In ways even he could not have imagined, Marshall McLuan’s 1960’s theory has come to pass: The Medium is the Message.
Proof is all around: People mindlessly flip through hundreds of cable channels, watching, well…nothing really, simply because they have the technology. Others, adorned with head and ear attachments, oblivious to fellow shoppers and commuters, converse about trivial matters, simply because, yes, they can. Cell phones at the ready, kids of all ages text millions of introspective messages such as: where u at?
Because we can, we do. We have been empowered by the technology around us, and dammit, we’re going to use it. Whether we need to or not.
And that’s OK. But while the explosion of communication mediums has certainly democratized authorship of the message (more people have the ability to say more things to more people), it’s had a severely negative impact on the quality of the message itself. I don’t know about you, but I can’t read another blog entry about what someone had for breakfast this morning.
Here’s the point: The biggest, real opportunity for marketers today is not about embracing the next technology, it’s about better using the ones we have. And to do this properly, we have to look beyond the the medium, and look to the intrinsic power of the message. The age-old, technology-agnostic craft of saying something worth saying. Something of relevance. Something of meaning. God knows, you’ll stand out.
Woody Allen once said, ‘80% of success is just showing up.’ Well, from a communications standpoint, we’ve embraced this, haven’t we? We’re connected. We’ve got gadgets and toys that would frighten Alexander Graham Bell and Mr. Watson. We’re not going to miss the next message. Problem is, is it really worth hearing? Mr. and Ms. marketer, it’s up to you.
While I’m working on my next post, I hope you’ll read about how Cohesion helps organizations build stronger messaging to increase consistency, lower cost and drive growth, here.
Nice article Brian. Or blog I mean. I guess “article” is an old-fashioned word now…. Who came up with the word blog anyway?
I agree. Can’t stand hearing about how someone walked their dog or how they cooked sausage instead of bacon this morning. As a result I have stayed away from Twitter. In the world of video I see the same problem. People will sit and watch a series of viral videos and not know the brand sponsoring them, and the same with commercials. Marketing has definitely flooded the communications mediums. Now the issue is not getting in front of people, but rather cutting through the clutter to leave a resounding message.
In short, I loved the post.
[...] A plea for reality: Marketers, it is time to stop generalizing that ‘people don’t read,’ and begin understanding that more people ‘do’ than ‘don’t.’ This is not meant to endorse our growing literature-averse population, nor defend an appalling drop in grammatical standards. It is simply to say that well-written words are still a powerful weapon and that there is still (and in some cases, a growing) audience for their readership. Of course, it helps if you’ve actually got something worth saying. [...]