{"id":935,"date":"2014-04-21T21:20:11","date_gmt":"2014-04-21T21:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theswitch.us\/blog\/?p=935"},"modified":"2014-04-22T15:38:39","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T15:38:39","slug":"reluctant-persuader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/reluctant-persuader\/","title":{"rendered":"The Reluctant Persuader"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sometimes when marketing works, the Earth loses.<\/address>\n
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Big Data weighs heavily on today\u2019s marketers.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The difference between winning and losing often resides in the ability to understand (or manipulate) the information presented to generate a targeted, logical, and creative approach to changing the hearts, minds and buying behaviors of the client\u2019s customers.<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t stop there.\u00a0 In real time, every time, all the time, brands and companies want to know what\u2019s working and what is not.\u00a0 Finding those pivot points so that messaging and media can be redirected towards success is an essential aspect of successful marketing in this century.<\/p>\n

But we needn\u2019t build algorithms or server farms to see if the marketing strategies, advertising campaigns and media plans we craft are working.\u00a0 We can simply view\u2026or smell, the mounds of garbage buried in unloved locations around our world, or the continents of debris floating in our oceans, or the massive scars we\u2019ve lashed into\u00a0<\/span>our planet and people\u00a0in search of minerals, metals and liquids that fuel consumption<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Reconciling the ingenuity, creativity and romance that resides amongst those charged with influencing the marketplace with the harsh realities that we, the marketers, are a cog in the killing machine known as\u00a0<\/span>consumerism,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>is difficult.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

More often than not, when marketing works, the Earth loses.<\/p>\n

Responsibility in this exchange is easy to dodge \u2013 accountability brushed aside.\u00a0\u00a0 After all, as the saying goes\u2026don\u2019t kill the messenger.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Wrong.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Gleaning inspiration from\u00a0<\/span>Victor Papanek<\/span><\/a><\/span>, marketers must begin to take responsibility for not only the work they create, but also the result of the actions they inspire.\u00a0 This is true social marketing\u2026not selfies and Instagrams of your dinner plate.<\/p>\n

In 2004\u00a0<\/span>Yvon Chouinard<\/span><\/a><\/span>, the cerebral founder of Patagonia wrote of the \u201ceconomy of abundance\u201d and the mirage that marketers, like myself, create for consumers.\u00a0 Pulling heartstrings, tapping funny bones and dazzling with technology, we continually make the richest people in the richest nations of the world feel as if they\u2019re missing out.\u00a0 As if they do not have enough.\u00a0 That more is better.\u00a0 Newer is needed.\u00a0 With gold-plated blinders we march them towards phantom happiness, shredding our world as we go.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0<\/span>Dr. Peter Senge<\/span><\/a><\/span>, author and MIT lecturer said, \u201cWe are sleepwalking into disaster, going faster and faster to get where no one wants to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not all is lost.\u00a0 Chouinard\u2019s enlightened approach to business has positioned Patagonia as a transparent beacon in the movement towards a more responsible approach to business.\u00a0 From brazenly telling his customers not to purchase gear and clothing from them unless absolutely needed, to the creation of the\u00a0<\/span>Footprint Chronicles<\/span><\/a><\/span>, an exercise in transparency that allows the public to see Patagonia\u2019s environmental impact on Earth.\u00a0 (DB- May be relevant to mention the social\/viral\/tangible movements as well \u2013 Worn Wear\u2122 and Common Threads partnership.\u00a0 Just a few \u2018actionable\u2019 campaigns they\u2019ve started\u2026walking the talk in a sense.)<\/p>\n