Old-school/New-school

Kathy Sierra writes some great stuff on the collaborative blog, "Creating Passionate Users."

"You ARE a marketer. Deal with it." begins by reminding us how practically the whole world scorns marketers. (Think "used car salesman" for an over-generalized image here.) Then she points out how the "open-source/cluetrain world" is causing "Old-school" marketing to give way, leaving us all to be -- that's right -- marketers.

I thought of totallly ripping off her chart comparing traditional marketing side-by-side with what she calls "Neo-marketing" but thought better of it. You can go study it yourself, if you're interested. Some of the contrasts she draws, are worth mentioning, however, such as:

• In Old-school marketing, marketers have the power; in Neo-marketing, users do.
• Old-school: one-way broadcast; Neo-marketing: two-way conversation
• Old-school: uses deception to sell; Neo: depends on transparency
• Old: bullshit; Neo: authenticity
• Old: 30-second spots are king; Neo: word-of-mouth is king
• Old: get the customer to believe in it; Neo: You believe in it

Is the company you work for still hopelessly "Old" or are they climbing aboard the "Neo" train (hopefully before it leaves the station)?

One of the "Old marketer" commenters on the post offers a rebuttal worth reading, if only so you yourself can refute him, point by point.

Another commenter offers a sobering thought that rings true: "The dispersal of the marketing function over the whole of society doesn't make it any less unpleasant; on the contrary, it makes it nastier, because not only do we have to put up with marketing from others, we now have to put up with the marketing we do ourselves."