The Accidential Marketer

Life's full of surprises. 

Today, I find myself featured in the pages of Adweek.  I say life's full of surprises not because of that fact—but because of the irony.  When Brian Morrissey approached me about doing the Q+A, to be honest with you—this thought ran through my mind:

"Do I really wanted to be associated that closely with the Ad industry?"

But just as quickly—that thought was replaced with this one:

"How many opportunities do you get to evangelize your beliefs"?

See—though I talk a good good game about the industry we call "advertising"—the reality is that I've never considered myself a product of it.  Go through my resume and you'll find that the bulk of my personal experience lies in Web design, graphic design—even broadcast design mixed with 3+ years spent as a information designer embedded in the newsroom.  If course I've worn many hats—interaction design as one of them and have done my share of conceptual wireframes, flows and the like.

But Ad Guy?

I never touched an Ad in my life.  Which is precisely the irony behind the feature.  Consider the interviewer—Brian Morrissey from Adweek is one of the few industry journalists  who is  genuinely active on multiple social platforms including  Facebook and Twitter.

In fact—that's how we met and it's mostly where we interact.  Brian also blogs about running.  He's one of us.  Or at least—I consider him to be.  So maybe the best way to look at all of this is to realize that traditional "Ad Guys" no longer exist.  Nor do "traditional journalists".  Well—they still do, but in a world moving at light speed—it's getting more difficult to draw firm lines between what's considered Advertising, marketing, or just good business.  Maybe we're all accidental "Ad Guys and Gals"

Or maybe we're all just accidental marketers.

Comments

[Scott Monty]

I know I'm an accidental. But in the world in which we live, we need to be prepared for anything. As Darwin said, "Chance favors the trained mind."

That's a nice appearance - congratulations, David.

[Warren Sukernek]

David,

Anytime you can rail against Flashturbation in print, it's got to be a good thing!

Congrats.

[Caleb Chang]

Another accidental marketer joins the Advertising Collective and something unexpected occurs. Instead of complete assimilation, he sets off a viral chain that infects the collective consciousness with new thoughts, new ideas of how to communicate. Thanks for joining us David. You have made the Advertising a better place.

[joe szabo]

I think this is the first L+E that doesn't work for me.

I do agree that the lines are blurring, and that the traditional "Ad Guy" metaphor no longer exists.

I'm struggling with the title "Accidental Marketer".

As an experience planner at a small ad agency in Toronto, I am paid to create "ad-like messages" in web, email and mobile. What I do is not accidental.

Sometimes I fell bad about my intent; other times I embrace a brand's essence and try to communicate it as passionately as I can. Either way, I still do what I've been asked. And that's to make my client richer.

[DA]

"Either way, I still do what I've been asked. And that's to make my client richer."

Joe,

My mission is to help facilitate great experiences. This makes customers happy. Happy customers make people richer.

I stand by this post and the title—which Ironically is anything but accidental. :-)

[Chris Moritz]

I was wondering when you were going to get around to using "Flashturbation" in print. ;)

[DA]

LOL,

Chris, this seemed like the perfect opportunity no? The things you can get from sharing a can ride! :-)

[betaBonnie]

David, it's time for a new photo of David.

Advertising is dead. Long live advertising.

betaBonnie

[Misha Cornes]

Congrats on the feature, DA!

I total feel you on the idea of the Accidental Marketer. In the early days of the web, I think we all thought we were doing something totally unique that had its roots in software development, interaction design, and business innovation. Over time the clout of traditional market dollars pushed interactive into "just another advertising medium", and web guys were suddenly ad guys.

What's amazing is how shifting consumer behavior has pushed experience design principles - the mandate for participation and interactivity that web designers were practicing from day one- to the forefront. I think nowadays interactive is co-opting advertising rather than the other way around.

And thanks for the shout-out about ThreeMinds@Organic

Misha

[DA]

Misha, I could not have said it better myself. You are exactly correct. We are returning to our roots in some ways and in many ways that is a good thing. And like you, since I grew up on the digital side-- I think staying there has made us more strategic while preserving our passion for the medium. It will be interesting to see where this all goes in the long run. Keep up the great work at Organic and Three Minds.

[Chris Moritz]

I love the fact that you wrote "sharing a can ride." Oh, how the rumors will spread...

[Gong Szeto]

in the creative (design) biz, you are either making the product or selling the product. it's a fine line. maybe you're not an "ad guy" per se, but you understand their issues more than you let on. that's not a bust on you at all, that's just a fact. maybe you should be called an "advertising intellectual". does that sound better to you?

[Dan Schawbel]

Congrats Dave....been following you for a while and enjoy your work

[Maura Welch]

David - I remember how shocked you were when I covered you for the Globe. Hey - you've got a growing following...get used to it :-)

[John Calkins]

I am defiantly an "Accidential Marketer". Having a cookie product that's price point is so high that it fits in only Starbucks or High End Stores. And from Oklahoma the High End stores are few and between. And contacting Starbucks corporate is the most rigid vast information series of paper work, before even enabling them to hear from you.
So when I taught myself html code last year and started building a web site I became the "Accidential Marketer". That was the beginning of Hotcookies.net a company that is a marketing tool to make our customers more successful. Focus in the beginning is to create a package with direct mail that will get my customer noticed and remembered. With an efficient and creative manner that gives the impression that care and effort went into writing of every piece of mail. The web-site will build a data base for each company’s to file their letter head, stationary, signatures and marketing literature. Their staff will go to the site click and build from a PC, laptop or phone anywhere with internet connection. http://hotcookies.net