FOREWORD
DID YOU CHOOSE this book because you thought the cover looked interesting? Are you reading this because you have an insatiable curiosity, or because a friend told you about it? Do you see yourself as someone who is in the company of adventurers, visionaries, risk-takers, pioneers, or artists? Are you trying to make sense of a new role, company, industry, or technology, or are you feeling left behind in an era of rapid change?
Whatever your reason for choosing Disruptive Marketing, you just made a wise choice. Because in reading this book you have ensured your career will withstand one of the greatest periods of change since the industrial revolution.
Geoffrey and I worked together at Ogilvy & Mather at a time when brand marketers were starting to understand the potential of the new people-fueled online world—a now global mix of platforms, technologies, people, and interest groups we know as the social media. We spent time thinking about new ideas and concepts to bring to clients and colleagues, educating those around us on the potential of how people were behaving in these new digital spaces and tinkering around with new platforms to see how they could work for brands. I was delighted when I read this book: it reminded me of the conversations we had when recording our weekly podcast, but mostly it was the book I always hoped Geoffrey would write.
Geoffrey has always been a gifted storyteller, one with both eyes firmly on the future. He has the ability to take a macro view on the trends and behaviors around and in front of him, in on- and offline worlds, and distill them into a crisp vision for today’s marketer.
Disruptive Marketing does just that.
Packed full of ideas you will have a hard time getting out of your head and that you will want to share with those around you, this important book documents the huge change we have seen over the past two decades with the advances in technology, communications, and how they have impacted our lives—and it prepares you, the reader, for the second and third acts to come.
Geoffrey turns to the worlds of sport, punk rock, DJing, teaching, and parenting; he shares anecdotes from history, his varied life experiences, and personal and professional journeys, rather than the somewhat overused case studies of the business book world. This mix shows us exactly what a disruptive marketer is, and while there is no set path to getting there, the behaviors we can all adopt to become one. He challenges us to ask “What if?,” demonstrating the huge importance of the question, while painting an exciting picture of how digital marketing is evolving and may well work in the very near future.
Do note: this is not an instruction manual, a step-by-step tutorial, or a guide on the ins and outs of the latest social and digital platforms. This is a foundational text that will change behavior from the linear marketing techniques created in the Don Draper era, to a much more dynamic and fluid approach required for marketing on- and offline, to set us all up for work now and way into the future.
The new workplace is creatively fueled. In commerce, disruption has become the norm. So the disruptive marketer must be both an analytical, creative hybrid and an expert able to deliver across both strategy and execution.
Ditch the reliance on an MBA and pick up this provocative and enlightening read.
Crammed full of tools, theory, relatable reference points and anecdotes, fresh thought leadership, and a superb tour through the tech-fueled world we are living in today, Disruptive Marketing is the conspiratorial whisper everyone in business needs to listen to.
Thank you, Geoffrey.