophy. THEY'RE ALL SAYING THE SAME THING. Which means that none of them are really original any more. They don't need to keep saying the same thing that everybody knows already.

So, my fellow marketers and advertising professionals, quit talking and just get back to marketing. Take your lofty philosophies (most of which I agree with, by the way), and use them! Do marketing! And do it with excellence and effectiveness, and be remarkable, and earn fans for your clients, and stop trying to use your philosophy to prove that you're different. Just do great work.

Yesterday I stumbled upon this article on MediaPost.com, describing the website of NC-based agency Boone Oakley. Boone Oakley seems to be saying the same thing I've been thinking (just in slightly different words than I would have chosen). And actually, their "website" isn't a website at all, but rather an interactive (haha) YouTube video. Check it out: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=107402

*definition of interactive advertising (by Haley) - advertising that involves two-way communication between a company and its customers, rather than the traditional one-way communication found in media like tv commercials, radio spots, billboards, magazine ads, etc. To do this, interactive advertising agencies often use tools like public relations events, customizable products, Internet ads, company websites, online contests, customer review sites, microsites, blogs, text-messaging, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, iPhone applications, etc. Hence the website of any agency that does any interactive work at all is typically very creative and...well...interactive.

So It Begins

Having finally run out of excuses for staying so behind the Web 2.0 curve, today I start a blog. Here's why: I'm a thinker. I love thinking about things. One of my favorite ways to spend my free time (when I have free time) is to take a long walk, or a long drive, or to sit in the park, and think. Think and have conversations with God. Sometimes the things I think about aren't worth sharing with anybody else; but sometimes when I think, I get ideas that maybe aren't half-bad. Some of those ideas are rather good, I think (God must be the One giving me those). And so, if I get ideas that I think are rather good, and if I can articulate them well, I think that someone else might like to hear about them and think about them with me.

So here I have this blog. Here I will share what I've been thinking about things like marketing (my career passion), life (something everybody wants), God (Someone pretty amazing), politics (no comment...yet), and other topics that wander through my head. I hope you will enjoy these posts - if not all of them, then at least some of them. And I hope that you will join these conversations (for that is what I desire them to be), and share with me what you think about the things I've been thinking about. If you think an idea of mine is half-baked, please correct me (nicely, though). And if you like these ideas or these conversations, feel free to steal them and share them with your friends. Only, be a good friend and tell them where you found these ideas; they might like to join in, as well.

I look forward to conversing with you.

- Haley