Uh, hello? My name is Julie and I’m a middle child.
Hi Julie. Do you have something you want to share?
Wow. That’s so cool. You actually do that. Yeah, I do. I want to talk about marketing…
(Cue collective groan and shuffling of feet.)
I’m getting coffee.
I’ll go with you!
Text me when she’s done.
…and a guy named Paul Erdős!
OK, that sounds vaguely interesting. Go on.
Jeez! I thought you all just listened and validated?!
OK, Paul Erdős was a brilliant Hungarian mathematician. He had great hair, rocked an awesome pair of glasses and was one of the most prolific mathematicians of the 20th century – a raving intellectual soul totally dedicated to his craft. In fact, he died a few hours after solving a tough geometry problem at a conference in Warsaw in 1996.
He wasn’t super keen on hygiene, fashion or collecting belongings, but he was big on collaboration. He engaged over 500 of his colleagues to solve complex problems with him, develop theorems and publish their work together.
In fact, if you meet any mathematicians today, ask them for their Erdős number. You will be rewarded with a wry smile and said number, which represents whether they worked and published a paper with him – so an Erdős number of one – or if they worked and published with someone who worked and published with him – an Erdős number of two – and so on.
Erdős never owned a home. He carried his belongings in an old suitcase and basically traveled around to collaborate with other mathematicians. He would show up at a conference or knock on one of his colleague’s doors at any hour of the day or night and simply say, “My brain is open.”
This was an invitation to work with him – and a subtle hint that he’d like a place to stay, someone to cook him a meal and maybe wash his clothes. He would stay with them for a few days or weeks and pretty much do math, cranking out leading edge theorems while complaining that he didn’t know how to make toast or cut a grapefruit. He was brilliant, charming and confounding to his hosts all at the same time – and totally enamored with math. It was his passion and his one true love.
Hey Julie, what does any of this have to do with marketing?
Hold on, I’m getting there! Where do I start? At the beginning I guess.
I’ve been obsessed with the art of marketing and advertising – my gateway drug – for as long as I can remember. Words, images and messages that connected with me grabbed me at an early age and never let go.
As a small child, I clipped what I thought were clever ads from whatever magazines were lying around the house. In grade school, I won a AAA poster contest with a drawing of a rabbit at an intersection and the words “look before you leap” to communicate the importance of checking both ways. I came up with the name and logo for my middle school newsletter. (It was Smile! and the letters were the teeth in the mouth. I kid you not).
I was writing heartfelt essays and meticulously researched papers throughout my high school and college years. And staging themed parties complete with creative collateral and experiential elements in my twenties and thirties, convincing my friends to join me in whatever madcap adventure was on my agenda. If I’m honest, I’m still doing that to this day.
My first gig after school was a junior copywriter and account manager for an advertising agency. After that I was the editor of an entertainment association’s monthly magazine, the creative director in charge of the association’s branding, content and events, and then director of marketing communications for a travel management company.
At my last corporate address with a Fortune 100 financial services organization, I helped launch a new brand, fostered an amazing internal culture with a wonderful team of people, and helped win a lot of new business while working with the leadership team to keep satisfaction scores and retention extraordinarily high – for both clients and employees.
When I decided to strike out on my own as a consultant, my intention was to split my time between select marketing projects and get started writing a book or two or three. But former colleagues called, marketing once again wrapped me in its siren song, and I got busy doing the stuff I love with the people I adore, working for companies I admire.
It has been an exhilarating ride and I cut my teeth with my colleagues creating content for digital, social and mobile channels — all the while staying relentlessly focused on the customer and the people who serve them in bringing the brand to life every day.
After a decade on my own, I took a breath, looked around and realized something was missing. I was only delivering on half of the promise, potential and power in my own business.
OK, hold up. We’re completely confused.
What does this have to do with Erdős or anything for that matter?!
For me, marketing is my math.
And it’s always been more than the packaging, positioning and promotional campaigns – and the loads of content and data generated in its wake.
The magic happens when marketing solves real, tangible problems. When we transcend the spreadsheets and soundbites and data and drip campaigns to create the conditions for what I call marketBEing: that state of existence where we inspire our organizations and engage our people to embody the brand, own it and co-create it across every customer interaction.
When we do it right, marketing evolves from being a gatekeeper – with our brand guidelines, design dos and don’ts, content campaigns and attribution metrics – to serving as a sherpa on this symbiotic journey. We have the most impact when we go beyond packaging goods and services to identifying emerging and entrenched customer needs, mediating internal perspectives and empowering our organizations to solve the challenges that hold us back from delivering on the greatest potential of our value propositions.
What I have come to realize is that while I am walking this mission, I am not talking it up. Or rather I am living my brand, but not actively advocating for it or sharing my vision. And if I really believe in marketBEing, I need to live it and own it out loud.
Consider this my first step on that journey to share, connect, grow and create the conditions for the magic to happen. To seek out opportunities to do my best work with awesome companies and amazing people. To inspire one another, empower the people we work with and delight the customers we serve. Because if we have to work, we all deserve to be inspired, empowered and delighted by what we do.
So I’m taking it to the street. I’m throwing it against the digital wall to see what sticks. I’m leading the witness. I won’t back down. I have a dream. I am a middle child of the universe.
My brain is open.
And so is my heart. So please, belly up to the counter and take a number. Because we’ve got work to do.
