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.

Yahoo's Widget Channel software for TVs shows a link to Yahoo's Flickr photo-sharing site, stock prices, and an advertisement. (Credit: Yahoo)

At CES 2009, Intel and Yahoo will reveal the latest in their Connected TV initiative, a program they hope will “mark the beginning of their Internet-fueled expansion to the world of TV.”  According to CNET, the companies have different goals with the Connected TV initiative.

For Yahoo, it’s establishment of the Widget Channel, a software foundation that can house programs for browsing photos, using the Internet’s abundant socially connected services, watching YouTube videos, or digging deeper into TV shows–and through which Yahoo will be able to show advertisements. For Intel, it’s a foothold in an industry whose microprocessors have typically been cheaper, less powerful, and less power-hungry.

Internet-enabled TV (also called IPTV) has been a buzzword for years now, but it has also been filled with lots of empty promises for consumers.  With that in mind, the Connected TV initiative has taken a consumer view, instead of a technology view, to figure out the future looks like.  Thanks to the help of several of Intel-employed anthropologists, they concluded that:

Unlike the PC, TVs are social. People watch it together, and what they watch turns into what they talk about. Another difference from PCs: it must be simple and reliable.  When bringing the Internet to the TV, You couldn’t just turn it into a PC.

Probing further, the anthropologists asked people what they thought the future of TV would look like.  CNET reports that the answers fit into several key buckets:

• Something that would provide relevant information in real time, such as the weather right before heading to a sporting event.
• Something that would connect them to other people they care about, a variation of social networking.
• Something that would let them participate more with what they’re watching, for example by figuring out where a show’s cast members already had acted, or finding, rating, and sorting content.
• Not a full-on Web browser, nor a keyboard to clutter up the room.

Additionally,when Connected TV initiative showed consumers initial concepts, they learned that:

• People didn’t like the Widget Channel controls appearing on the left edge of the screen. Instead, people prefer the bottom, where they’re accustomed to seeing text already.
• People expressed a powerful desire for a big button to make the software go away in one fell swoop–no menus or arrow keys or complication–so they could get back to watching TV when they wanted. That big button is also used to activate the Widget Channel.
• Nobody wanted yet another remote control.

All of this research has led to the latest iteration of Internet-enabled TV that Yahoo and Intel will unveil at CES 2009.  While I may be an optimist, I really think they have potential of pulling this off and bringing the promise of IPTV to life.  Here’s why:

1. An industry alliance can drive simplicity:  The struggle for IPTV has always been the number of players involved.  You need a solution that works for the TV manufacturers, cable companies, Internet media players, etc.  The Connected TV initiative shows promise because it brings together Yahoo, Intel and multiple TV manufacturers.  If IPTV is ever going to live up to the promise, it will take an alliance like this to pull off.
2. Connected Consumers want information at their fingertips:  When I mentioned this article on Twitter, Jon Burg asked if web-enabled TV is something consumers will care about in 2009. I think they will but only if it is information they care about and want in real-time.  For instance, every Fall I sit with my laptop open on Sundays, tracking my Fantasy Football teams.  I’d much rather have that info streaming through widgets on the TV while I watch the games.  Same goes for customized CNN news feed or stock tracker running across the bottom of the screen.
3. Advertisers want a replacement to interruption marketing:  Lots of people have been forecasting the death of TV advertising.  But let’s face it…that industry isn’t going away anytime soon as long as TV is central to people’s lives.  However, marketers do want a replacement to the ever-increasingly DVR skipped :30 second TV ad.  If marketers can join in the Connected TV initiative, they might just be able to help shape the future of TV advertising to one that is consumer-friendly…and dare I say, even beneficial to the consumer.

Whether or not the Connected TV initiative finally delivers on the high hopes of IPTV is anyone’s guess.  But I’m hopeful they pull it off and equally intrigued by the opportunities it will open up for Brand Managers and marketers worldwide.

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