In praise of marketing rebellions

A couple years ago, I noticed a pattern with the many marketing leaders I met.

They all seemed to be stuck.

Everywhere, everyone, and at almost every company I know.

Even the biggest marketing stars at the most famous brands seem to be struggling. Every year, I’m honored to help facilitate an invitation-only meeting of Chief Marketing Officers. It includes some of the biggest names in business who use this private meeting to engage in honest roundtable discussions about the most pressing marketing topics of the day.

At the last meeting, we went around the table and each executive named their biggest challenge. One-by-one they each exclaimed, “We’re falling so far behind … on everything!”

I almost laughed out loud. Keep in mind that these are experienced, deeply-respected executives with some of the biggest companies in the world. They have nearly limitless resources, access to the best people, and premier agency partner relationships. And yet, they echoed the same desperate sentiment I hear every day from small businesses, non-profits, universities, and entrepreneurs with little or no budget at all. Things are just not working like they used to.

So I started digging into the reason why. And what I found was amazing.