gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

golden calf/town square deathmatch

[The Scoble-MacLeod Lovefest continues unabated:] Salient thought from Robert Scoble in the comments of a a recent gapingvoid post:

Have any of the Lovemarks ever said they are sorry?

Apple, for instance, is a lovemark (it's in the book) but they sued their fans multiple times.

Us? [i.e. Microsoft] Our lawyers get out of control and I apologize and clean up the mess.

Why? Because I am on the Hughtrain!

Or trying to be, anyway.

A Lovemark apologizing? Wishful thinking. The Lovemark is just the corporate version of the Golden Calf.

It's a CALF, it's made of GOLD, and it's ALL MINE. So better put on your shades; you need to protect your eyes from all of that sunshine currently high-beaming out of my ass.

It's the "Golden Calf" objectification-fetish School of Marketing.

I prefer the "Town Square" School of Marketing.

i.e. A brand is place, not a thing.

i.e. A place where good people gather and talk about the stuff that matters. Out of that conversation better ideas, products, services and transactions emerge.

This is where the "Smarter Conversations" stuff starts becoming useful.

So the next time an ad agency pitches your company, ask yourself what they're actually trying to sell you- Golden Calf or Town Square?

Your call, not mine.

Posted by hugh macleod at February 2, 2005 9:48 AM | TrackBack