The good times are back and marketing is fun again

When I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s I distinctly remember as I watched (too much) television that I enjoyed the commercials. Early on I recall a lot of breakfast cereals: Trix, Cap’n Crunch, Franken Berry, and Count Chocula (fortified with 8 essential vitamins and iron) come to mind.

As I hit junior high school, I paid more attention to the heavily advertised L'eggs pantyhose (girls! "they hug you, they hold you, they never let you go"), and of course the cigarette and beer ads.

I imagine that it was fun to be a consumer products marketer in the 1960s and 1970s! Looking at it from afar and without having been there, I assume you only needed to focus on a few television networks and the biggest budgets won the war. Looking back with nostalgia, it looks exciting to be a part of the Mad Men culture, enjoying a martini and a smoke at lunch and talking shop with your agency people.

Sure, it's easy to look back to the "good old days" (especially if you are too young to actually have worked in the ad business then). It's easy to ignore the negative aspects of too much booze, sugar, and cigarettes. But still...

The reality of offline B2B marketing

I became a marketer myself in the very late 1980s. I recall my work into the 1990s and early 2000s and it wasn't so much fun. No martinis at lunch. No TV commercials.

I was a B2B marketer, typically working with challenger brands rather than market leaders. We had tiny budgets. We couldn't afford fancy agencies so we did the work ourselves.

It was often a tough slog. And while I am generally an upbeat person and find the good bits in everything I do, it was difficult to get excited about writing another white paper or proofing a product brochure. Don't even get me started on "discussing" sales leads with the VP of sales!

The good times are now!

Today marketing is an absolute blast. B2B, B2C, nonprofit, whatever – we're having fun now.

Actually communicating with customers via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks is exciting!

How cool is it to interview a rock star in your industry and pop it onto YouTube or Vimeo!

It's thrilling that one burst of cleverness can generate more media coverage than a hundred thousand dollars of PR agency pitching!

We'll never go back the Mad Men era. But we've got our own good times and they are right now.

I predict that a decade or two from now we will look back at this era too with fond nostalgia.

Count Chocula box via the wonderful Found in Mom’s Basement blog.
Instagram pic of me with Amanda Palmer by the fun-loving Steve Garfield.

Comments

[Nick Morgan]

Hey, David --

Great post, and the serious point behind the fun here is that two things are happening (like they were back then): 1. Creativity is exploding once again, because boundaries are being broken and rules ignored. 2. The gatekeepers and rule-keepers have lost control and democracy is ascendant. I'm not sure why it happened back then, but it's obviously technology and the Internet now. I'm also not sure where the cause and effect is here and now, but long may it continue anyway!

[Daniel Katz]

David, glad you're having fun!

Do you think there is an advantage of having the experience of marketing/advertising in the "good old days" in our new connection economy, or do you feel that people who are marketing today with a fresh perspective have the advantage?

[David Meerman Scott]

Nick - Thanks for jumping in. I agree on the the cause & effect but who cares because it is a fun ride to be on!

Daniel - I think it can go either way. However, people from "the good old days" who refuse to adapt are at a definite disadvantage. It's not about TV ads anymore.

[ArtilleryMarket]

David, boy did this resonate with me! I started out in the 80's on Madison Avenue working at JWT (what you would describe as a "fancy"agency) working on consumer package goods. It WAS fun! Sure enough, in the intervening years the work became less so. But now, I haven't been this excited about our line of work since I first started out in the biz. Your post took me down memory lane, put a smile on my face and a spring in my step. Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me I have some newsjacking to do!

[David Meerman Scott]

Artillery - Aweseomeness! So glad that you also see the parallels. Keep having fun!

[Joe Beaulaurier]

Hi David, I've been looking forward to reading this since seeing it show up in my newsfeed yesterday.

Was it you who recently made reference to how marketers today are doing hundreds of little things as opposed to a few big projects as used to be done? Reading this reminded me of that and brought to mind another consideration. As marketers, we're not putting all our clients' eggs in a few big baskets any more. We're doing so many different things, any of which can strike a vein, hit a home run or whatever metaphor you want to use. This certainly helps takes the edge off and keeps things interesting and fun.

[David Meerman Scott]

Hi Joe, Yes, that was my post too. Thanks for the reminder that doing so many different things is fun. You nicely tied two of my posts together!

[Crave Win Marketing]

Good read! I just stumbled on this article and I couldn't agree with you more. Although at times I wish there were more focus on single clients instead of trying to feed the mass. That's where it would be real fun to be like Mad Men.

[Billymitchell1]

David,

What a great way to end a week full of work. Thanks for such an optimistic and upbeat reminder that this is a wonderful time to be in marketing. For me, it's all B2B marketing and although the budgets are limited, there's no reason for our imaginations to be.

Have a great weekend!

[David Meerman Scott]

Billy & "Crave" - Thanks!! I just re-read the post and got energized myself again. We are so fortunate to be living in these times.

[Claire]

I'm just starting out helping a company with B2B and I must admit business to consumer looks like much more fun.

[David Meerman Scott]

Claire, B2B can be exciting. For one thing, there is a lot less competition who are doing good marketing so it is easier to stand out.

[Claire]

Yes that is a good point David. Nobody is doing anything exciting in the marketing of our product type. The key is to be exciting without going completely over the top. That is the hard part! :-)

[Jackie Henderson]

Very inspiring and informative article. I got huge of idea from your article. I seek your permission to share this article with my friends.

[David Meerman Scott]

Jackie - yes, of course.

[Catie Ragusa]

It's good to see that marketers are excited about their jobs! I too love the creativity and the cleverness that comes from social media marketing right now.

You mentioned that in 10 years we'll look back on this time right now with nostalgia--What do you imagine marketing will look like then?

Thanks for the uplifting post :)

[Jason Miller]

It is indeed a great time to be a marketer. I think the combination of social, real time feedback, and the focus on creating an experience for prospects and customers is allowing us to have more fun with our messaging and campaigns. I consider myself to be very lucky in that I get to market to marketers,and with the lines continuing to blur between what works for B2C and B2B, it's only getting better. I fear that some folks forget that B2B marketers like to have fun as well by allowing their personality to shine through in a much needed humanizing fashion.

[David Meerman Scott]

Catie - We're going through a communications revolution that empowers everyone in the world. I'm looking forward to having global communications be available to all 7 billion people in the world and hope it is a catalyst for peace. Now we are at the start of that.

Jason - I agree. I too market to marketers and see that fantastic blur. While I've always enjoyed my jobs, now it is truly exciting!

[MicroSourcing]

Social media and its ability to put customers in touch with marketers directly has made B2B marketing a more dynamic profession.

[David Johnson]

Thanks for this article. Its good to see this in such a positive light. SEO, however is another story.

[David Meerman Scott]

David - It is an awesome time to be doing SEO if it includes a content creation strategy. But just fiddling under the hood isn't so exciting.

[Sheetal Sharma]

I completely agree with the blogger here, marketing has come a long way since 1980's and its much more exciting and fun than it was ever before.With the advent of social media and its deep integration in all functions has resulted into an outburst of new opportunities and tools for making marketing all the more interactive and special, i am happy to be part of this exciting career at Synechron.

[EstevanMcCalley]

Great post! Coming from the sales side of the house, I am ecstatic that thoughtful targeting has replaced traditional door-to-door techniques. It's much better to feel like you're providing value to your prospects rather than annoying most of them. The merging of sales and marketing is providing more opportunities for businesses (making it more fun in the process) and an enhanced experience for prospects. Now that's something even a VP of Sales can enjoy! http://estevanmccalley.com

[David Meerman Scott]

Estevan - you're right about sales & marketing merging opening up opportunities. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Shawn]

Thank you for this interesting post. I am new to marketing and it has been nothing but fun since I have started. It is nice to hear the perspective of someone who has been doing it for a while. I never would have thought of this. I guess you could say that I has been taking for granted the ability to connect with our audience. All of the social media craze is awesome to be involved in with this business.

[David Meerman Scott]

Shawn - you are lucky to be starting in marketing now. When I started in the late 1980s it was kind of the dark ages and not so much fun compared to today!

[Stephen Barr]

Great piece, David. I totally agree that the work is as fun as it has ever been but I still feel like "the bottom line" overpowers the environment and chokes out the outward emotion and energy that makes the place exciting and fun. Or, maybe that is subjective. Either way, I am currently looking for resources, advice and direction on how to have a positive influence on the fun atmosphere of my workplace. If you have any suggestions, I would love your input.

[David Meerman Scott]

Stephen, I think you're right in most companies that the obsessive measurement of quarterly numbers makes it difficult to focus on much else.

I'm on the HubSpot advisory board. Take a look at CEO Brian Halligan's TEDx talk on how he builds a corporate culture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BUmvo2npyI

David