#117: A marketer threatened, what boards/CEOs need for legacy mountain, eye-rolls and ethics
Good morning! Yesterday I was told to go outside and play. After a week of moving and getting back to work after vacay... this was me:
I hope you get some play time in between the to-do list this weekend.
In this edition:
1. IMPORTANT: You walk into a marketing trope. A woman gets threatened.
2. SXSW's panel picker is open for... picking
3. Brands making decisions this week on ethics and values
4. We are all shackled to legacy mountain
5. He wrote the book on user-friendly design. What he sees today horrifies him.
6. Marketing to women - two new examples of eye-rolling behavior
7. Quote of the week: "the danger of losing our humanity"
1. IMPORTANT: You walk into a marketing trope. A woman gets threatened.
So, you've probably heard that "explanation of marketing" that goes:
“You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say ‘I am very rich. Marry me.’ That’s Direct Marketing.”
If you call her the next day, it's telemarketing, if she recognizes you and says "you're rich, can you marry me" that's brand recognition, etc. Google it if you haven't seen it.
If you've spent any time on social media or reading bad marketing books you've seen it a hundred times. First, you laugh, but when you let it sit for a bit... you start to realize how jokes like this are how we've come to internally normalize this tired, sexist rhetoric.
This is scary: A couple weeks ago, one marketer (Amanda) called out another marketer for reposting such an outdated POV. Rather than take the criticism in stride, he has responded by threatening her and her business across MULTIPLE social channels, continually, for days (it's happening as we speak.)
Amanda wrote an important piece about why these jokes hinder women's progress in the broader context of inequality, and many of us in the community are standing by her in the face of one man's insecurity because we are ALL TOO FAMILIAR with the terrifying potential repercussions.
We need to do better. Stand by the people (of any gender) who speak up about inequality. Brave people like Amanda make themselves vulnerable and in this case, woke up today fearing for her own safety. If anyone has any advice for Amanda please share, I'll fwd.
PS: Most Americans expect the next mass shooting to happen in next three months.
I'm not laughing.
2. SXSW's panel picker is open for... picking
If you think any of the following should be part of 2020's lineup, I ask for your vote (thank you) before August 23rd:
Solo session: Propaganda 2020: Russian Trolls and Rabble Rousers (on educating all about modern persuasion and influence)
Panel: Get Real or Die: How Brands Can Cut Through the BS & Win (on authenticity and values in marketing) feat me + Cassandra Worthy, Mike Bills, and Alaina Shearer
Panel: Closing the Gap Between IRL and URL Experiences (on experiential marketing and content) feat me + Ryan Brown, Kristin Benson, and Som Puangladda
Additional talks I highly recommend from friends:
Free Press, Advertising, & The Future of Democracy, from Nandini Jammi
I Got Your Back! Reinventing Work Team Culture, from Kathy Klotz-Guest
Move Over AI: How Innate intelligence Gets Action, from Nancy Harhut
On Brand Podcast: How to Build a VR Brand, from Nick Westergaard, Amber Osborne, and Joanna Popper
Yours?? I know more of my friends have submitted... Send me your talk on Twitter and I will share!
3. Brands making decisions this week on ethics and values
This week, a few examples of the intersection between politics, ethics, values, and business:
In the LA Times, "High fashion is finally going fur-free, sustainable and ethically sourced. Why now?" (Hint: That's what consumers want.)
In AdWeek, "SoulCycle and Equinox Announce Peloton Competitor on Pretty Much the Worst Day Possible" -- alternative headline: when an executive's support of a deeply unpopular president f*cks up a product launch
In Forbes, "PNC Bank Pulls Out of the Private Prison Industry"
This decision was announced in the wake of national outrage over the role of banks in private prisons, with over 500,000 petitions signed on the issue, and most recently, a petition directed at PNC circulating from the Families Belong Together coalition of over 250 activist groups, representing over 11 million people.
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director of Families Belong Together member organization, MomsRising, said “We and our members across the country applaud PNC for joining its peers in ending financing of for-profit prisons and detention centers; and in making a strong statement that private prisons don’t deserve our dollars. Banks should never profit from the pain and suffering of families.”
On LinkedIn, a post about diversity and inclusion from the CEO of Deloitte is met with calls for the business to end its work with ICE.
Oh the times in which we live are FASCINATING aren't they?
4. We are all shackled to legacy mountain
Maureen Blandford, whose perspective I appreciate for its blunt honesty and pithy fact, recently shared a piece about what prevents organizations from truly embracing digital transformation.
The core premise of her piece is that many firms are "shackled to legacy mountain" - a phrase coined to describe the CIO's hurdles including aging ERP systems, bureaucracy, years of underinvestment, cost-center focus, etc.
The best opportunity for overcoming this challenge sits at the top of the organization, at the CEO/board level. Specifically, Maureen shares that companies need:
a board with:
Digital industry expertise well-represented in the makeup of the board (at least two board members.)
A strategic map of the full-potential, all-dimensions opportunity space in front of the organization for long-term growth and disruption avoidance.
A detailed oversight and regulatory plan for digital in all relevant operating environments.
a CEO with:
A clear-eyed and detailed vision for the future of the organization in the digital age, communicated exceedingly well to the entire organization.
A digital transformation execution team headed by the CIO and backed by the CFO, C-Suite, and the board.
A customer experience program that catches up to the leaders in the market and stays there.
Highly recommend the full piece.
5. He wrote the book on user-friendly design. What he sees today horrifies him.
H/T to Gary Aussant on Twitter for sharing an article from 83-year old Don Norman, a former Apple VP and author of "the industry bible Design of Everyday Things" who writes:
Despite our increasing numbers the world seems to be designed against the elderly... With so many of us needing better devices, why are so many things still designed in ways that defeat our ability to function?
He ends:
Help the elderly, and the results will help many more, including yourself, someday.
6. Marketing to women - two new examples of eye-rolling behavior
I was asked by Chief Marketer to weigh in on the recent controversy surrounding Forever 21 sending out diet bars with their clothing shipments, and Macy's having plates on their store shelves listing portion control sizes according to "skinny jeans" vs "mom jeans."
My take: In a world of body positive narratives and attitudes surrounding women, the backlash is warranted. Think about the moves you make in context of these narratives. Marketers are the internal watchdog on every touchpoint in the customer experience. We've gotta be asking at every stage "is this the right impression we want to make? Does this align with our values and the values of our customer?"
Read Patty Odell's full article here.
7. Quote of the week: "the danger of losing our humanity"
We lost Toni Morrison this week. The wonderful Roxane Gay wrote a touching tribute in which she celebrates Toni's "prescient and clear-eyed distillations of power, how it is wielded, and who must bend or be broken in the face of it."
As Roxane writes:
Many of the pieces were written well before the Trump era, but perfectly capture the current moment: the rise of fascism as “marketing for power” and the truth that the “danger of losing our humanity must be met with more humanity.”
These are troubling times. Pay attention. Be active. Your humanity is your strongest asset.
- Katie
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