Digital Marketing Mashups

I am a Gen-Xer in a Gen-Y world. This has me constantly reflecting on the importance of mashups. I am not talking typical mashups like Reggaeton music or Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. No, I’m really talking about mashing up old school business concepts (and etiquette and manners) with new school digital experiences.

This kind of mashup reminds me of a very famous music collaboration: Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. (Yes, I can connect anything with the 80s). Their mashup of “Walk This Way” was a huge hit with a combination of classic (rock) and brand new (rap) . By crossing the boundaries into the unexpected, interest in Aerosmith was reinvigorated and Run-D.M.C. gained exposure and mainstream radio play (which practically no rappers had); a brilliant collaboration that leveraged something existing and created a new and unexpected product.

This was exactly like  Bill Bernbach’s genius of pairing copywriters and art directors for more effective advertising. Another classic I am also constantly recommending is Robert Fulghum’s book, All I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, because it has fantastic fundamental knowledge for business that isn’t taught in business school anymore.

Where’s the mashup you ask? Well, it’s in creating engaging digital experiences that tap into our fundamental humanity, which really is consistent across cultures and generations. This humanity is just accelerated by the use of digital tools and platforms. These classic practices like courtesy and respect are more critical today than ever. Do not spam someone’s Facebook page with an obtrusive sales message; this is like showing up uninvited to someone’s wedding with three extra guests of your own.

With the speed of business today, we tend to increase complexity by adding digital tools, language and processes, none of which add to effectiveness. How many clients have a marketing automation system that is not used because it did not take the end user into account, but just had a lot of features and functionality? (See my previous post about empathy.) I need more than two hands to count them.

Instead of continuing to create more promotional material, overly complex segmentation schemes, and deploying a myriad of analytics tools; why not use a simple construct like the classic 4Ps to start to tease out where the opportunity is with your digital experience? (Please read John Maeda’s The Laws of Simplicity for additional inspiration.) Oh, the 4Ps, remember back to  Marketing 101: price, product, place and promotion. Promotion, by the way, gets used as a blunt instrument for every marketing problem, but that’s a different post.

So, mashups from my perspective are taking tried and true classic constructs and applying them to today’s challenges. These classics will provide you with a much more solid structure from which to analyze and solve your marketing challenge.

[editor's note: Since it's already in your head: Walk This Way]