Authentic marketing

There’s a lot of industry talk about ‘connecting’ with on and off-line audiences, but whatever the approach, audiences instinctively know when it feels right. I don’t think you can recreate that honesty. The Arts&Crafts Movement and William Morris maxim ‘truth to materials‘.

I’ve been tidying out the loft and found my treasure trove of Blondie fanzines from way back when.

I was amazed to see how we used to communicate – blobby manual typewriter ink and eagerly awaited signed personal letters from Debbie in New York.

I especially loved the pen pal page – early social media at it’s best! All back in the days when you had to go to the local phone box to ‘dial a disc’ to find out what was No.1 in the charts.

There’s something about this early wave of marketing – before big budgets and ‘professionals’ got involved, that holds a certain charm for me. It feels closer to the cultural DIY attitude of the time – more ‘authentic’ and connected?

That’s why I love documentaries that get to the heart of things – revealing a sensibility about the subject in a transparent way. Not easy – but wonderful when it works. On that note, it’s time for a bit of film on this blog so sit back and enjoy a wonderful example of being authentic.