Think Different

Who are 3 people who changed the landscape of marketing and advertising today?

This year’s Marketing Hall of Fame® Induction Ceremony will occur on Thursday, May 17, 2018, 6:00-9:00 pm at R/GA headquarters 450 West 33rd St. in New York. Cocktails and food will be served, followed by the induction ceremony and presentations from each inductee. From the perspective of their careers, the inductees will offer rare insights and ideas about how marketing will evolve in the future.

Esther Lee

I had the great honor to meet Esther Lee last evening. For those few who may not know her, Esther is nothing short of a giant in the vision business. By this, I mean she has transformed countless companies through the power of ideas and communicating them passionately, intelligently, consistently – let’s say successfully – enough times and at the right times.

This takes a sense of purpose and discipline, her father would say in his proud introduction at the AMA Marketing Hall of Fame Awards last evening. He added, “she is.. in a word, a nice girl.”

Esther, having had her own successful agency, DiNoto Lee, took the helm as Global CRO at Coca-Cola, then SVP Brand Marketing at AT&T, and then EVP Global CMO at METLIFE in New York.

At each stop driving growth, significant growth by leveraging consumer insights and taking action to build marketing Calls-To-Action. The legacy of her successes will continue to inspire generations of marketers & researchers alike.

Seth Godin

Two other honorees recognized; Mr. Seth Godin, a stranger to a few, author of 18 books on the nature of marketing and related topics. Godin is at heart a humanist. He seems to get what makes people tick and has the innate ability to tap into it, deliver the right message, or take the right course and do a good job of letting the actions speak for themselves.

Godin talked about failing more than succeeding and how important it was to have the fortitude to take risks with the right purpose in mind. It became clear from the start of his comments that his career was dedicated to these ideas:

“Marketing is not selling ads – it’s selling ideas – it is changing the culture.

The skyline of the city, the political landscape, the economies, the future.”

Seth Godin

Lee Chow

Lastly, we have Lee Clow, who founded Chiat|Day and built iconic brands like Gatorade, Pepsi, Adidas, and of course, his 30 years run with Steve Jobs and Apple. We were treated to the 1984 Macintosh video ad where the athlete runs in and smashes the giant screen of the establishment figure by throwing a giant hammer, thus destroying the status quo. Wow

Lee reminded us that in the beginning, it was easy – our job was to talk about our product. But then he mentioned something he had learned from Seth (the Humanist) – Today, marketing is about everything we do. It is not only in communicating everything well but the doing every well; the product, the customer, the support, the service, the employees, the community, the planet.

Maybe we have all raised our expectations from yesterday’s status quo – maybe that’s marketing, and maybe that’s ok. No doubt