Brand Autopsy

Wow, now THAT'S entertainment. Drama, tension, cameos from big name marketing celebrities. As a small fish swimming in a very big marketing pond I notice a lot of mutual admiration society behaviour. Everybody cross-posts, provides link love, etc.

Nice to see a little edge spring up every now and then.

This strikes me as a bit of a victimless crime. Ok, so Balter et al are using possibly manipulative tactics to ultimately promote their ideas. They aren't forcing these bloggers to join in. My guess is that Balter would return the favor at some point as well (if not, then I have a problem).

I like the online marketplace of ideas to be open, if Balter's ideas were weak people wouldn't be helping him.

Some disagreement, now and then
Is useful to the wisest men

I try not to slobber all over Seth, but my core takeaway is his comment from, like, eleven minutes ago on PK's blog: words matter (wait; I wrote a Change This manifesto called 'Manners Matter' . . . am I quoting myself?) and so does motivation.

I don't think changing the words from 'ego trap' to 'hero marketing' changes what happened, but it does recognize (or assume) a different intent.

Which is, to me, the fundament of marketing and sales. If what I have is really really what you need, I'm going to try to persuade you. Of course, I'll also try to persuade you if I'm a sleazy gimmicky salesman who only wants your money.

I hope the folks I speak to know which motivation is mine. I *really* hope the folks who don't know me, but write about me on their blog, give me the benefit of the doubt until I prove otherwise.

Can I be reasonably un-useful and just say, "wow, what a nice graphic!"