The Babel Project

Backstory: The Tower of Babel

“So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”

— Genesis 11:8-9

Everyone knows that Babel is synonymous with the global confusion of languages and words. God spread us around the word and made sure we could not communicate, apparently. 

The same is true for the word Babble,  which is directly related to the word barbarians (because uncivilized barbarians babble incomprehensible gibberish). This concept for linguistic white noise translates perfectly to the current state in communication nomenclature. With communication on the planet evolving at light speed, our own vernacular is struggling to keep pace. Many industries that focus on communication bleed into each other - marketing, PR, branding, social media, engagement etc. Is there a better term out there redefine the modern communication profession?

Enter The Babel Project.

The Babel Project

“So the Great Marketer scattered the professionals from there over all the communication spectrum, and they stopped building a common profession. That is why they called it Babel because there the Great Marketer confused the language of communication resulting in naming chaos. From there the Great Marketer scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”

— Book of Marketing 11:8-9

Is there a better word to describe the modern communication profession?

Using the term marketing as a catch-all phrase (although a flawed one) to describe all types of communication professions, we are still faced with a sea of new professions all utilizing similar skill-sets. Can we unite under one common banner?

The Babel Project attempts a synthesis of all these terms and challenges the applicability of the word "marketing" to the modern age of communication. Now can we find a better term? Please help us!

Join The Babel Project Now!!

Evil Marketing Tactics & Organ Donation

The Dark Side of the Force

Is marketing evil? 

Over the weekend I read an article by Michael Serazio about "Why Marketing has become like Guerrilla Warfare" In the article he talks about how marketing has become more covert and underground. He argues that the line between content and advertisement has been blurred - it is no longer separate (TV Show vs. TV Ad) 

“Much the same is now happening in marketing. Thanks to a confluence of technological change, commercial clutter, and audience habits, the old advertising-media model for campaigns has been falling apart in slow motion. Consumers are more adept than ever at avoiding anything that looks like advertising. And whether or not agencies and corporations want to admit it, the necessary recourse has been to create content that doesn’t look like advertising.”

— Serazio

He talks about the marketing warfare metaphor "conducting marketing campaigns". I have to take pause, as this is a very dangerous argument. I talked about this linguistic phenomenon where certain metaphors are built into languages in a previous blog post.  In my argument I made a connection between the English of "time being money" (spend time, waste time, buy time) and American culture. I however understood the limitations of my argument. The marketing as warfare linguistic metaphor argument raises many questions: Is this metaphor only built into English? Was this metaphor created before guerrilla style tactics existed? Is this metaphor more a symptom of the business as warfare metaphor in English - with marketing being one department?

Serazio also bemoans the ever popular online content curation platforms such as huffpost. Their popularity has come at the cost of the "more trustworthy" hard copy resources, he gives the example of Newsweek going out of business. 

This article left me wondering - is marketing evil? Is guerrilla marketing evil? 

Marketing is Inherently Empty

I think that Serazio makes a couple good points. Marketing has changed - become covert, clever, gone underground. The line between advertisement and content has indeed blurred - look at the new "sponsored" Facebook posts that show up in your newsfeed.  I know that the word "evil" needless boils down or simplifies Serazio's argument - however is this method inherently evil?

At the end of the day, marketing is inherently nothing, zilch, goose eggs. Marketing is simply a vehicle that assumes the traits the the driver, nothing more. It is a medium of communication. 

Here is a great example of how the nature of marketing depends on its subject. 

Organ Donation: Ogilvy Brazil

Problem : Thousands die each year in need of an organ transplant

Behavioral Resource : Brazilian sports fans are known the world over for their fanaticism, dedication and craziness

Solution: Utilize this natural resource to re-ochestrate the discussion on organ donation

Tactics: Guerilla marketing

Outcome: Higher donation rates

Watch the video. 

Confira os resultados da campanha de doação de órgãos. Ação foi criada pela Ogilvy & Mather Brasil.

This campaign is amazing and really demonstrates the potential of marketing - especially in achieving altruistic goals. While not all marketing is so wholesome in the sense that it touches such humanitarian goals, it shows that marketing is inherently empty. However is marketing ethically required to be overt, to let you know of it's existence? I think not. Sometimes in order for marketing to be effective it needs to blur the lines and sneak up on you - it just shouldn't lie to you in the process.

Marketers are in the business of adding value to life, marketing is not about deceiving or hiding the truth - such marketing is unethical. A good ad should not tell you lies and state facts that are otherwise blurred or untrue. Marketing is in the business of finding that little bit of perceived value hiding under your nose and taking the fullest advantage of it.

We would find that in a world without marketers we would all have the same goods, the same relationships and the same amount of money - but we would all be a little bit poorer. True marketing is not black magic - it is a little extra service that benefits us all. 

“Marketers are the bankers of perceived value. We are happy to deposit in your account everyday because we have our own set of economic rules. In the perceived value economy there is no inflation and supply is unlimited. We can print money out of thin air - the sky’s the limit. Demand is only driven by our customer’s imagination and in this economy we can all be prosperous at no extra cost to anybody. ”

— Me