Love this quote courtesy of Bob Lefsetz:

“Before if you were making a product, the right business strategy was to put 70% of your attention, energy, and dollars into shouting about a product, and 30% into making a great product. So you could win with a mediocre product, if you were a good enough marketer. That is getting harder to do. The balance of power is shifting toward consumers and away from companies…the individual is empowered… The right way to respond to this if you are a company is to put the vast majority of your energy, attention and dollars into building a great product or service and put a smaller amount into shouting about it, marketing it. If I build a great product or service, my customers will tell each other.” – Jeff Bezos

With the holidays around the corner, it seems that everyone is coming out with a gift guide or wish list these days.  You have gift guides as broad as for him and her, and as specific as Pop Culture Fans and Foodies.   But what if you need to buy a gift for someone that spends the whole year marketing to others?  Well if that’s the case, here’s my short list of 5 Stocking Stuffers for that Brand Manager in your life:

• Mad Men Season One (and Two and Three): Mad Men is one of the top guilty pleasures for those of us in marketing.  In fact, sometimes I think the only people actually watching the show are marketers and agency folks.  But regardless, it is the perfect addition to help us relive the “good old days” when Madison Ave was king.
• Tumi Business Card Case: Even in the digital age of LinkedIn and Twitter, business cards are a staple of the day to day business world.    Help the marketer in your life upgrade so they are never without a business card again.
• Roku HD-XR Media Player: The convergence of digital and television has finally started to happen in earnest this year and it is something ever marketer should experience in the personal life.  My favorite option to live this is the Xbox 360 (with Xbox Live) but if you want an option that is a little more affordable, the Roku is a great alternative that allows for streaming of Netflix, Amazon On Demand and Blip.tv.
• eBook Reader (Kindle DX or Nook): Finally getting an eBook Reader was #1 on my holiday list this year.  It is the ultimate in convenience allowing you to carry the latest business books, all your PDF’s and even a few good mystery books when you need a break from business.  Personally I like what the Nook has to offer (especially in the price) though the Kindle DX is the proven winner right now.
• The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with Your Customers by Marketing with Meaning: Written by Bob Gilbreath, this book is at the top of my list of must reads this holiday season.  For other options, you can check out my post on the “Dozen Books for every Brand Manager’s bookshelf.”

(Note – A good reminder from my friend Ryan Jones that the FTC now “mandates” that bloggers disclose all ties to affiliate programs.  So in full disclosure, be aware that the above items link through to my Amazon affiliate program.)

Over on MarketingProfs, Beth Harte recently wrote an article about “The Value of a Marketer.“  Beth starts out the piece by claiming:

“Frankly, it’s just not a fun time to be a marketer. Those who have a job are fearful and waiting for the axe to fall and those without a job are struggling to secure one in a sea of rough competition.”

No offense to Beth, but I couldn’t disagree more.  You see, the rationale of the article is that in these economic times, “it’s tough out there right now” for a marketer.  But you cannot equate economic uncertainty to mean that an entire industry is unenjoyable and/or faces an uncertain future.

Frankly, I cannot think of a better or more fun time to be a marketer.

Conveniently enough, I was having drinks with Michael Troiano right after I read the MarketingProfs post.  When I mentioned my struggle with Beth’s post, Michael reminded me his manifesto on Scalable Intimacy in which he proclaimed:

Let’s face it folks… marketing has become what HR used to be, before somebody figured out we were spending more money on people than on anything else. It’s the place where arty intellectuals can travel, interact with like-minded pretty faces over cocktails, and hide from the accountability that has transformed every other corner of the 21st century corporation. Most marketing people are mediocre. Most marketing is the sexy part of sales without the pesky accountability, and it is worthless. Harsh, perhaps, but you know it’s true.

Michael definitely put it more bluntly than I would have… but he’s so right.  Over the past decade, marketing has started to undergo a radical transformation.  The days of Mad Men are gone and with it the easy road of a creating a TV spot that made everyone happy.  In fact, I would say there has been a direct correlation between the decline of mass media and the increase in marketers needing to put in serious time and effort into creating brilliant brand building.

And in my eyes, that is a good thing.

Marketing is not and never should have been just fun and games.  Real marketing is hard work in both good times and bad.  It is a job that is about taking insights on your consumer and turning those into brilliant strategies that move more cases.

And for those of us that somehow get a thrill out of this, there is no better time than now to be a marketer.  Why?  Well consider just a few things:

1. More than ever, management needs leadership on how to grow the business: ROI has always been extremely important but never more so than now.  If a marketer can show management that their marketing expenses are actually an investment, instead of a cost, than this is the perfect time to make the case.
2. Marketing is more dynamic than ever: Marketing has changed more in the past 5 years than in the past 50 years.  In this age of Facebook, Twitter, iPhones and any hundreds of other shiny objects, marketers have the chance to lead this change.  Marketers have a chance to lead the strategy of how your brands and business will use these new tools to really connect with consumers.
3. Consumers are expecting more from us: It wasn’t too long ago that marketers had all the control.  If consumers wanted great TV shows, they had no choice but to watch the commercials.  After all, there were no remote controls and DVR was just three letters in the alphabet.  But that’s changed completely today and as a result, consumers have a choice.  And once they have a choice, they are going to start expecting more from us as marketers because they can easily skip us.  That challenge is what makes it fun to be a marketer today.  We have to find the next Nike+ that goes beyond just shouting at people and instead adds values to their life.

Great marketers live for a challenge and they live for change.  Today’s marketing world features both, which means there has never been a more fun time to be a marketer in my eyes.

Now let me end by saying I don’t want to discount the tough times some people are going through because of the economy.  Layoffs aren’t a laughing matter.  But at the same time, we can’t take the view that the industry is “no fun” because of the current crisis.  If anything, these tough economic times present one of the greatest opportunities ever for marketers to show why are jobs can truly build the business.

It is just up to us to be brave enough to seize the opportunity.

Chris Wilson at The Marketing Fresh Peel, pointed out a great video by the German ad agency Scholz & Friends on how the world of Brand Management has changed from the 1940’s through today.  It is a simple, insightful, and quick way for any Brand Manager to illustrate the need for change to their management.