Take courage in the face of disruption and rapid changes to marketing
As the role of marketing changes rapidly with developments of new tools, Phil Whitehouse urges us to ‘take courage’. There’s a building near where I used to work in London, by the old warehouses near Borough Market, which had the words ‘take courage’ emblazoned on the walls. Every time I walked by, it always made me smile – even though I knew the sign was actually an old advert for a brewery, it still put a spring in my step. Sitting as it does in an area with several marketing agencies, it feels prescient for our time. The complexity and opportunity facing the modern marketeer demands a strong backbone, putting it mildly. At a recent vendor conference, one of the speakers announced the results of a survey; respondents had been asked whether they agreed with the following statement: “Marketing has changed more in the last 2 years than in the last 50” – and amazingly, the results were that 76% agreed with this statement! Even knowing how complex things have become, this is still a staggering response. This result suggests that the popularisation of the internet itself in the 90’s and 00’s had less impact on marketing departments than the events of the past 24 months.