Marketing Is The Rodney Dangerfield Of Business

Once, adgods Bill Bernbach, David Ogilvy, Mary Wells Lawrence, Leo Burnett and Howard Gossage walked the Earth.

These legends went belly-to-belly with CEOs and captains of industry, people with visions. The ad gurus were trusted advisors who built brands with insightful, empathetic and smart ad campaigns. Iconic campaigns that built companies, fueled economic growth and greased the wheels of capitalism.

“All aboard the gravy train express!”

Today, most big companies are run by financial specialists who forecast profits and cut expenses to make their projected numbers, pleasing Wall Street analysts and investors, and earning the corporate leaders lucrative stock options and incentive bonuses.

The vision of business today lasts one quarter… to the next.

When the company projections are determined, the dictate comes down from on high to marketing. The CMO is like Scotty in the engine room of The Enterprise as the command comes from the bridge: “We need more sales and marketshare with less marketing dollars. Get more for less!”

“It can’t be done, captain,” the CMO says (in a bad Scottish accent).

“Make it so!” the order is barked.

“Aye aye, captain,” the dejected CMO says. He/she then picks up the phone to deliver the order to his/her ad agency(ies).

What happened? Marketing is the Rodney Dangerfield in most corporations: it gets no respect, and is often looked at as an expense rather than an investment.

Why? Because number crunchers can easily see that eight is more than seven. Answers are obvious in fiscal black and white. But marketers deal in gray areas of motivating people, which is more art than science, so they’re viewed as snake oil salesmen believing their ideas will translate into gold.

No wonder many CMOs today are seduced by numbers, enamored with the science of analytics, and put stock in wishful thinking like turning their brands over to social media.

Unfortunately, marketing only gets results by changing human behavior. And that, that is rarely a black and white issue. Because people can be, well, damn complicated.

Remember the wisdom of Bill Bernbach: “We are so busy measuring public opinion that we forget we can mold it. We are so busy listening to statistics we forget we can create them.”

Let’s stimulate imaginations, make connections, motivate action and earn some respect.