We live in exciting times. For matters of semantics, I refer to “we” being us people in publishing, advertising, marketing, blogging, and really — anyone involved in a profession that has to do with changing mindsets. Globally, we hear horror stories of PR agencies who “just don’t get it” or marketers who try to ride on a successful bandwagon of memes or tend to desecrate the true meaning of “word of mouth” or “viral campaigns” with half baked communication plans. The same is replicated locally — you probably have noticed an upsurge in the number of blogging events with every other PR practitioner wanting a piece of the blogging pie because the values derived from it are more trendy than scientific.
That last line — more trendy than scientific — is usually reflected by these events that don’t really have a lot of strategy involved. The truth of the matter is that blogs — or the bigger pie which is new media is never an end in itself.
I’d like to dispel the myth that local marketers don’t understand new media. A lot don’t. But to say that everyone in the marketing profession is a luddite is a misinformed statement. Take the Department of Tourism for instance, perhaps the most new media savvy branch of government office that recently bagged a Grand Bronze Anvil for PR Tools. Secretary Durano made use of an online video celebrity to lead a market segment to a quantifiable objective — plane ticket sales and adding a whole lot of “brand equity” to the Philippines. I mean, who would have though, eh?
Generally speaking, bloggers in the Philippines are usually classified as the early adopters when it comes to new trends — because breaking it all down, we’re all just very informed consumers. So when we complain, it’s probably the early adopter in us doing so, forgetting that there’s a huge “big body” making its way towards the paved path.
Sure, you’ll have the dime a dozen marketers. But I’m more interested in getting to know the ones who really do get it. And to be quite honest, they’re starting to show themselves 🙂