Just read a post that made an analogy which makes a great deal of sense – we’ve all been told that agency life is about keeping many plates spinning – now this has been updated for the post American Idol (and Abdul!) world…
“It is an amazing time to be in the business. More exciting than when Bernays invented PR, or Bernbach redefined creative. Opportunity abounds if you’re willing to stay curious and think like a choreographer as much as a creator.”
Godin, Jaffe, Brogan… Abdul!?Think like a choreographer. That’s a brilliant line because that really is a vital skill now for any marketing professional that wants to be relevant and of real value to a client or brand. To me, a choreographer can take a variety of elements – music, stage, dancers, costumes, musicians, the audience – and blend that together into something cohesive, intelligible and ultimately something with emotional impact.
Now, transfer that notion to marketing. The marketer who can take a product, an ad campaign, consumer-generated content, a website and a live event and blend that together into something cohesive, intelligible and ultimately something with emotional impact has created something of real value.
A nimble marketing choreographer will be able to adjust quickly to changes in the marketplace and leaves room for interpretative freestyling from creatives. She’ll be able to remove certain elements and add others without losing the thematic of the whole. A marketing choreographer will be able to coordinate the efforts of multiple agencies, bringing their expertise to the fore without the conflicts that arise when multiple divas must share the spotlight.
And perhaps most importantly of all, a marketing choreographer understands the importance meeting the needs of the client / patron who is ultimately paying for this work of art.
So, who are these marketing choreographers? Are they the strategists at ad agencies? Is it folks like Naked or the Barbarian Group? Possibly, but it could just as easily be someone in-house, at the PR agency or the digital shop. Ultimately it will be the person/agency with the best ability to think laterally and see the big picture. It will be whomever has the humility to understand they are just part of the big picture and the agileness of mind to see how all the pieces fit together.
http://www.rickliebling.com/2009/11/23/paula-abdul-the-next-marketing-guru/