As a follow-up to my post, "At Amazon, Marketing is for Dummies" i wrote this piece for the Adage CMO Strategy column.  Check it out, I'd love your feedback!

http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=140520

Gap's founder, Donald G. Fisher, died last week at 81 years old.  I consider myself extremely fortunate to have known him in my time as head of marketing for Gap brand.

His passing prompted me to pull a book off of my shelf -- one that is titled, "Falling into the Gap."  Don gave me a copy of this book on my birthday in 2004 (he didn't know it was my birthday, but it was such a nice coincidence to receive it on that day).  I had forgotten that in the book were three notes he had written to me - one a letter on his stationary, one handwritten inside the book's cover, and one on a sticky note that was tucked away in the back.  There have been many stories written about Gap over the years, most unauthorized.  This book was written by Don for the sole purpose of telling his story, as he wrote on one of my notes, "Dear Jeff, it's taken me six years to complete this book, which I produced so my grandchildren and great-grandchildren have some history of the Gap and me.  I have no intention to publish the book for sale or public distribution and have produced only a limited number of copies for my family and friends."

Thank you Don for this amazing book, and the opportunity I had to be part of helping keep your legacy alive.

In the September 28 issue of Business Week, the annual "100 Best Global Brands" are revealed.  When I was CMO of Gap, we were ranked in the high 20's...22 I believe.  Now they are 78...sad.

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/09/0917_global_brands/index.htm

But what caught my attention most was the article by Spencer E. Ante titled, "At Amazon, Marketing is for Dummies."  I was not surprised at all to read more about Amazon's anti-advertising stand.  Bezos is famously quoted for saying, "advertising is the price you pay for an inferior product."  But I was SHOCKED to see this headline followed by the sub-head, "Instead of lavish ads, it invests in technology and distribution - and the results are startling effective."

Best I can tell, Amazon.com is an online business, so its website IS its product and its warehouse system and infrastructure is how it distributes the goods it sells.  Also, last time I checked, product and distribution are two of the essential pillars of marketing.  But this article said, "at Amazon, marketing is for dummies."  So what gives?

This is a classic example of what's happened to what I call "Big-M Marketing."  Let's face it, Marketing as a function has lost credibility in America.  Many things can and must be done to fix this, beginning with clearly understanding what marketing is and isn't.  While I believe to my core that marketing communications is an essential element to building and growing many brands (not true for every business), we simply must stop confusing the role of Marketing with the discrete and unique role of each of its elements.

Oh, and PS...Amazon did go looking for a "hotshot ad agency" -- I was there and with my creative partner, presented them a number of different ideas! 

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_39/b4148053513145.htm

being that McKinney is a deeply technologically savvy organizaton, i'm surrounded by people who are WAY out in front when it comes to the internet, mobile, applications, technology, development, etc. 

i also have two daughters who are entering 2nd and 4th grade, and are blessed to attend a school that is way out in front when it comes to using technology in the classroom.

while visiting school today i was struck by how my two worlds are coming together and it literally made me pause and wonder, will my daughters be writing code before they leave middle school?  at what point in the future will software development become an academic requirement for all students, not a special skill? 

will it ever become the modern equivalent of the 4th R?

i got my dream job out of college - working for leo burnett in chicago!  They turned me down 4 times first, but that's for another post!

i was one of eighteen "kids" who joined and the only one without a graduate degree - they called me "off the street" because i wasn't recruitied.  and i wasn't offended.

they put us in something called the pit - the training ground for new burnetters where you spent one year in training before becoming an assistant account executive.  the learning was rich and the culture was vibrant.  but, sadly, i don't hear much about agency training anymore.

last year we created something called blackwell school - a very real "place" where mckinney peeps can learn about anything ranging from how we make money to selling to understanding a P&L to production to digital 101/201/301 and much more.  in a little less than one year we've held 80+ sessions and had hundreds of attendees!  we evaluate every session and are continuing to find ways to make the learning more relevant and interactive.

i feel like what we're doing is re-energizing a commitment to people wanting to and getting better, and i think the work shows.  but what else is out there?  what else can or should we be doing?  any ideas or suggestions?

WOW!

It's been several years since i was WOW'd by something online, but i just had the experience again.  And now i'm not sure why...

I'm flying (right this very minute, i'm flying on AA #1155 to SFO via DFW) as i write this entry and I think that's the WOW part -- American Airlines offering new Wi-Fi Onboard service for $9.95 from Gogoinflight.

I see two sides to this experience.  On one hand, it's not FREE...and i can quickly see why we won't reimburse for this as a rule.  A bunch of people on planes a lot tallying up $20 bills, in addition to Wi-Fi connections on the ground and in hotels could get crazy!  On the other hand, it is working really, really well.  To test its muscle, i just Skyped with my wife at her home office.  While i didn't talk (so not to disturb other passengers) the chat feature was flawless and the video connection was as good as it is on the ground.  I also was able to clear out my email inbox - this is obviously part of the "two sides" of things. 

In the past, flights have been a time to catch up on reading, tackle essential work that needs to be handled without interruption, prepare to see a client, day dream, etc.  Now, the temptation will be real to send a file, check email, update my FB status and all kinds of things i used to not want or be able to do while flying.  We'll see which temptation wins!

So this part of my sacred travel ritual seems to have been violated...in a mainly positive way, I think.  PLEASE airlines...whatever you do...never, ever let voice calls happen!

Why is it that marketers believe their challenges are so different from others?  I hear it frequently, "Jeff, I appreciate that's what you've done for client X, Y and Z...but you have to understand...."  

Our Company is really different

Our Consumer is really different

Our Category is really different

Our Customer is really different

REALLY?

Don't get me wrong...I appreciate that each brand and industry has a unique set of circumstances that make challenges and opportunities theirs.  But it seems like more and more marketers are relishing in the drama being created about how different they are.

Having now spent the last 20 years of my life working in marketing across at least two dozen different industries and at least as many brands, i have to say most marketing problems are more similar than different.

I wish we spent more strategic and creative energy finding unique solutions to problems versus wallowing in the twised pride of having one or more of the "C's" being so different.

Google is notoriously an innovative culture.  Here are their Nine Notions of Innovation:

1.       Innovation, not instant perfection

2.       Share everything you can

3.       You're brilliant, we're hiring

4.       A license to pursue dreams

5.       Ideas come from everywhere

6.       Don't politic, use data

7.       Creativity loves restraint

8.       Worry about usage and users, not money

9.       Don't kill projects, morph them

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of auditing the first ever ANA Innovation Day, hosted by Google/NYC.  It was a real honor to receive the invitation to attend from the ANA as it was technically a member-only event!

The jam-packed agenda provoked many questions and thoughts, I've tried to capture them here...

•·         General Electric takes a very strong stand that the CMO is central to innovation which was refreshing to hear!

•·         They talk about innovation in terms of imagination which reflects a more purposeful, but creative approach.  Surprisingly, however, was to learn that GE only has 34% attribution of "ecomagination" as part of their corporate tagline...would have expected more.

•·         They also talk about Insight in an interesting way..."In" is the emotional component and "sight" is the functional component.

•·         Ryan Jacoby from IDEO shared a great silicone caulk case study...yes, silicone caulk.  All about design thinking - and designing for a total experience, not just a product.

•·         Microsoft, GE and Google all mentioned the mobile device...there are 1.2B PC's, 3.2B mobile devices and 6.8B people...the move to mobile is going to be furious!

•·         Google will be releasing GoogleWave soon...supposed to be an entirely new way to communicate...can't wait, we'll see!

I'm psyched about the idea of v2.0!

Can somebody please offer advice about how you decline Facebook "friend" invitations from people who really aren't your friends -- especially when they are people who find you through your relatives...who also found you on Facebook.

It's one thing when your mom joins facebook...then your aunt, then your aunt's friend, etc.

What am i supposed to do?