John Grant's New Marketing Manifesto

I'm a graphic designer; I work in a design studio. We spend our time trying hard to make stuff that is beautiful and relevant. We don't do advertising, direct marketing or anything (to speak of) that traditionally falls on or above "the line". We're below it (do people still talk about "the line"? Does it still exist?).

I used to sit on it. Dangling my toes below while simultaneously waving my arms above it. Both were fun and I'm still as interested in both. I'm not sure how common this is. I feel that a lot of designers are either one or the other. Perhaps I'm wrong.

Fuelled by an insecurity that manifests itself in a feeling that I don't know enough, I read a lot of stuff. And again, I swing both ways; sometimes I read design stuff, sometimes marketing stuff.

Of course, the trouble with marketing books is that even the best ones look shit, so my suspicion is that many designers give them a wide berth. And why shouldn't they? They're ugly and for those taught kerning and colour, it's quite feasible to exist and earn a decent crust without knowing a load of old marketing shite.

And yet, what's occuring to me more and more is how each camp (if indeed my microworldview is in any way accurate and these "camps" exist) has much to teach the other. If nothing else, even now after [lots of] years of doing this kind of thing, I'm still discovering new and useful stuff in surprising places.

Here's an example: 

I've been reading John Grant's, eight year old, New Marketing Manifesto - The 12 Rules for Building Successful Brands in the 21st Century. Old hat no doubt to planners, marketeers and whatnots out there, but I'm a designer; this is not a book I would naturally encounter; I don't remember seeing it in Design Week or CR and anyway, what do I know of the dirty business of marketing? Well, of course, I should know something. I can't go about claiming to know about branding without knowing about the ever evolving nature of it. How can I design the stuff if I don't understand how it works?

Even though it's over eight years old, there's lots in it that I didn't know and many idea-stimulating thoughts. Some of it re-defining shifts in thinking for me; like the bit about how brands have become the new traditions by which we live our lives now many of the old traditions have broken down; how they should emerge as the by-products of innovation rather than be some kind of re-spraying exercise; how we should think in terms of genre before we think about form; and, best of all, the importance of authenticity. It's a great book for designers too because it advocates bold, new, emotionally-driven ideas over straight-jacketing, focus group/analysis directed stuff. Music to my ears.

Importantly, having consumed it, I feel better equipped for the briefs, meetings and presentations ahead.

One surprisingly interesting thing about the book is that I enjoyed it all the more because it's over eight years old. Although he talks about stuff now gone (New Labour) and doesn't talk about now-stuff (Web 2.0), he presents ideas that were new then and have since been embraced, either consciously or naturally, with great success by exemplars of contemporary marketing/branding. Things we've witness emerge.

Anyway, the point of this ramble is that for us designers, slaving away on matters that have traditionally fallen "below-the-line", there's much to be gleamed and embraced from the study of things going on above. Things that we can use.

And that's that.

Except, I should explain that the reason I got this book in the first place was because I wanted to read his later book but felt the need to see where Grant was coming from first.

His Green Marketing Manifesto is quite a different book and quite possibly more important. It's opened my eyes to many things; I'd recommend it to anyone. Everyone. Massively over-simplifying things, the GMM explains the importance of marketing in our efforts to save our global asses by making green things seem normal as opposed to making normal things seem green (or "greenwashing"). He talks a lot about that then tells us how to do it.

He also describes who's doing what right now; some surprising people doing remarkable things. 

It seems to me that with this book Grant's made a kind of self-fulfilling thing; after all the talk in his first book of brands as "new traditions to live by", the Green Marketing Manifesto drops just that into your lap: a fresh and new way to approach the stuff we do everyday.

And he's even managed to make a marketing book look (a little) more like a book for a designer.

Comments

[davidthedesigner]

You've really got me thinking now, Richard: is the man from Rainham Sheds dangling or waving?

[Richard]

Waving like no one has ever waved before.

[davidthedesigner]

Maybe he's not waving, maybe he's drowning?

[Daniel]

Golly that was wordy. You break it up a bit with some pictures of chickens. I love the chickens.

[Richard]

The chickens will be back on Monday. Stay tuned.

[Jw]

Rainham Sheds is almost a Monty Python bit... the intensity coupled with shot after shot of sheds.

Or maybe it's just making me think of Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson.

[Richard]

Great! I write my longest, most insightful post and all you're interested in is the bloody sheds!

(Harumph!)

[Jw]

Hahaha... to be fair, I am actually more interested in the business talk. I just couldn't help it. I mean... SHEDS!

I'm pretty ignorant of marketing strategies in general... I had never heard anything about a line before, let alone one's proximity to said line. The Marketing Manifesto looks like something I should pick up, for sure. My business has always just relied on a sort of karmic force... every time I think about doing promotion, jobs start popping up. But I could stand to have more jobs... and better jobs...

[Richard]

You're right of course...sheds...brilliant.