Back To Simplicity

I am back from two weeks of sun, sand and super-duper French grub.  Highlights were long bikes around the beautiful lanes of Ile de Re and reclaiming my ability to read (rather than scan) books.  Catching up with the blogosphere is an interesting experience after a fortnight of web detox...

that reminds me how difficult it can be for a newbie to really understand what the fuss is all about....so simplicity will be my watchword for the coming months.

That said, the level of innovation and fresh thinking that can be found online is really startling even after a short break.  Things that are relevant to Modern Marketing include Seth Godin's London blogbang but particularly Lloyd's after speech chats; the launch of a blog at Revoo, a new UK-based product review service written by customers; Johnnie posted a podcast  of the chat we had with English Cut's Tom Mahon; David Weinberger on what PR companies should strive to do; blogging paramedic Tom Reynolds highlights the blistering development of BBC Backstage; a write up of the open source beer players in Wired, including our friends at Blowfly; Shel Holtz spots Adcandy a site which allows brands to tap into the creativity of their customers and carries this great quote from David Ogilvy...

"I'd like to ask each and every one of you how many remarkable people, or people of any kind, you personally have discovered or brought in in the last year. That's a job that I think is too vital for you to delegate.  What kind of people should you discover and hire? Well, policemen and tobacco farmers, not MBAs!."

All of which is great but nonetheless difficult for most marketing folk to understand.  Which brings me back to simplicity.....