May 9, 2004
the future of marketing
(UPDATE: For more info go here: “The Hughtrain Manifesto.”)
Just under 2 years ago, I discovered blogs for the first time. I was hooked right away. Gapingvoid was a much more traditional website back then (click here to see what I mean), but a wee voice kept telling me that ‘blogs are the future’, so I just pulled down the old site and rebuilt it in blog format. And I haven’t looked back since.
During this time I wasn’t really in the advertising game. 9/11 and Dotbomb were still giving off steam, it was a terrible time to go looking for a job, my cartoons career was taking off, and for the first time ever I was enjoying being out of the Madison Avenue loop.
But as I watched the blogosphere evolve, suddenly I started thinking “the future of marketing is in here somewhere”. Though of course, exactly how remained elusive.
So I’ve been spending the last year doing the blog thing, looking for the answer.
Eureka. I found the answer. I now know what the future of advertising and marketing is. It came to me recently, in a incandescent moment of clarity. Blogs are part of it, but they’re not the whole answer.
I can’t say what the answer is, at least, not publicly. I’m saving that for my day job (Yeah, I know, nothing kills a blog faster than full-time employment etc).
Anybody who wants to start a conversation with me on this subject please drop me a line.
e-mail: hugh at gapingvoid etc.
Suddenly I feel like I’m living in the most exciting of times…
"Hugh's Daily Cartoon" Newsletter.
A new cartoon sent out every weekday morning to your inbox [RSS version here.].
A wee chuckle to start your day off right etc.
Let’s do an official “The Power of Many” interview after my book launches in September — I think your book idea is right in synch with the times.
Ok, but can you rig up something to automatically blog/publish the marketing answer in case you get hit by a double-decker bus or something? Otherwise we’re looking at another Fermat’s Theorem in the margins!