So I took a hiatus...

It's been over a year since my last post which pretty much coincides with my time at a digital agency.
First, no hard feelings.
Second, my hunch was right...digital is the future.
Third, digital is the future IF creatively well executed around a big idea.

So here's my evolution on the definition of marketing:

Marketing is about masterminding one huge ripple effect of feedback loops where one brand interaction MUST lead to another and another...intentionally.

Marketing has gone from 8-track to 7.1-THX-certified-surround-sound-3D-smellavision.  The marketing paradigm is shaping to be a chaotic mass of traditional marketing, shopper marketing, social marketing, guerilla marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, mobile marketing in need of the simplicity and clarity of a tight, elegant and inspiring strategic idea.

We have an unlimited universe of media and tools to bring a brand to life – to seduce and engage consumers, shoppers, buyers, tweeters, facebookers, bloggers, mashers, artists, teens, tweens, moms, HCMs, blue collar and white collar dads, young and old singles, brand evangelists…by tapping into their passions with the power of big ideas, attracting them with amazing design, inspiring them with a compelling and evolving product/brand story and engaging them with ongoing relevant social currency to keep them coming back for more.

So new rules about what I believe in.

I believe in...

1. Integrated. A successful brand integrates across all thouchpoints.  So think laterally.
2. Choicefulness. Activation across all touchpoints is a choicefull strategic process. So figure out first what EMOTION you are REALLY SELLING.
3. Emotion as driver. Form follows function follows feeling.  So start your project with the feeling you wish to evoke.
4. A new reality. Digital/mobile has become the glue that connects the engagement points of a big idea.  So figure out how one interaction builds on AND feeds the next and the next.
5. A feeling. A big stonking idea is a feeling you get in your belly.  So listen to your gut.
6. Creative in, creative out. The more creative the research and approach to a business problem, the greater the creative output.  So think first, do second.
7. Looking elsewhere. If you are looking in the same place everybody else is, expect vanilla strategy.  So start from scratch EVERY TIME knowing that each business problem is ALWAYS different than the last.  
8. Knowing the differences. Understanding consumers is to differentiate what they say from what they think from what they do from what they don’t do.  So figure out where along their journey they opt out from fully engaging with your brand... and fix it.
9. Strategy and tactics. To create a great strategy is to validate against great tactics, big ideas need both to work.  So stress test the big idea AND the execution against both sides of the marketing brain.
10. Being right. It’s about being at the right place at the right time with the right message in the right media for the right target.  So make it everyone's job to be a Connections Planner.
11. A beginning. A brand is built from the shelf out (off- and on-line).  So look at the world from the vantage point of the packaging at shelf.
12. The experience. A brand is how we feel about it based on how we experience it.  So create theater, theater, theater...
13. Sensuality. We shop with our senses first, our minds second.  So leverage more than one sense to bring your brand to life.
14. Two kinds. There are inspiration shoppers and mission shoppers.  So create for both sides of the brain.
15. Favorite wins. We buy our favorite brand over the best brand. So make it your mission to always make them fall in love.

So my question is: are we overcomplicating the overcomplicated?  Are these rules simple enough to create simplicity?