May 2012

The problem with the Chicago school of economics isn’t so much its belief in rational decision-making — we can save for another day the computational complexity arguments against such precision in our thinking. Rather, it’s that it is too easy to misjudge what people are optimizing in their decisions. How many times have you looked at something a large organization does and remarked to yourself, “Yikes, that seems a little irrational.” The irony is that …

Godin’s hierarchy of business to business needs Continue Reading »

A headline on Forbes caught my eye the other day: Are CMOs the New CIOs? It cites the Gartner study following the money from IT to marketing and concludes (emphasis added is my own): The convergence between marketing and technology is undeniable, and it’s still in its infancy. Imagine a world where a brand’s success will ultimately come down to how well it can handle and leverage an infinite network of relationships and market interactions. …

CMOs are the new CIOs — crazy or prescient? Continue Reading »

I think a great marketing technologist should be part optimist, part pessimist. The optimist needs to indulge his or her imagination to drive the organization forward. To wonder, “what if?” To keep an open mind about new technologies and processes. To engage in the sort of creative free association and collaborative brainstorming that leads to innovation. And, most importantly, to be fearless in diving into the implementation of those ideas, making them real. The pessimist …

Marketing technologist: part optimist, part pessimist Continue Reading »